My bagpipe.

My first experience.

I took my first tiny steps into the world of piping, when I bought a beginners practice chanter set made by Bagpipes of Caledonia. I bought it when visiting Scotland with the Navy, and consisted of a practice chanter, a few instructional pamphlets and a cassette tape. The set was made in cooperation with the former Capt. and head of the british "Army School of Bagpipe Music" John A. MacLellan. It was a fairly good set to get started with, even though the chanter and the written material was not of the highest quality. Knowing what I know today, I probably would have shopped for something different in quality, but it got me started and a I had a great deal of pleasure with it.

After a while other interests took over, and my beginners set spent a couple of years in the dark.

Some years later the interest was triggered again, and the set came into action once again. At the same time I first thought of buying my self a real bagpipe. Not knowing anyone to guide me, and not knowing any better, I ordered a bagpipe from a Copenhagen musicstore. The clerk knew nothing of the origin of the pipes in question (or about bagpipes in general....), but it was far cheaper than any I had heard of so far. Back then I thought a bagpipe was a bagpipe, regardless of origin, so I realy had no major worries ordering one. It would take a while before i realized my huge mistake.....

Shortly after ordering I picked up my new set of pipes. With excitement I opened the package, and there it was. At that time I found it beautiful. All black with silvery "bits" and a Royal Stewart tartan cover. The tartan turned out to be the only thing this wreck had in common with Scotland.

My paki-pipes. Without cover and cords

I soon came to realize, that I had fallen into the same trap so many unknowing beginner pipers had fallen into before me. My new bagpipe was pakistani made, and could best be described as a load of crap (excuse my french). The drones were uneven, with several cracks (hidden under a layer of varnish) and so was the chanter. Any attempt to touch the inside of the drones would certainly cause splinters to your finger, and so on. I never got to play them, and they now hang on my wall as a warning never to do anything like it again. A very good example of price and quality travelling together.

Looking down the inside of a tenordrone top. Smooth isnot the first word that comes into mind!

There may very well have been an increase in the quality of the asian bagpipe production since then. I will however still warn anyone considering to buy such a bagpipe. Especially if you, like me, have no experience, dont know what to look for and dont have any experienced help. Buying cheap, can turn out to be a very costly experience. 

 

Trying again.

So in the beginning of 2005 when I was looking for a bagpipe once again, I did so with a really bad, but useful,  experience behind me. Since Denmark is sadly lacking any shops dealing with bagpipes, I had to go elsewhere. And in this time and age the natural place to look was of cause the internet. And there were lots to chose from. Scottish pibes (at a rather high price) and "others" at a considerably lower price. Whenever tempted to buy anything but scottish made pipes in african blackwood though, I just had to look across my shoulder where my paki-pibes are hanging, and I was right back on track again. Anyway, I found a lot of very useful sites with information on what to look for (please look at the links pages). I allso found plenty of information on makers and suppliers in Scotland, and names as Gilanders, Nail and McCloud seemed to pop up anywhere. So I read a lot. About makers, suppliers and players, their experience etc. After reading tonnes of material on the subject, I finally felt ready to go looking for the bagpipe itself. 

 

E-bay.

Destiny led me to one day tumble over a bagpipe on the internet auctionsite E-bay. It was brand new, looking nice in the pictures, and at the time bidding only reached some £350. It was made by Douglas McPherson of Kirriemuir, Scotland who was allso the seller. Bearing in mind my earlier experience, I was a bit reluctant to take the final step and actually buy via the net. So i did search out some information on the seller first.

 

"My" seller.

I  found out, Douglas was educated by  Bert Gilander, who is a very well known name in bagpipe making. After completing his education, he made bagpipes for others for more than 30 years, before starting his own business in 2004, the "McPherson Bagpipes". That was some information I could relate to. I did however hesitate for a while, before I finally jumped in on the bidding.

As the observant reader may have figured out by now, I won the auction. Winning bid ended at £420. I decided to pay a little more to get a Bannatyne zipper bag and EzeeDrone drone reeds  (wich I had read to be good). So all in all, incl. shipping to Denmark, the price ended in a total of £540. Now, to anyone not familiar with bagpipe prices: Thats a very fair price indeed for a good bagpipe.....

Before telling you more, I would like to say the following: I have had several very experienced pipers to look at my pipes. They all say I made a very good deal. My pipes sounds very well, look very well and are a very good piece of craftmanship. BUT..... I have allso been told, over and over again, never to buy this way again. "Dont ever buy a bagpipe you havent heard and seen!" Unless of cause you have complete confidence in your seller/maker. And I must say, I do.....  I would not hesitate for a second before buying from Douglas again.

I am very well aware today, that I had luck buying this way and could just as easily have lost my money. Buying a bagpipe, or any other instrument for that matter, via the internet, mail order or any other way preventing you from seeing and hearing it live first, is far from the optimum way of buying. Basically you have no chance of knowing what you bought until you actually have it in your hands. And by then your money could be long gone. But since the possibility of buying a good bagpipe here in Denmark are rather limited, buying the mentioned way may be the only solution available. Whether choosing to buy from an internet auktion as I did, or from a mail order company will pritty much ad up to the same, as there are risks both ways. E-bay does however have one feature I like. There is a public rating system enabling you to get some prior knowledge of the dealer. Anybody buying from e.g. Douglas will be able to rate the trade afterwards. So if the item bought turns out to be of bad quality or the like, anybody will be able to see it. The ratings cannot be changed or deleted by the seller, but will remain public for as long as the seller uses E-bay. So if you look for a seller who has a lot of positive feedback and little or no negatives, you can take that as a sign of a generally fair seller.  Only thing you should bare in mind is, that the rating is not worth more than the person giving it.

 

Back to the pipes again.

Just a few days after paying, I received my pipes from Scotland. The difference between my paki-pipes and my new scottish pipes were enormous. Actually there was no comparison at all. To start with the drones, the outside were all smooth  with straight and equal combing (the pattern of rings round the drones seen on the majority of scottish bagpipes). The tenor drones were identical down to the milimeter and all drones had tight and straight mounted mounts, ferules and ringcaps. The inside were all very smooth and the drilling were perfectely centered. The chanter, allso made of african blackwood, were all straight and highly polished outside and in. In other words, these pipes were everything my paki-pipes werent.

 

What to look for.

If I were to buy my first set of bagpipes today, the first thing I would do, would be to seek out the help of someone who knows about bagpipes. Nothing beat the personal experience from someone who knows about the craftmanship as well as the musical apect. Not to mention a certain knowledge of bagpipe pricing. If you dont know anyone yourself, try to get in touch with a pipeband in your area (you should be able to find some at the internet) and see if someone will help you. Secondly, with or without the above mentioned help, I would try to get to see and hear the pipes before buying it. In that way you can at least get a feeling of the quality of the craftmanship as well as the sound of the pipes. But as mentioned above, not all have that possibility. So if I had to buy via the internet or likewise, I would seek out all the possible information available about the pipes and the seller prior to buying. Ask all the questions you can possibly think of. Ask for more pictures if necessary. Anybody interested in selling will give you what you ask. If they are to unvilling, or e.g. only supply one or two pictures, I would back down. It may not be a scam, but its definately a possibility. And there are other pipes around. Bare in mind, that the honest and well reputed sellers have spent a long time creating a good name for them selves, some over may years in the business. They havent done it by selling bad pipes, and they will do a great deal to make sure you are happy with your purchase, and thus maintain their reputation. So a good portion of knowledge of what you are looking for combined with buying from a well reputed seller, should keep the risks to a minimum.

You might want to look at the page "Warning" where I have tried to summon up a little on dodgy internet sellers and their instruments.

 

To be continued.....