A Rookie Mistake Ordering Another Kilt

[Jacques]

Where the "I've done this so long I should have known better" thing happens to me is with the pipes.

The pipes are cantankerous anyhow, and have a way of misbehaving in a way they've not done before, and at the worst possible time. That's IF you do everything you're supposed to do, take every precaution, do all the preparation that 40 years piping has taught through many mishaps.

As if that's not enough, sometimes I do something that's just plain stupid.

The worst for me is plain forgetting stuff:

-showing up at a wedding without my kilt hose

-showing up at a memorial service without my kilt

-showing up at a memorial service with the wrong pipes

Wrong pipes, eh? Didn't know. Call me ignorant or uninformed, but i thought one set (Highland Pipes) was the same as another.

[OC Richard]

I thought one set (Highland Pipes) was the same as another.

Yes and no, you can have two sets of Highland pipes, the instruments themselves the same, however one is set up for playing in a pipe band and the other is set up for doing Concert Pitch gigs.

In the old days Highland pipes were tuned around Concert B flat so your pipes could sound good to piping judges and also be in tune for playing with brass ensembles, pipe organs, etc.

But the pitch of the Highland pipes kept creeping higher and higher and now they're tuned a quartertone sharp of Concert B flat.

The new sharp pitch is ingrained with piping judges so serious competition pipe bands have to be tuned that way.

Here's the 2019 World Champions who, of course, are playing at the modern sharp pitch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znTbK9F8ArM

Which means the pipes are too sharp to "play well with others".

So it behooves pipers who play in competition pipe bands, who also do gigs requiring being in tune to Concert Pitch, to maintain two sets of pipes, one dedicated to the sharp competition pitch and one dedicated to Concert Pitch.

Here are pipers set up to play at Concert Pitch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1UvqC8CQbE

For several years now I bring both sets to every gig just to be sure!

The alternative, which I did for many years, is to maintain only one set of pipes, and constantly be switching that set back and forth, which can be a hassle.

[Jacques]

Yes and no, you can have two sets of Highland pipes, the instruments themselves the same, however one is set up for playing in a pipe band and the other is set up for doing Concert Pitch gigs.

In the old days Highland pipes were tuned around Concert B flat so your pipes could sound good to piping judges and also be in tune for playing with brass ensembles, pipe organs, etc.

But the pitch of the Highland pipes kept creeping higher and higher and now they're tuned a quartertone sharp of Concert B flat.

The new sharp pitch is ingrained with piping judges so serious competition pipe bands have to be tuned that way.

Which means the pipes are too sharp to "play well with others".

So it behooves pipers who play in competition pipe bands, who also do gigs requiring being in tune to Concert Pitch, to maintain two sets of pipes, one dedicated to the sharp competition pitch and one dedicated to Concert Pitch.

For several years now I bring both sets to every gig just to be sure!

The alternative, which I did for many years, is to maintain only one set of pipes, and constantly be switching that set back and forth, which can be a hassle.

So it's the pitch of the reeds? One set of pipes tuned for use in a pipe band, and another set of pipes tuned for solo, as examples. Dunno if "tuned" is the right word, but i think i understand.

Thanks Richard

[OC Richard]

So it's the pitch of the reeds?

For the drones, yes, it's just the reeds. The bass drone can usually be moved back and forth with no problem, but with the tenor drones you usually have to put different reeds in them.

Because many tenor drones work best "high on the pin" and if you have them high like that for the modern sharp pitch you can't put them even higher for Concert Pitch (shorter sharper longer flatter).

With the chanter you really have to have separate dedicated chanters for Concert Pitch B flat (466 cycles) and the modern sharp pitch (around 480 cycles).

Now, it doesn't take all that long to switch your tenor drone reeds and switch chanters, and many pipers just do that, using the same set. I did that for many years.

But it's ideal to have a dedicated set of pipes for each pitch, so each set is "happy" at the pitch it's used to playing at, and you don't have to muck around with re-reeding and re-tuning everything all the time. Also if you're switching a set back and forth it can't really settle down, yes you can make the pipes play at a pitch but if the pipes aren't used to that pitch they might be wonky, be unstable, give you trouble.

As it happens I have two vintage sets, and one loves playing at the new sharp pitch and the other won't play at the new sharp pitch at all. It wants to stay down at the old pitch, at Concert Pitch. So I keep that set there.

[Jacques]

For the drones, yes, it's just the reeds. The bass drone can usually be moved back and forth with no problem, but with the tenor drones you usually have to put different reeds in them.

Because many tenor drones work best "high on the pin" and if you have them high like that for the modern sharp pitch you can't put them even higher for Concert Pitch (shorter sharper longer flatter).

With the chanter you really have to have separate dedicated chanters for Concert Pitch B flat (466 cycles) and the modern sharp pitch (around 480 cycles).

Now, it doesn't take all that long to switch your tenor drone reeds and switch chanters, and many pipers just do that, using the same set. I did that for many years.

But it's ideal to have a dedicated set of pipes for each pitch, so each set is "happy" at the pitch it's used to playing at, and you don't have to muck around with re-reeding and re-tuning everything all the time.

As it happens I have two vintage sets, and one loves playing at the new sharp pitch and the other won't play at the new sharp pitch at all. It wants to stay down at the old pitch, at Concert Pitch. So I keep that set there.

Okay, i understand now. But it can also depend on the instrument itself; depending on the type of materials used in its construction, the age of the instrument/materials/parts and how it was made in the first place, ie. individual craftsman's style.
Riverkilt, i took over your thread brother, sorry.

[Stephanie]

Glad they were able to get you a kilt quickly. I am horrible at measuring my first USA kilt was a bit too big. The size I needed, they had very low stock and none I was interested in and I was too excited to wait. So I went down 2 sizes thinking, I can lose a bit surely. Yeah, right. Wrong. So now, it fits.. but is quite tight. I actually have 2 that way now as I found a preowned a few days after I exchanged thinking they would work. UGH. lol

[MichiganKyle]

My first kilt was a Sport Kilt in Black Watch. Measured according to my understanding of their directions. Got it in and it was unusably too wide. Had it tailored down. Once it was tailored so I could wear it at the right height, it ended up being somewhere in the range of about 2" to 2.5" too short. Wore it for a little bit to get a feel for how I needed my next one made.

Ordered another Sport Kilt, one size smaller in width and longer. Length was perfect, width was decent but they didn't use enough material for my hip width, so it distorts the tartan quite badly to wear it. That one's rather a shame, because the St. Patrick's tartan is one of my favorites, and I wish I could get it in P/V. I love both the color mix and the origins - most likely designed for American pipe bands so they could play Scottish instruments to celebrate an Irish holiday. As an American of mixed descent, I find that very fun.

I think the biggest problem for me getting into the world of kilts was figuring out how to measure for them, particularly where your anatomical waist is. As a guy, you don't really encounter clothing which sits at your anatomical waist, so it's easy to measure in the wrong place and mess up both the waist and length measurements. Hip measurement was fairly easy, and although I didn't get that perfect at first, either, it was at least very close to correct. But where to wear a kilt is something that's absolutely obvious once you wear one but despite reading and looking at pictures, it's something that's hard to get a good feel for without any experience. And all the measuring instructions in the world can't help you if you think you'll be wearing it at a different height and base all your measurements on that misconception.

[MichiganKyle]

I should note, too, that I mentioned Sport Kilt because that was where I got my first kilt, but they're a little different because of their "standard" sizes. Which, in my opinion, makes it far less scary for a newcomer but easy to get something wildly ill-fitting. I mentioned my St. Patrick's kilt didn't have enough material for my hip size - that's because I went down a waist size and the hip size went down with it. The next time I bought a Sport Kilt, I had a pretty good idea of what I needed, and called and asked them for a size-up of material for a size-down of waist, with extra length, and that fit great. But it took until the third try for me to figure out what I actually needed.

[c0urt]

all the different fit guides and sizing guides is part of what pushed me to want to just sew another one. Buying clothes in the u.s. can be hard, i have two shirts in the que to tailor now.

[OC Richard]

One thing I've had happen at least twice over the years, when ordering kilts from Scottish kilt makers (who I realise are flying blind due to not being able to measure me in person) is that they added a couple inches to the measurements I provided.

Once bitten, twice shy perhaps?

I've had a couple kilts made by a local maker who measured and fit me in person so I knew exactly what measurements resulted in a kilt that fit properly.