Modified bagpipe?

[HarborSpringsPiper]

This would take you down an expensive path with probably a steep learning curve but have you considered the Northumbrian Small Pipes? I'm seriously considering learning to play the NSP and so have been reading as much as I can and trading emails with many players over the last few weeks.

They have a closed cylindrical chanter played with curved fingers and are a low pressure bellows blown system. If you are unfamiliar with the instrument, check out Ian Lawther, Andy May, Pauline Cato and many others playing on YouTube and elsewhere on the net.

I've never tried to play any kind of a whistle attached to a bag but am doubtful of this arrangement too. I'm just not aware of any successful bagpipe that doesn't use reeds.

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Saw the above post come up after mine. I guess it can be done but I wonder how pleasing the sound is?

[OC Richard]

First, I have to say that Highland bagpipes don't have to be played with "straight fingers" and many top pipers don't.

Many good bagpipe teachers would prefer that a student's fingers be relaxed, not held stiff in an artificially straight way.

BUT... that doesn't mean playing with the fingertips!

Many if not all orchestral woodwinds are played using the end-pads of each finger.

Each finger has three fleshy pads, the end, middle, and the one closest to the knuckle.

On the Highland pipes (as well as the uilleann pipes and many other types of bagpipes) it's crucial that the MIDDLE pads be used on the lower-hand's index, middle, and ring finger.

Hold your hand out with fingers fairly straight, palm up, and you'll see that the end-pad of the pinkie/little finger is in line with the middle pads of the other three fingers. That fact, and the fact that the lower hand approaches the chanter from above at an angle, is why those three middle pads must be used.

But that doesn't mean that the lower-hand fingers must be held stiff and straight! They can have a relaxed, natural curve to them.

Here's the wonderful piper and reedmaker Steve Megarity. Note the complete relaxation of his hands. No stiff fingers! (It's hard to tell on this video, but I played in a band with him for two years and I can tell you that his lower-hand fingers are quite curved.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccMDKpNNsEM

The upper hand of the Highland pipes can be played with the end-joint pads.

But... if you MUST play with your very fingertips on both hands you can investigate the Northumbrian Smallpipes as Harbour Springs Piper says, or check out Scottish Smallpipes in the key of D.
D SSP chanters are notoriously small and often the fingerholes are too close together for Highland pipers to comfortably use their normal way of fingering.
But they're an ideal candidate for fingertip-playing.

BTW larger bagpipe chanters and Irish Low Whistles are difficult/impossible to play with the fingertips because of their widely-spaced holes. People can comfortably cover more widely-spaced holes with flatter fingers and using the mid-joint pads than they can with arched fingers and using the fingertips.