Not surprisingly, I've owned and played more bagpipes than any person should be allowed to in one lifetime. I confess that it's been a weakness of mine since I first started playing bagpipes is 1971. My first bagpipe was lent to me by an old piper in Kitchener by the name of Iain MacIntyre. It was a full ivory Lawrie bagpipe probably from the 1930's or 1940's. I was forever having issues with the bass drone, which was warped in several places. My next bagpipe was a Chalice top Kintail. Ed Neigh had several sets in the Guelph Pipe Band and when they got the drones right, they were awesome. The only problem was that they would stay "right" for about a minute before drifting out-of-tune.
After playing my first Henderson I knew that it would be difficult to find its equal. I played a WWI Henderson through my Clan MacFarlane years and into 2000. The following are a few of the bagpipes I've owned along way with sound files.
After playing my first Henderson I knew that it would be difficult to find its equal. I played a WWI Henderson through my Clan MacFarlane years and into 2000. The following are a few of the bagpipes I've owned along way with sound files.
My Bagpipes - some of them...