The Rusty Piper
May 29, 2024
What can you construct from a bucket of rusty scrap metal railroad spikes, horseshoes, and square nails? A mess in your backyard, of course, if you have a stick welder Read More
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Raven Bagpiper
January 6, 2024
Someone recently asked me, “Why did you chose the name, Raven Bagpiper? Are you a Baltimore Ravens fan? Or are you named after Edgar Allan Poe’s dreary midnight visitor a Read More
Stalking the Wild Haggis
December 2, 2022
Officially, haggis is a sausage filled with finest lamb, beef, oats, onions and spices. It’s a great source of iron, fibre, and carbohydrate with no artificial colours. The plural of Read More
Bagpipes for Memorial Services
November 20, 2022
Music can reach into the very core of our being, communicating feelings that words frequently find difficult to express. In the context of funeral rituals, music plays an important role Read More
The Piper Dinosaur
July 22, 2021
Apparently, bagpipes have been around for 76 million years! Parasaurolophus, meaning “Near Crested Lizard”, is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived in North America (Alberta, New Mexico, and Utah) Read More
Wild Boar Chanter Stock
June 28, 2021
Let me state at the outset of this post that I hope you like this…… but truly do not care if the wild boar decoration on my GHB chanter stock Read More
Free Bagpipe Sheet Music – Let the Internet Downloader Beware!
June 5, 2021
Well… when you download free bagpipe sheet music from random corners of the Internet you may find a few gems, but I have noticed that quite often the “Free” musical Read More
Pandemic Bagpiping
February 8, 2021
Bagpipes are a performance instruments whose sound is compelling, undeniably loud, and unique. To witness an entire pipe and drum band marching and playing together is a soul gripping encounter Read More
(Re)introducing unbleached authentic cannabis fiber hemp to bagpipes!
September 9, 2020
Pictured here are the final stages of “hemping” a joint on a bagpipe drone with cannabis fiber hemp thread. The lighter colored top layer of hemp is wrapped over a Read More
Acid Etching Brass Ferrules
September 7, 2020
Pictured here is the Thistle Top of my Boudicca model Great Highland Bagpipe (GHB) tenor drone. For bagpipe components, I typically uses a metal lathe to cut my own ferrules Read More
The Berserker GHB
September 4, 2020
Yes! I make my own bagpipes! This unique Great Highland Bagpipe (GHB) model pays homage to the Viking berserkers. Berserkers were a special group of very skilled and dangerous warriors Read More
Piper’s Combat Kit
July 5, 2020
This blog post is for bagpipers. If you have not yet assembled a piper’s combat kit to take with you to scheduled bagpiping gigs, do it now. It will save Read More
DIY Little Black Dress
July 5, 2020
This blog post is for bagpipers. You dress up to attend performances and so should your bagpipe! You have spent countless hours honing your playing skills, mastering band repertoire, and Read More
The Crow Great Highland Bagpipe
July 1, 2020
Yes! I build my own bagpipes! Big, black, bold, and beautiful. There ain’t nothing dainty about this set of Great Highland Bagpipes (GHB). This husky beauty is probably better suited Read More
Boudicca Great Highland Bagpipe
June 1, 2020
Yes! I build my own bagpipes! The design of my Boudicca Great Highland Bagpipe (GHB) pays homage to the great Celtic warrior queen Boudicca who in CE 60-61 led tribes Read More
History (Mystery) of Bagpipes
April 15, 2020
No one knows when or where the earliest bagpipes were introduced to the world’s unsuspecting ears. Suffice to say that their distinctive sound has been inspiring and entertaining audiences for Read More
Pipe Dreams and Musings
April 13, 2020
“A baggepipe wel koude he blowe and sowne, and therwithal he broghte us out of towne.” – The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, late 14th century Bagpipes are magical. The Read More
Joining the Circle for the First Time
April 13, 2020
Hummm. I struggle to describe the experience. It is a dark night and the winds are blowing. I have been working up to this moment for nearly two years, developing Read More