R.G. Hardie Twist Trap Practice Pipes Bagpipes

This is a great set of practice pipes. It has a tenor and bass drone and a chanter. The chanter can be assembled with the blow pipe and chanter alone to make a separate practice chanter. It plays in the key of A so it is easy to play with other musicians. I bought it to learn as a stepping stone between the chanter alone and the Great Highland pipes. It will help me get used to learning how to play with a bag and appropriate breathing, etc. Even when I eventually become proficient at the Great Highland Bapipes, this instrument will still be useful for practice and also playing in the company of other people who don't want to listen to the loud, loud Great Highland Pipes indoors and also for the ease of playing with other musicians. It comes with a great binder-like case that zips closed and also Fraser Warnock style practice reeds. Oh yeah, the drones and chanter all use the same practice reeds so the set up is simpler.I had a great experience with this merchant. They were shipped directly from Scotland and came pretty fast considering the distance. It was packaged great and everything arrived in good shape. I would buy from this merchant again and I really appreciate the quality and design of this great instrument from R.G. Hardie.

This came in much earlier than expected. Came in undamaged. Although these aren’t Highland Bagpipes, they sound amazing and easy to tune. So far I have Amazing Grace sounding pretty good for the 1st time ever even playing the pipes. Great buy would purchase again. This is the real deal.

Received these today. Super fast shipping. I assembled them quickly and after some tuning I was up and running. I haven't piped for a couple years so I had to recall some past knowledge as to setup. The drones required quite a bit of pull out to lower them to pitch. I made a plug for the tenor....one included for the bass drone. The reeds are easily overblown but that's fine. I was playing like they were full pipes. It is helping me with my air control. After a bit of practice, I was keeping it consistent. My lip strength is very weak from not playing and might only be able to play a song or two on the great pipes. I played for over an hour on these practice pipes! I am extremely pleased. This will get me back on track playing the great pipes but this is a legitimate stand alone instrument. If I'd had these while taking lessons I'd have been much more successful and inspired.

First off, the package arrived in its usual mangled u.s. mail condition. I took photos of the broken bass drone, and crushed box. I suppose I could send it back, but little if anything would probably arrive. After checking the reeds, and tuning, I can say the chantor has all the quality of a poorly made kazoo. The drones are much louder and after changing reeds, and brands, it didnt get any better. Close inspection showed "Sprues" of plastic from the injection molding process in the blowpipes base, and in the Chantor. After a midnight emergency in the goat pens, I modified it into a very expensive goat enema bag, which works Wonderfully after you drill out the blowpipe! As far as tonal quality and construction of parts, well, BUY A KAZOO. The sound is much better.

I know these are intended to be only practice pipes. With all three reeds the same it was difficult for me to here the chanter clearly so I change out the chanter Reed for a brighter and louder style. With very good results. I enjoy playing them very much. They have helped me as a beginner piper to progress some important skills.

As expected, a quality item from RG Hardie! Great pipes for transitioning the beginning piper to the Highland bagpipe..lightweight and highly portable... The seller, Achiltibuie Bagpipe specialists, was outstanding in customer service! Shipping and packaging were stellar! Ten stars for a company of excellence!!

Super cool practice pipes. I don’t have the lungs right now for big pipes so these are great. Arrived unbelievably fast!

very nice better than the cheap version