The liquidation of the once world-beating bagpipe and reed manufacturers RT Shepherd & Sons has been announced.
It will be a sad day for all friends and followers of the founder, P/M Bob Shepherd, who started the company in the 1970s following his Worlds-winning spell with Dysart & Dundonald Pipe Band. Bob died in 2019.
The company’s chanters and reeds were played worldwide and it was responsible for some outstanding innovations in the sound and construction of the bagpipe.
RT Shepherd was first with the Canmore bag, plastic drone reeds, Bb chanters and many other developments in the instrument.
Cigar-smoking Bob welcomed everyone to his Fife premises. An an RSPBA judge, he was always ready with advice for pipe majors, especially those in Grade 1.
The liquidation is compulsory. This means it has been forced on the company by the courts, usually due to the company’s inability to pay its debts.
The official notice reads: Notice of Appointment of Liquidators: RT Shepherd & Sons (Scotland) Limited; Company Number SC165038
Registered office and Principal Trading address: 164 Jamphlars Road, Cardenden, Fife, KY5 0ND. The nature of the business of the company is manufacture of musical instruments
Type of appointment: Compulsory Liquidation; Name of office holder: Steven Wright, 2nd Floor, 18 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 6NU; Capacity of office holder: Provisional Liquidator; Date of appointment: 21 March 2025
Office holder’s telephone number and email address: 0141 535 3133 and glasgow@dains.com; Alternative contact for enquiries on proceedings: Gillian Campbell, tel: 011 535 3133; gcampbell@wd-br.co.uk
The Process:
- A licensed insolvency practitioner is appointed to oversee the liquidation process.
- The liquidator sells the company’s assets to generate funds.
- Funds from these sales are used to pay off the company’s debts and liabilities.
- Creditors are paid according to their priority, with secured creditors being paid first.
- Once all debts are paid the company is dissolved and it ceases to exist as a legal entity.
Liquidation is often associated with insolvency, where a company cannot meet its financial obligations. Creditors are the primary stakeholders in the liquidation process, and their claims are prioritised.
Shareholders may receive a return if there are assets remaining after all debts are paid. In some cases, directors or shareholders may face personal liability for company debts, especially if they have made personal guarantees.
Liquidation is a formal legal process, and correct procedures must be followed. The company name remains live on Companies House but its status switches to ‘Liquidation’. The removal of the name only comes about on dissolution, approximately three months after the closure of the liquidation.
Hi
Sad new on above maker.
Been seeking a decent Pipe Maker (chanters) in the UK for a few months now for a slightly different project with frequent orders .
Is it a dying trade now ?.
All I seem to find is Asian Suppliers , if anyone has any info on a good UK supplier of good workmanship & using a good quality wood can you be so kind as to drop me an email please ..
Kind Regards
Cameron
ccglasgow@yahoo.com
Hi Cameron
All the best pipe makers advertise with Piping Press. Click on their ad for contact details.
RW
Is there any talk of someone taking over the company and keeping the brand and their still-very-popular products alive and available respectively?
This is so sad. I used to order their “Hide Regulator” pipe bags for my students and myself (I have two, still going strong after 15 years). I called round there in August 2024 during to try some pipe chanter reeds, as I have done on several occasions in the past, but they were closed.
Does anyone know who actually made Shepherd pipe chanter reeds ? Could they continue to make them under their own name ?
As far as I’m aware they were made in-house by various people down the years, some of whom went on to make reeds independently in their own businesses. I have a vague recollection that their consistency came from a cutting process that was by done by some sort of CNC-like machinery, before being hand assembled. I might be entirely incorrect in that recollection, however they did appear to be visually very accurately replicated, at least in more recent years. Some of those who were listed as reed makers at Shepherd’s appear to remain active in that business in the Fife area, but utilising their own particular idiosyncrasies in their production no doubt.
I sold Bob Shepherd (2) pipe chanter reed staple punches. The punches was a “first” in the world of solid tube staples. Prior to this punch the “Brass” staples had to be turned on a lathe which was labour intensified and therefor costly. My punch created the oval opening as well as the profile and could punch (12) per minute.
R T Shepards took an order from me on the 30th of March after they had gone into liquidation. I assume I will not receive my order an have lost my money
Their orders were done on PayPal. See if you can cancel it via them and get refunded. I’m sure you’ll have protection from them.
I had been waiting for a chanter order from them since October. Sadly, more than 180 days (paypal’s limit) had passed to claim a refund once I found out about the liquidation.
I am sad and angry they strung me along with a series of lame excuses why my order was taking so long.
Hello Piping Press,
Sad news of the demise of RT Shepherd.
Big shoes to fill there.
However I think you’ll find Ross Bagpipes from Australia produced the first synthetic pipe bag with canister system ppand also the first synthetic reeds that had cane tongues.
Regards.