ABP1 McCallum Plastic Bagpipes (Acetyl) (Back Ordered)

I ordered a set of these to play gigs with in the winter. I don’t want to keep playing my vintage sets in the cold. I am happy with the pipes and think they produce a wonderful sound. Easy to reed and they went right away with minimal adjustments needed to the Balance Tone reeds. The BalanceTone reeds were a first for me after using other brands over the years. I have a feeling these with Kinnairds will be the common drone reeds for my students and bands I teach. I will be recommending these as well as McCallums Blackwood line to my students. Great Service from JHiggins!

First, for the love of all that is holy, do NOT get the Shepherd drone reeds that come standard with the set. They are horrible. I got these pipes for use in conditions/temperatures where I don't want to risk my good pipes. They didn't come set up - at all - so I spent quite a bit of time adjusting the hemp and switching out drone reeds to see if I could get them to sound decent. I finally pulled the reeds from my main pipes (EZee tenors/Canning bass) and used them in this set, and they sounded pretty good. They don't have the resonance of a nice ABW set, but for the purpose they are just fine. I think that a lot of beginners will be looking at these pipes. If you go this route, be sure you have somebody with a fair bit of experience to help you get them set up, because setting them up isn't as easy as with higher-end pipes. It will save you a lot of frustration. I'm going to be setting these up with drone reeds that mirror my main set, and using an upgraded chanter. Based on what I heard when I was switching stuff around with my main set, these will be just fine with the right drone reeds and some tweaking. (John's reply: I do want to mention that we do a very detailed review and set up of all pipes that we send. We tie in the bag, examine all the parts, and make sure we ship pipes we consider to be in good order. Each and every set we treat as if we are sending them to ourselves).

First off...WOW... amazing customer service by J.Higgins. Such nice people to work with and talk of the phone with. I've had this set of pipes for 8 months now and couldn't be happier. Paired with an MG bass, Ezee tenors, and a G1 Platinum chanter reed, this set of pipes sounds no different from a high end set of blackwood pipes with full cane reeds. Living in SE Texas right on the gulf of mexico is hard on any kind of wood and makes stability virtually impossible. This set of pipes is perfect for this kind of weather. I would recommend these pipes to any beginner since they are at a reasonable price point. (But for gods sake have someone who knows what their doing set them up...it's a headache to figure out).

Received my new pipes today and I could not be happier. John called me before they shipped to let me know they were out of the bag I wanted, but offered an upgrade for free. He also recommended a different size bag for me. These pipes sound amazing and were easy to set up and play right out of the box. Now I just need to build up the stamina to play more than one tune. Thanks and I will definitely order all my bagpipe supplies from J.Higgins.

These pipes are amazing, dont let the price fool you. They sound, feel and look amazing. Perfect for beginners due to being "plastic" pipes, theres not all the worry that comes with wood pipes, and perfect for experienced players who want a pair that they dont have to treat with kid gloves that still sound, look and feel great. Couldnt be happier with these, and a big thank you to John for the phone call before shipping them out.

Bought these pipes for my daughter. They sound great. They definitely are not as classy looking as my wood pipes, but you can’t tell from a distance. She really likes them. John took a lot of time helping me pick a package that would work for her. I can’t say enough good about the guys at J. Higgins.