Pleat question for pipers and pipeband people.

[Peter C.]

As it is a civilian pipeband it would normally be pleated to the sett. The military pleat to the stripe. That being said, he can pleat them any way he likes, as you said-it doesn't matter.

Peter

[OC Richard]

As it is a civilian pipeband it would normally be pleated to the sett. The military pleat to the stripe. That being said, he can pleat them any way he likes, as you said-it doesn't matter.

Peter

I have to completely disagree with this.

Pleating to the sett/tartan is a modern innovation, and in the old days all kilts, miltary and civilian alike, were pleated to the line/stripe, or in early kilts often pleated at random.

Pleating to the line/stripe, and pleating to the block, are very popular amongst civilian pipe bands.

(Pleating to the block is where a portion of the tartan which has no vertical element is chosen for replication across the pleats. Or, in some cases a very weak/subtle vertical element is present but the kilt still looks pleated to the block at any distance.)

In fact at many competitions I've attended (including some in Scotland) around two-thirds to three-quarters of the pipe bands (all of them civilian) are either pleated to the line or pleated to the block.

Gordon kilts, in my opinion, never look quite right when pleated to the sett. It's a military tartan, and Gordon kilts have always been pleated to the yellow line, and they look great that way.
For that matter, all military tartans look odd to me when pleated to the sett.

I'm a big fan of pleating to the line anyway, and for the vast majority of tartans I'd prefer to go that way. There are a few tartans that, no matter what portion of the tartan is selected for repetition across the back, the effect of the tartan is greatly weakened. These few look better pleated to the sett to my eye.