Grant J.

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This bagpipe came out of Wisconsin, wound up in South Dakota, and then was sent to me before making the long trip across the Atlantic to Andreas Hartmann-Virnich. The instrument is stamped in several places “J. Grant” and “Aberdeen”. Upon arrival, I was encouraged to search out any maker’s stamp. I don’t want to admit how many hours I stared at the many stamps on this bagpipe. I took many photographs and them put them into Photoshop using various filters and angles to try to pry the secrets from these pieces of wood and bone. In the end, we were able to decipher “J. GRANT” and “ABERDEEN”. It is a remarkable artifact and was painstakingly restored by Pierre Blanchett in France. Pierre is remarkable in this capacity. The finished restoration is seen below.

Words by Andreas Hartmann-Virnich – c1820-1830 J. Grant, Aberdeen (drones and stocks stamped) with a c1790-1800 W. Grant chanter. Cocus, bone & ivory. Two missing stocks, blowpipe and mounts replicated using authentic materials by Pierre Blanchet. The bells are tiny, shallow and troublesome… The maker saved as much material as he could, the bass drone bottom joint has a flat side where the original turning square could not be turned entirely to a cylindrical shape, and the ivory mounts are made from two or three separate pieces.