Scottish Bagpipes

Great Highland bagpipes at a reasonable price, especially suitable for your first set.

The pipes on this page are standard modern-style ones; we also offer antique-style pipes which play the same as modern ones, but have a somewhat different appearance.

Our pipes are kept here in stock and are set up and carefully checked over by an experienced inspector before they are sent out to you. (They are not drop shipped, uninspected, from a wholesaler.)

Standard Highland Bagpipes

BAG2. Natural rosewood, white plastic mounts and plain nickel trim.  Black velvet bag cover, ivory fringe and cords.  Fullsize. These pipes now have a synthetic bag, no sealing needed. Includes two sets of reeds, rubber stoppers, hank of hemp thread for joints and a chunk of beeswax (for keeping the hemp in place). Bass drone length is 33" when adjusted to shortest length. Mid-East brand. $175

Halfsize Pipes

  Halfsize pipes are also called session pipes by the Irish, who use them with groups or sessions of musicians because they do not play as loudly as fullsize pipes. They are sometimes called parlour pipes by the Irish, presumably because that's where they were sometimes played. However, it should be noted that they still play quite loudly. There is some confusion as to what are called parlor pipes, as the miniature pipes BAG5 below can also be called parlor pipes. (It should be noted that Irish pipes are uilleann pipes, which are pumped with the elbow and play a diatonic scale in key of D.)

Halfsize pipes play the same scale and pitch as fullsize pipes. They use a fullsize chanter reed, but smaller drone reeds. Please note that these look more like 7/8-size pipes, and are ideal for young people or small-sized adults who find the fullsized pipes a bit large.

BAG4. Cocus (tan-colored) wood, shown at left, with mock ivory mounts and engraved nickel trim. Bass drone length is 29" when adjusted to shortest length; the chanter hole spacing is the same as on fullsize pipes. Hide bag. Black velvet bag cover, ivory fringe and cords.  Includes two sets of reeds, bottle of sealer (seasoning), rubber stoppers, hank of hemp thread for joints and a chunk of beeswax (for keeping the hemp in place). Mid-East brand. $150. Out of stock.

Miniature Size Pipes

A Note on Miniature Size Pipes: These are fully working pipes that use a plastic practice chanter reed, not a wood chanter reed like the fullsize and halfsize pipes; this reed makes them a lot easier to play. However, it also means that they do not play at the same pitch as the halfsize and fullsize pipes; they play the same as a practice chanter. Adults who don't want to have to work their lungs too hard would like these, as they don't take nearly as much breath as the larger sizes of pipes. These pipes do, however, have traditional cane reeds that are quite small because the drone pipes have a small diameter. It can take some trouble to get these new small drone reeds to work.

These pipes are also ideal for younger children who are proficient on the practice chanter; the chanter holes are closer together and are easier for young fingers to reach.

BAG5. Miniature size pipes by Mid-East. Cocus wood, black velvet bag cover with ivory cords. These look like the BAG4 pictured above, but are smaller. Cowhide bag. Price includes sealer, stoppers, two sets of reeds, hemp and beeswax. $140

A Note About Our Budget Pipes

There are a lot of bad things being said about pipes made in Pakistan. Some of these things may be true about some pipes from Pakistan, but we need to get one thing straight. Not all Pakistani pipes come from the same manufacturer, any more than all American cars do.

Our Mid-East pipes are decent, and a great value for your money. Here at The Harp and Dragon we check them out; if by accident you get a defective set, we will replace them (this holds for everything we sell, actually). At this writing, we have yet to hear from anyone who got a leaking bag, the complaint we hear the oftenest elsewhere about Pakistani pipes (we assume that those people who complain have resealed their bag at least a couple of times; this is commonly needed on a brand new set of pipes).

Ordering information and Order form

If you do not receive a reply from us within a day or so after sending in an order on the order form, or after emailing a question, please contact us again, as our reply may have been thrown in your spam bin or may have returned to us. Exceptions: weekends or when we note on our front page that we are closed for any reason.

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The Harp and Dragon
25 Madison St, Cortland, NY 13045 USA
Tel 607-756-7372   Fax/Ans mach 607-756-0366