Pipe Band Kilts

[Alan H]

Pretty much all the pipe bands I know of wear kilts pleated to stripe. The local exception to that is the Santa Cruz Pipe Band, but then they don't even wear the same tartan! That fits right in with the "alternative" aspect of Santa Cruz.

ANY-way, in McMurdo's latest pic essay of the Georgetown Games he shows two pipe bands wearing kilts pleated to sett. Thus my question...

"Most" pipe bands kilts are pleated to stripe but is it any sort of common for a Pipe Band to wear kilts pleated to sett?

[Spc. Scott]

Most of the ones I've seen are pleated to the stripe. But there are so many out there that I haven't seen....

[george7]

Our pipe band wears pleated to the Sett, as do many other Florida pipe bands. It's whatever the Pipe Major decides. And the pipe major's way is "The Right Way" (all other pipe majors are wrong).

[Alan H]

I ask because I've had banging around in the back of my head, the notion of forming a Leland Stanford Junior University Pipe Band for when I stop throwing heavy stuff.....probably at the end of next season.

Students don't have a lot of money. Demanding that students purchase a $450 kilt to join the band makes no sense at all. But if the students could drop the bucks for a Stillwater Standard in the Royal Stewart tartan, well....it's RED (the Stanford Cardinal is not the bird, it's the COLOR "cardinal") and they're affordable and they look pretty good. Team that up with an inexpensive Stillwater belt/buckle and simple black leather sporran....a pair of $20 white pipers hose and a white shirt and black shoes and we've got something. Students could join up and only lay out about $135 and they're outfitted, instead of several hundreds.

I wonder if Jerry would consider carrying a solid RED heavyweight kilt? Hmmm.

[george7]

Running a pipe band 101: Play gigs, charge for gigs. Charge whatever you can (min $200/set). Book more gigs. Have a 't-shirt wench' and sell t-shirts. T-shirt wenches can be male or female. They carry around a bucket and sell t-shirts and ask for donations. If you're pipe major, be feared. If you are not pipe major, be fearful.

[Splash_4]

Alan, you sir are the man! A kilt maker, kilt designer, a heavy athlete and a future pipe major! Wow man!

Also to keep this on topic, during the Ga Stone Mountain Highland games two years ago, about a third of the bands were pleated to the set or were solid color...

[beloitpiper]

My current band has theirs pleated to the sett. It's all preference, but a lot of bands follow the military styles, i.e. pleated to the stripe.

[PiobBear]

Most of them around here are pleated to the sett.

[Macman]

Most of them around here are pleated to the sett.

In our neck of the woods there are more to the stripe than the sett, but there are lots of bands each way, so you could choose what you like, Alan.
Our band's kilts are to the stripe (PM's preference!).

[Alan H]

OK, then....thanks for the input, guys. It's filed away for future reference.