Author:
Chris C.
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Date Posted: 08:39:53 07/23/03 Wed
>I have been playing guitars and keyboards for over 30
>years and have always wanted to play bagpipes. I have
>been looking on ebay and I see quite a difference in
>price/quality just as in guitars.
With bagpipes, quality can vary (especially on Ebay, from what I've read from others' comments), just as it will with guitars, but it's to a greater degree. Most reputable bagpipe brands are excellent in quality. But there are some very inexpensive bagpipes (mostly made in Pakistan, for some reason) out there that are just as hard to get to tune and play right (I've read some horror stories, where some have chanters with the holes in the wrong place) as a real cheap guitar. Imagine trying to play a cheap guitar where some of the frets weren't in the right place.... that's the sort of thing you may be dealing with.
A lot of these cheaper bagpipes get posted on Ebay, sometimes in the guise of 'vintage' or 'quality' instruments.
I know you can get a cheap guitar to play well if you take enough time, i.e. move or rebuild the bridge, dress a few frets, change the tuners, replace a pickup, etc. With a guitar you're maybe talking $50-$100 or so in replacement parts, depending on how far you want to go, sound-wise. Perhaps a bit less in cost playability-wise.....
But an equivalent set of real cheap bagpipes can cost *hundreds* (from what I've read) to rebuild to get up to playable, tunable standards. You're talking a $60 hide bag (one that will actually hold air), new chanter (can cost $100 - $400 or more), a new set of drone reeds ($60 or more), etc.
Like you, I have played guitar for 30 years (bagpipes since 1981), so I know a bit of what I'm talking about.
Find a reputable bagpipe dealer on the internet, or go to a highland games and check out the pipes people are playing.
>What would be a
>'good' set of pipes for a beginner?...As a guitar
>player I have a couple Gibson Les Pauls (what I
>consider to be the best guitars) but I wouldnt
>recommend a beginner to buy one
With bagpipes you have a narrower scope, the real cheap ones are like the cheapest guitars possible, and the name brand bagpipes (Dunbar, Kron, Naill, etc.) are all pretty equivalent, quality wise -- and are all more or less equivalent to a Gibson LP in reputation. Very little 'medium' quality instruments.
Most of my guitars are medium quality instruments. They sound as good as Gibsons, with very little modification. That sort of thing is nearly impossible to do with bagpipes.
>so please advise me on
>a good beginner set of pipes. Feel free to email me,
>thank you.
Hope the info helps.
Chris C.
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Re: Buying new pipes. Which ones?