The McCallum folk pipes are a great addition to your bagpipe collection. They are a quiet alternative to the Great Highland Bagpipe and produce a rich, melodic sound that is perfect for indoors, and small folk gatherings.
The low A note on the chanter is tuned to concert pitch A (440Hz) which means that the pipes will naturally play in the keys used by other musicians when playing traditional/folk music. The pipes come set-up, ready to play with covers and cords, a synthetic bag, moisture control system, cane chanter reed and ezeedrone synthetic drone reeds.
The pipes are made from black wood and have plain alloy mounts and mopane projecting mounts, and bag cover and cords.
Take a look at our blog about Beginning the Smallpipes: https://www.jhiggins.net/blog/beginning-the-smallpipes/
Give the pipes a listen:
5 Reviews Hide Reviews Show Reviews
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Great Indoor Pipes
Lovely looking and sounding indoor bagpipes! They are much quieter than the GHB! For comparison they are much closer in volume to Pipers Choice Kitchen Pipes or R.G. Hardie Twist Trap Practice Pipes. They require more air than practise pipes, but nowhere near the GHB. Came quickly and set up pretty well, a little hemp and drone adjustments and they sound fantastic. I actually wish the chanter reed was louder, but as a beginner some of that could be due to inexperience. My stand came with a zippered cover so McCallum must have responded to earlier requests to add one. The moisture control is working well in the relatively dry climate of Colorado and I can play a long time with no moisture problems. Very very happy with these little bagpipes and am getting good feedback from those who have heard them. I would recommend them not only as a quieter bagpipe but as a really good training tool to progress into GHB. I chose the African Blackwood and they are very resonant, beautiful and easy to tune. Really nice pipes!
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Great Indoor Pipes
These pipes are beautiful in appearance and sound great. J. Higgins offered a great price & surprisingly prompt delivery, even though they were on back-order. My wife and I each ordered a set of these pipes, and both were perfect. I was worried about how to tune the middle drone, at E rather than A, but it was simple - just eliminate the WA-WA sound as with the other drones. I was also worried about the different spacing on the chanter, but that was no problem either. Indeed, it’s actually a bit easier to play than a standard chanter. I do wish the bag cover had a zipper or Velcro along the bottom. Only the end of the bag is open, fastened with Velcro, making it difficult to move the cover out of the way to access the zipper on the bag. My wife and I are delighted that we now have pipes that we can play indoors, without ear plugs, and that we can play them with other instruments.
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Sweet, sweet pipes!
I like my McCallum small pipes so much, I bought a second set for my husband. Unsurpassed quality, playability, and tone!
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Beautiful and Robust
This set of Folk Pipes came quickly and as noted, ready to play. I only added a little hemp to a few joints. They are beautiful. The chanter is plastic and just as long as a Highland chanter. Though not as loud as the great Highland pipes, the sound is rich and surprisingly robust.
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Perfect!
Well and wonderfully made. Arrived set up and ready to play (even the drones were tuned). Plays like a dream. Thank you, J Higgins, for your great product and service!
