Where's your Bagpipes?

[PiobBear]

For example, here's what I would probably have to spend at a minimum right out of the gate to set up a set of Pakistani bagpipes in addition to the purchase price:

L&M Hide Bag $125.00
McCallum Pipe Chanter: $130.00
Selbie Drone Reeds: $85.00
Ross Chanter Reeds : $9.75 ea.
Rubber Blowpipe Valve: $2.75
Throw in some waxed hemp, tie-in cord, etc., say around $275 and change, including shipping.

Add the $135.00 purchase price of the Pakistani pipes...with shipping, maybe $150; $425.00. You might need to rebore or replace the chanter stock, the blowpipe and the blowpipe stock; some folks polish and even rebore the drones; not only a lot of work for a dubious outcome, but beyond the ken of most beginners. If it doesn't work out, the chanter and drone reeds will have a higher resale value than the entire set combined.

Now, here's what is available on EBay today:

Lawrie with original blackwood chanter; dinged up mounts but probably playable: $305.00.
2 Hardie's with their orginal blackwood chanters; one with an extra Dunbar chanter: $400.00 & $700.00.
Shepherd with engraved silver; cracked but probably repairable tenor: $405.00.
Gibson with a blackwood chanter $810.00.
2 McCallum AB4's: $1,150 & $1,100.

Most of these come complete with cases, reeds, hemp, etc., and can be set up to be reliable, steady, musical pipes, where the beginner can focus on his piping instead of endlessly tinkering with his wonky pipes. If it doesn't work out, he can probably sell them for about what he paid for them. These are what I would call "beginners sets".

[wgority]

You might need to rebore or replace the chanter stock, the blowpipe and the blowpipe stock; some folks polish and even rebore the drones; not only a lot of work for a dubious outcome, but beyond the ken of most beginners. If it doesn't work out, the chanter and drone reeds will have a higher resale value than the entire set combined.

Generally the bore of the drones on the Pakistani manufactured pipes are almost impossible to polish. When attempted, they tend to get fuzzy because of the sheesham (variant of rosewood) is not good. The best you can do is re-bore with an absurdly sharp gun drill and hope that the result is not too open to give a good voice.

I've redone chanters for these and found it a frustrating proposition.