Julian Goodacre bagpipe maker

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Julian Goodacre bagpipe maker

  • home
  • Blog
  • About Me
    • My Approach
    • My Workshop
    • My Writings
      • Miscellaneous writings
      • Bagpipe research
      • Pipe Making
    • From Tree to Pipe
    • Collaborations
  • My Bagpipes
    • English Bagpipes
      • Leicestershire Smallpipe
      • English Great Pipe
      • English Doublepipe
      • Cornish Doublepipe
      • Border Horn
    • Scottish Bagpipes
      • Scottish Smallpipes
      • Border Pipes
      • Great Highland Bagpipe
      • Montgomery Smallpipes
    • Other Bagpipes
      • Dürer Pipes
  • Your Bagpipe?
    • Choosing Your Bagpipe
    • Buying your bagpipe
      • FAQ
      • My Waiting List
    • Beginning Your Piping
  • Music Shop
  • Contact

Miscellaneous writings

A Broken Glass
A Broken Glass

I wrote this article for the Newsletter of The Portobello Zen Buddhist Priory, which is in Edinburgh, in April 2008. My theme is about acceptance of things as they are.

Damage to bagpipes caused by rats.
Damage to bagpipes caused by rats.

 My letter to the Editor of Chanter (Spring 2009) on the subject of murophobia and the potential damage to bagpipes caused by rats!

GEORGE BURCHILL & PIPING IN GREECE

I wrote this article for Chanter, the journal of the Bagpipe Society, in February, 2013

One of the pleasures of being an instrument maker is the contact I have with some of my customers.

Gnaoua
Gnaoua

I wrote this enthusiastic piece in 2007 in Morocco about Gnaoua- a type of Moroccan trance music.

Into the Woods
Into the Woods

This is a piece on the use of Scottish Hardwoods that I wrote for FLORA CELTICA by William Milleken & Sam Bridgewater- a lavishly produced  and illustrated  book on  Scottish plants and the people who use them.  Published by The Scottish Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.2004

John Hegley and Me
John Hegley and Me

I first heard John on a BBC Radio 4 programme called The Comedy Room Upstairs which featured some of the new wave of ‘alternative’ comedians from London’s new venue The Comedy Store. This must have been in 1984 or 5.

Why Do I Play The Bagpipes?
Why Do I Play The Bagpipes?

This is my 'End Drone' article for the Winter 2008 issue of Chanter, the journal of The Bagpipe Society.
Have you ever asked yourself that question? It may seem entirely irrelevant to you to go down this mental path .....

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A Broken Glass

A Broken Glass

Damage to bagpipes caused by rats.

Damage to bagpipes caused by rats.

GEORGE BURCHILL & PIPING IN GREECE

GEORGE BURCHILL & PIPING IN GREECE

Gnaoua

Gnaoua

Into the Woods

Into the Woods

John Hegley and Me

John Hegley and Me

Why Do I Play The Bagpipes?

Why Do I Play The Bagpipes?

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various writings

  • A Broken Glass
  • Damage to bagpipes caused by rats.
  • GEORGE BURCHILL & PIPING IN GREECE
  • Gnaoua
  • Into the Woods
  • John Hegley and Me
  • Why Do I Play The Bagpipes?

Into the Woods

This is a piece on the use of Scottish Hardwoods that I wrote for FLORA CELTICA by William Milleken & Sam Bridgewater- a lavishly produced  and illustrated  book on  Scottish plants and the people who use them.  Published by The Scottish Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.2004

"Into the woods,
Each time you go,
There's more to learn
Of what you know".

 

I don't want to be cremated. It would be a waste of fuel as I won't burn easily. Place me six foot under in a wooden box (some unspectacular softwood will be fine) and plant a fruit tree over me. I want my return to the soil to enrich a tree as trees are currently enriching my life.

What type of tree? At the moment my favorite wood is plum. Currently we are making bagpipes from a large plum tree from Peebles that blew down over five years ago. Now seasoned, I cut it open to reveal wondrous pinks and magentas alongside areas of brown. Boring it can be a headache. It has a mind of its own. Full of swirls and small pockets of resin that can deflect the long thin drill, resulting in an infuriating graceful internal arc instead of a rifle- straight bore down the centre which is what we aim for. One more billet in the firewood sack. On some days plum decides not to be turned easily- on other days it willingly complies . The finished pieces retain magenta specks and flecks, but once soaked in oil these fade and within a few months are gone. The wood mellows to a rich dark nut brown. Bagpipes in plum look spectacular.


"The woods are just trees
The trees are just wood".


Different woods evoke different feelings in me. I love yew. We use a lot of yew. It has strange associations- curious wood and, like the tree, I sometimes sense, dark and foreboding. It contains poisons and mysteries. I feel uneasy about breathing its dust. Boxwood is wonderful- the clear yellow wood, so hard and pure and difficult to find. Prized for centuries by woodwind instrument makers for its tone. Not prized by me for its smell. I use it as an ivory substitute. All work with long pieces of boxwood is tinged with risk as it has a less- than- charming habit of bending dramatically once a piece is turned and finished. I don't want either of these over me, thank you.

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