A pipe should sound beautiful and keep that sound for as long as possible. What seems self-evident calls for a careful balance of design, material, workmanship and care: the metal must be easy to work and have the desired tonal qualities, yet permanently bear its own weight. In our pipe shop we are therefore concerned not only with historical models, but just as much with the question of why some solutions have proved their worth and others have not. This knowledge has informed the building of new pipes and the restoration of historic ones since the earliest days of the workshop.
The Right Metal
In choosing an alloy we draw on the study of historic pipes, our own experience and long-term trials. We are less interested in how hard a sheet feels when scribing or bending than in its creep resistance – its ability not to sink under its own weight over many years. The two are by no means the same.
For larger pipes in particular, two historical approaches have proved their worth in our experience: high-lead alloys with about 97 percent lead, and high-tin alloys with about 80 to 99 percent tin. Which composition is suitable depends on the demands of the individual organ; besides durability, sound and appearance play an important role.
Even so, we do not take historic alloys at face value. Their properties are also influenced by small additions and trace metals, whose interplay is not fully understood in every case. Mixing an old composition from today's, especially pure, raw materials therefore does not necessarily yield an equivalent material. Even a pipe by a famous maker is not immune to sagging simply because of its name.
Lighter Toward the Top
Just as important as the alloy is the distribution of wall thickness. We carefully thin the pipe walls toward the mouth, so that the metal at the top is markedly thinner than at the foot – ideally about half as thick. This relieves the pipe where extra weight is of little use, and at the same time gives it an open end that can be tuned gently.
This thinning is among the essential prerequisites of our pipe making. It serves the lasting stability of large pipes, protects smaller ones from tuning damage and, in our experience, benefits the sound as well. What matters is not merely whether a pipe is built thick- or thin-walled overall, but how alloy and wall-thickness profile are matched to one another.
With industrial production this way of working has largely fallen into oblivion. Sheets of uniform thickness can indeed be produced more efficiently, but they require other solutions for stability. We hold on to careful thinning because it allows us to combine outstanding tonal qualities with durability.
Casting and Working
Even in the making and working of the sheets we distinguish between what serves the sound and what actually improves stability. In our experience, scraping the inner surface with the scraper influences the sound, but does not increase creep resistance.
The same applies to sand casting: the sheets may feel harder at first, but they do not become permanently more stable as a result. Its significance for us lies rather in the tonal qualities that we value especially in medium-sized and smaller pipes. Nor do we regard hammering as a reliable path to greater creep resistance. What feels harder to the hand is far from better in the long run.
Gentle Tuning and Preservation
The care taken in pipe making continues in the handling of the finished instrument. Every act of tuning stresses the material, which is why correctly dimensioned pipe lengths and carefully thinned tops matter from the very start. Pipes that are too short can only be tuned under unfavourable conditions; repeated interventions eventually deform not only the top but also the sensitive cut-up area, and thereby impair the voicing.
For tuning we use exclusively our own lathe-turned lignum vitae tuning horns, which are matched to the respective pipes in numerous sizes. Their light weight, slender cone and smooth-polished, slightly greasy surfaces allow especially gentle handling of the metal. With sensitive historic material in particular, this makes a considerable difference to the lifespan of the pipes.
Before a tuning horn is used, however, we first check whether cleaning is necessary. Dust on the languid, on the inner walls or in the flue can dull the tone. Merely retuning, or even shortening the pipe, then treats the symptom and leaves the cause in place. We therefore clean with suitable brushes at every tuning first, and only then tune, as far as is necessary.
In restorations, restoring the correct pipe lengths is a fundamental part of our approach. Damaged tops are repaired, deformations are carefully reversed and pipes that have become too short are lengthened where needed. In this way we create the conditions for the surviving material not to be stressed or damaged with every later tuning.
From alloying and casting through thinning to later care, we regard pipe making as one coherent task. After all, a beautiful sound should convince not only at the acceptance test, but remain with the instrument for years to come.
