Buying a bagpipe

[Gunnar]

Does anyone know where I can find good quality bagpipes for a reasonable price?

[beloitpiper]

Ask your bagpipe instructor.

[Gunnar]

I live in Iceland.....do you really think that there are bagpipe instructors here? I'm thinking of package deal ,perhaps, with the practise chanter and everything.

[BEEDEE]

Gunnar - learning to play the bagpipes without an instructor is generally not advised. That said, there are some CD's and other learning aids out there. I would strongly advise you to not buy anything other than a chanter at first. That way you are only out about $100. Pipes will cost you around $1,000 and up.

Read Andrew Lenz's Bagpipe Journey before you do anything else. http://www.bagpipejourney.com/

Brian

[george7]

I think $1000 is very reasonable for a set of bagpipes. I thought $1800 was reasonable when I ordered my set. Reasonable is what you're willing to pay for what you want to get. If you're looking for 'cheap' that your pipe band won't shun you for, I suggest finding out what your pipe band won't shun you for. They might be OK with Dunfion polypenco pipes, but the pipe major might not like plastic pipes (with the exception for parades).

[K. MacRuadh]

Gunnar-
I recommend you go to Bobdunsire.com and join the forums. Lots of information can be found there. IMHO, learning to play the pipes properly on your own may not be impossible but would be very difficult. Like BEEDEE said, get a quality practise chanter and work on that for six months to a year, and then think about getting up on pipes. Whatever you do, don't buy the cheap Pakistani junk.
Cheers.

[Prester John]

I second the Dunsire suggestion! I use a Gibson chanter and find it the best sound to practice with.

For pipes, after about 9 months I purchased a used Dunbar P-3 for about $500 (a VERY good deal) and it is all I'll ever need. My son is a very good piper and he has a set from Musician's friend, and loves them. The only drawback to those is the bag. We replaced it, and glad we did. Great set otherwise, though. For a beginner, go with a polypenco/delrin set, and for these stick with Dunbars.

For a great deal, try here:

http://www.hotpipes.com/p1main.html

[zeeew]

I figure the first person to make pipes had to be self taught, but they also got to set the rules for everyone else to follow. With that, if you have a CD to play along with that can slow down the particular grace note timing, so you can hear how there are a few that have different timing than others, it is possible to learn self taught fingering on the practice chanter. If you have lots of patience and dont mind spending quite a bit of time making all types of adjustments to your pipes, and have a teaching system that can show and tell the tuning issues pipes have, I believe it is possible to learn to play bagpipes as well. The instrument itself is a whole different thing than a practice chanter.
I also agree about checking out Bob Dunsire forums.

[druid]

I must respectfully disagree on the Dunbar Pipes. One lady in our band plays them and they sound...well...terrible. We've tried several brands of cane reeds, including our last chance with EZ Drones and they still are the most difficult to tune and just sound...well, bad.

Her chanter sounds ok but that's because we have Naill chanters and are all matched (as well as reeds) but her drones......man...I wish there was something we could do with them.

One young man has a pretty new (meaning within a year old) set of Gibson Pipes and they sound very nice...a little loud but again, they are new[ish] and should settle within a year or two.

I play a set of Lawries and love their sound. They aren't Naills......but they do sound good for either band or solo. They too were difficult to find cane drones for but I found that they really liked the EZ Drones - so that's what I play now. I used to be the "traditionalist" and previously insisted on cane...but the difficulties in finding a compatible drone became increasingly difficult and expensive to procure in mass.

[Kiltedfirepiper]

I must respectfully disagree on the Dunbar Pipes. One lady in our band plays them and they sound...well...terrible. We've tried several brands of cane reeds, including our last chance with EZ Drones and they still are the most difficult to tune and just sound...well, bad.

I play Dunbar P2's w/ Cane Bass, EZ tenors and get nothing but compliments from fellow pipers... my Chanter is also Dunbar, and with the reed I have in it now I only have tape on two holes to be in tune....might be a bad set...its been known to happen

KFP