Dear Michi,
Some years ago I accidentally broke my most favourite tipper, which had been specially made for me by a lovely man, Bill Howard, of Perranporth, Cornwall, who had since died. I tried several different types of replacement tipper, but none really "felt right", so I was in a real quandry. I had put in an order for a new Bodhrán from Eoin Leonard, maker of BELGARTH BODHRÁNS, so I 'phoned him and enquired if he could make me a replica tipper, or even two, if I temporiarly glued together the broken tipper, scanned an image of it into my computer and e-mailed the image to him !!
He accepted the challenge and I did as planned, specifying the type of wood to be used and making sure to first print off a copy of the image to ensure that the printed image was the EXACT size of the original tipper. Shortly thereafter my two replacement tippers arrived and, believe me, they WERE perfect replicas !! I was delighted and very impressed at Eoin's ability to produce perfect three dimensional tippers from a two dimensional e-mailed image.
If you still have the pieces of your broken tipper and have a yen to obtain an exact replica, I strongly recommend that you get in touch with Eoin.
Incidentally, he makes really superb bodhráns and I am happy to recommend him to anyone wanting a quality bodhrán that not only looks great, but is an absolute joy to play. I've owned my Belgarth bodhrán for nearly 4 years now and am truly delighted with it.
Contact details :
Eoin Leonard,
Belgarth,
Kirbister,
Stromness,
Orkney Isles KW16 3HU.

Tel/Fax : +44(0)1856 850127
E-mail : bodhrans@belgarth.com
Website : www.belgarth.com

OOOPS.........I've just realised that the original query from Michi is dated June '99, so no doubt he has solved his problem long since but, having typed out the information, I'm going to post it anyway as it may be helpful to someone else who is mourning a lost, or broken, favourite tipper.