Donald MacLeod (pictured above) was born in 1860 and began making bagpipes and violins as a hobby perhaps around 1890. He is described as a Master Bagpipe Maker and his instruments are on display at museums in both Tain and Inverness. These bagpipes were made by Baillie Donald Macleod of Tain and sold to a John Ross on 11th August 1894 for £7 10s. As well as having the original receipt, we have a wonderful photograph of John with the pipes on the High Street in Tain for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee celebrations in 1897. (John is centre of the photograph with the pipes under his right arm).
Donald’s son, Torquil Macleod, was born in 1897. He was educated as an engineer and worked out of the country for a period of time. He returned (1930?) and continued to work the business with his father. Donald died in 1960. Torquil died in 1974. Pictures below are of his violin and bagpipe. I found the following words regarding this violin.
“Torquil took to making violins as musical fashions changed. This is his ‘Stradivarius’ model, no.3, a fraction under 14″ in the back, well-wooded in the neck, with a strong scroll. The belly-plate is of open-grained spruce, carefully graded – the two-piece back and ribs of nicely figured maple, with simple, neat edging – both efficiently purfled. The transparent oil varnish, sparingly applied, is an attractive honey-amber on a pale ground. A few tool-marks can be seen here and there. Pegs and end-pin are original boxwood, fingerboard is in blackwood (from his pipe-making stock, no doubt) with ebony tailpiece, chinrest and Thomastik Vision strings. A fine violinist recently singled out this fiddle from several he tried one day, praising it’s ‘breadth of tone’ and ‘rewarding nature’.
It came to me in the case Torquil sold along with it to a Mrs Parker, who paid him 12 guineas, including the bow, in 1933. The original bill of sale is also here, duty stamped and signed, as is the label. For those of you with a particular interest in Scottish makers, there is an exhibit at Inverness Museum, including his tools, one or two of his later violins and some pipes.”
