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Border Pipes, Reel Pipes, Session Pipes
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| Border pipes are a very old instrument, as evidenced by this painting, "The Bagpiper," by Sir David Wilkie, 1785-1841. |
Unknown to most Highland pipers, this ancient bagpipe is enjoying a spectacular revival as its popularity explodes among the Highland and smallpipe piping communities.
Border pipes developed in the lowlands of Scotland and in the Border regions where Scotland and England meet, predominantly in the Northumberland region around Newcastle. They seemed to first appear as a bellows instrument in the mid- to late 1600s. They are sometimes called 'Reel pipes' or 'Lowland pipes,' and are very similar to the very popular 'Northumberland Half-Longs' manufactured and sold in great quantities by the Robertson pipemaking firm in the 1920s and '30s.
LISTEN: Matt Seattle's lovely air "Lindisfarne" played on a set of Garvie Border pipes.
Though mouthblown sets have existed and are gaining popularity today, they were primarily bellows blown and in the key of 'A.' Their sound can be described as that of an indoor Highland pipes, though the pitch, with the 'A' at A440, is much lower. They operate at a lower pressure than the Highland pipe. While some makers prefer a bass/tenor/tenor drone configuration, most make sets with a bass/tenor/alto configuration.
The fingering is the same as the Highland pipe, with one notable added feature: with some simple cross-fingering (Highland pipers know this as 'false' fingering) on a well made Border chanter, you can play an almost fully chromatic scale that includes F-natural, C-natural, G# and more. This opens the range of the instrument to more unusual, eclectic and funky tunes that can't normally be played on the Scottish smallpipe.
LISTEN: Hear the Highland pipe scale followed by a cross-fingered chromatic scale played on a set of Garvie Border pipes.
Though popular with soloists, Border pipes work particularly well in ensembles. Their sound carries better than the quieter Scottish smallpipes, but it doesn't overwhelm the room the way a full set of Highland pipes will.
Below you will see Scottish smallpipes by two makers:
Garvie Bagpipes by Nigel Richard
Fred Morrison Reelpipes
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| Garvie Border and Session Pipes by Nigel Richard |
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| Nigel Richard at the lathe in Edinburgh. |
Nigel Richard has been making Border pipes and Scottish smallpipes since 1987. Located in Edinburgh, Scotland, Nigel is a superb musician (cittern, guitar) and pipemaker. More than 350 of his sets are being played by amateur and professional musicians around the world.
Nigel's Border pipes are renowned for their stability and robust, rich tone, and the specially designed Ezeedrone drone reeds he fits into his pipes make for steady, trouble-free drones. Pipes are tuned to concert A440 so that they can be played with other instruments.
For his Border pipes and his Session pipes — the mouthblown version — Nigel prefers to work with Mopane (pronounced mo-PAN-nee), a lovely, honey-coloured African hardwood. Mopane has superb tonal qualities and its lovely reddish-tan finish suits the visual style of Border and Session pipes perfectly.
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| Left, a standard mounted Border or Session pipe drone; at right, a fully-mounted drone with nickel-plated sleeves on the tuning slide. |
To compliment the rich Mopane colour, Nigel uses boxwood for the ferrules, button-style projecting mounts and ring caps. He uses gold or nickel plate on the common stock ferrule and tuning slides.
Plain or engraved Sterling silver mounts can also be arranged.
Nigel's bellows are made with high quality leather and dark Elm cheeks and contain quite a large volume of air. The air output tube is removable for easy storage, and the bellows cheeks are inlaid with Rosewood.
For those wishing to have a couple of extra notes on their chanter, Nigel will also install up to three keys, with high B being the most popular.
Note that keys must be affixed when the chanter is manufactured and cannot be added later. Border pipes can also be equipped with a drone switch which allows the drones to be completely shut off in one quick motion. This is not available on Session pipes as these are configured like Highland pipes with a separate stock for each drone.
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| Garvie Session pipes in combed blackwood, fully mounted with drone slide sleeves. |
Nigel's Session pipes are basically a mouthblown version of the Border pipes. They are equipped with a watertrap filled with a desiccant which absorbs moisture to help keep the reeds dry.
This is extremely important in a set of pipes with a cane chanter reed that operates at such low pressure. These reeds are much more delicate and much more expensive than Highland pipe reeds, but will last for years if they are kept dry. Each set comes with two canisters to maintain dry reeds during long playing sessions.
Of course, the Session pipes are less costly than Border pipes as the bellows is not required. However (in my opinion) you do miss out on the special pleasure offered by playing pipes with a bellows rather than by blowing!
Garvie Border and Session pipes are extremely popular, but can generally be delivered in four months or less. Each set comes with a fingering chart showing all cross-fingered notes.
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| GB1, GS1, Standard Border or Session Pipes |
These sets are uncombed and minimally mounted with boxwood projecting ferrules and ring caps on the Mopane sets and imitation ivory on the blackwood sets.
GB1, Standard BORDER pipe in uncombed Mopane
Cdn $3265
GS1, Standard SESSION pipe in uncombed Mopane or Blackwood
Cdn $2775
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| GB2, GS2, Fully-Mounted Border or Session Pipes |
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| Fully-mounted Garvie Border pipes. |
Still uncombed, these sets add projecting mounts to the sets above: boxwood on the Mopane sets, imitation ivory on the blackwood sets. All stock ferrules are gold or nickel-plated. All pipes are shipped with a green bag cover, as shown in the photo at right.
GB2, Fully-mounted BORDER pipe in uncombed Mopane
Cdn $3485
GS2, Fully-mounted SESSION pipe in uncombed Mopane or Blackwood
Cdn $2935
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| GB3, GS3, Fully Mounted with Drone Sleeves |
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| Garvie Border pipes in Mopane, fully mounted with metal tuning slide sleeves. |
Add metal sleeves to the tuning slides of the pipes described above. One additional option provides for a Session pipe in combed and beaded African blackwood, fully mounted and with drone sleeves. This set is pictured just above the GB1 description.
GB3, Fully-mounted BORDER pipe in uncombed Mopane with metal tuning slide sleeves.
Cdn $3551
GS3, Fully-mounted SESSION pipe in uncombed Mopane or Blackwood with metal tuning slide sleeves
Cdn $3095
GS3, Fully-mounted SESSION pipe in combed and beaded Mopane or Blackwood with metal tuning slide sleeves
Cdn $3400
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| Fred Morrison Reelpipes |
I remember many years ago taking the train with Fred Morrison to Inverness for the Northern Meeting, talking pipes and people on our way to the big event. Fred and I competed as contemporaries for the Gold Medals, and while we both achieved our competitive goals, our piping lives have diverged. Today, Fred is one of Scotland's leading Celtic folk musicians, as comfortable on Border and Uilleann pipes as he is on Highland.
We all have memorable piping performances in our minds, and one of my most memorable is of Fred at the ball after the 1986 Glenfiddich Piping Championship, Fred played a 10-minute set of two-parted strathspeys and reels in a light-fingered, driving groove that I can describe only as magic.
McCallum Bagpipes has utilized Fred's talent to create a set of Border pipes which they call 'Reelpipes.' They offer a bellows-blown as well as a mouthblown version.
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| A switch on the Reelpipes common stock allows all three drones to be switched off. |
The pipes are made of African blackwood and are mounted with imitation ivory and silver-plated nickel ferrules with your choice of five engraving patterns. The pipes are fitted with a hide bag, specially made Ezeedrone drone reeds and a cane chanter reed. The drone stock can be removed from a stock that is tied into the bag.
The bellows is big, powerful and beautifully made, The mouthblowns are equipped with the same style of watertrap/desiccant system first developed by Nigel Richard.
The pipes are in concert A440, and as you'll hear from any of Fred's recordings, are a joy to play with other instruments.
Fred sets each instrument up before it leaves Scotland. I recheck the pipes when they arrive hear, make sure they have fared the trip well and make any final adjustments before sending the pipes to you.
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| FMR, FMRM, Fred Morrison Reelpipes, Bellows or Mouthblown |
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| Fred Morrison Reelpipes, bellows-blown |
Each set comes complete, as described above, checked by both Fred and myself before they reach you.
FMR, with bellows
Cdn $3725
FMRM, mouthblown
Cdn $3250
| Reelpipes Engraving Patterns |
Plain |
Celtic |
Thistle |
Victorian Scroll |
Zoomorphic |
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| Fred Morrison Reelpipes, mouhtblown |
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