African Blackwood and Boxelder

I know I already have a set of pipes up in the Gallery with this combination, but I've decided to make a smallish change to the Smallpipe drone design.  At least with this wood combination, I really like it.  I've swapped out two of the beads on the drone top sections for a sleeker simpler sweep. Here's the new set.

ABW and Boxelder A/D Smallpipes

Old-style with lots of beads! 

It's similar to what I did with Tim Cummings pipes (seen here on the right), but with metal ferrules.  I found that it was a bit of a squeeze to get all the drones into the stock with the beads.  I'll miss the beads, but now I have at least 30 thousands of an inch more elbow room.  (Hey, it's a lot to me okay?) 

In any case I think it's not a change for the worse aesthetically, and it has the added benefit that the beads don't bump into each other during tuning (which isn't a problem with my set with beads, but I could imagine it being a problem for others).

We're always thinking how to make things better over here at the Banton Bagpipe Shop!  See the rest of the pictures here in the Gallery.