From the
24hourcampfire.com -- I've been sort of bloging the whole experience
for my friends at the campfire. Most of them are a bunch of rifle loonies
I've been entertaining y'all with stories
about the little Scotsman that the Lord blessed us with. Why God would want to
bless the union of a hillbilly girl and her German-American husband with a
little Scotsman is beyond me, but we're coping. He's going to be 9 in April, and
last week he sat in for his first practice with the Caledonians, the big pipe
band here in Cincinnati.
Well sir, last night was a big night for us. His teacher came over for dinner
and gave him a bagpipe lesson. We ate steak and then settled into the den and
brought up the projector video and I opened up a browser session and we started
to figure out what kind of pipes to order for our little Angus. He's just so big
for his age, and so far along in his piping, that it was deemed appropriate to
start him early. So there we were, the culmination of about 2 months of research
on our part.
Buying bagpipes is at least as intricate as buying a new rifle, at least the way
the rifle looneys on here talk about it. Each manufacturer has a distinct sound.
You've got about 10 major variables, and then you get into the ornamentation--
nickel versus silver, blackwood versus plastic, and so on. Then you have the
aftermarket add-ons. He needed the equivalent of a Timney trigger and a Leupold
scope for what he's into. He's had two teachers so far, and they disagreed on
which pipes to buy-- sort of a Sucks vs Savage thing. The teacher's father put
his oar in the water, and suggested I go up to Cleveland and visit Gibson, the
only bagpipe manufacturer in the States. I may still.
Angus cut to the chase. He did not want anything to keep polished. He did not
want any engraving. He wanted it plain and simple. Why? He wanted to keep costs
down. (I told you, God gave us a Scotsman). The nearly plainest set of pipes
from a good manufacturer set us back about a grand, and then the teacher took
the helm and added on a bunch of extras. I came back on to add the credit card
#, and off we went.
Angus put the finishing touch on it. "Pull the trigger on it, Dad!" I
clicked, and they were ordered.
Here's what we settled on:
McCallum
AB2
. . . ordered from thePipersHut.com --
sort of like MIDWAYUSA for the pipers.
They're coming from Scotland, and at this point I have no idea when they'll show
up, but they'll probably be here for his birthday in April.
UPDATE 02/16/2007
They arrived last night. We had just enough time to unpack them and
then bundle them up in a suitcase and take them up to practice at the
church.
Angus' teacher, Katie, made the announcement before practice that the band
had a new piper, and then Angus, Katie and the pipes went to a back practice
room where Katie spent all of her normal lesson time showing the class how
bagpipes show up, and what you do to get them ready for play.
In the hour or so she spent showing the class, Katie only managed to get a
small portion of the preparation compete. Most of this involved hemping
the fixtures-- wrapping the fittings with waxed hemp string to produce a good
seal. Before Brendan can start wailing on them, Katie has to do the
equivalent of free-floating the barrel, bedding the stock, collimating the
scope and doing a trigger job.
I may be able to shoot some pics of Angus holding the pipes over the weekend,
but they still are not put together. I'm dropping them off at Katie's
later on so she can finish the prep work and have the pipes ready for his next
lesson.
Angus and the box
Inside the box
After it was all unwrapped.
Angus' pipes laid out in the demonstration.
Katie, a bagpipe prodigy and Angus' teacher.
