Remounting a set of Athertons in full silver

This set of Atherton bagpipes, purchased from Dave in 2013, is the best set of pipes I have ever owned. It is a set of the Premier model and originally came with imitation ivory mounts. The plain silver ferrules and slides are original. Atherton bagpipes without a doubt are the best pipes the world has ever seen; I have to turn it into a full silver set. Unfortunately, when I contacted Dave silver projection mounts are not offered anymore, so I have to find my own solution.

Remounting silver projection mounts has not been an easy project. Pipe makers source their mounts from silversmiths who supply them in standard sizes and pipe makers turn their pipes to suit the mounts, not the other way round. It was very difficult to get silver projection mounts of a customised size from suppliers on a one-off basis and most refurbishers are not willing to work on existing pipe makers' pipe for very obvious reasons. Most refurbishers advised me to consult the maker for such a project. (However Dave does not make or supply silver mounts anymore...) It was back to square one.

I was very fortunate to have the help from art clay silver maestro, Ms Morana Lee (http://www.silver-craft.hk/index.php?lang=en), to make the silver mounts and the 8 mounts were made, over the course of 6 months, to the precise dimension of my pipes and the shape of the original Atherton plastic mounts was also perfectly replicated.

The mounts are solid, hand-formed, art clay silver which is 99.9% pure silver - much higher purity than 925 sterling silver. The silver mounts on average weigh at a hefty 112grams each and the full set weighs like a tank!