Displaying Bagpipes

[OC Richard]

McCallum has used attractive photos like this in adverts for their Duncan MacRae reproductions



and that's probably how I would display a family heirloom set.

With tartan background (if the pipes are dressed in solid colours) and the drones arranged like that. It's fairly standard to display pipes with the drones splayed out just like that, the same as they would look when being played.

In the photo above, the blowpipe and chanter are going across the drones, however I would probably have them going up alongside the drones, like this



If your pipes are dressed in tartan then a plain background would look best



Here's the famous piob-bhreac displayed on Skye, they have the blowpipe going up beside the drones but the chanter below, which is more how the pipes would look when being played. This is possibly the most "classic" way to display pipes.



Now, these sets are just laid out or propped up, but what I would probably do is cover a sufficiently-sized piece of wood with fabric (tartan, velvet, etc) then put it in a frame that could be hung on the wall like a painting.

Then the pipes would be attached in a way that didn't scratch the pipes, such as silky cords like are used to hold curtains, or as was suggested above velcro which would allow you to remove the pipes when you wanted.