What Bagpipes Should I Buy? Four Sets From Plain to Most Decorated

by Jori Chisholm, Founder of BagpipeLessons.com
Last Updated: October 9, 2026

Do not buy a set of bagpipes until you watch this. There are so many choices, for the pipes themselves and for everything that goes with them, and most of what you find online is about looks, not sound. In this video I walk you through four sets I personally play or recommend, from the plainest to the most decorated: the R.G. Hardie Poly Bagpipes, the Peter Henderson PH01 Bagpipes, the Peter Henderson PH02 Bagpipes, and the Peter Henderson Heritage Viking Bagpipes.

You will see the red flags to walk away from, what quality looks like when you hold a set in your hands, whether to buy new or used, what “sticks only” means, and the three ways each set comes from BagpipeLessons.com: Sticks Only, Basic and Premium. Everything in this video is written down, with links to all of it, in The Bagpipe Buyer’s Guide.

Key Points in this Video:

The red flags. A no-name set on eBay or Amazon for a couple of hundred dollars is a bagpipe-like decorative object. It will not work, and a working set costs more than $149.
What quality looks like. Solid hardware with no gaps or wiggle, bores like glass, and a stable sound that is easy to tune and stays in tune.
New or used. New pipes today are good enough that many of the world’s top players play brand-new sets. A used set usually needs a new bag and reeds right away.
Sticks only. Three drones, a blowpipe and five stocks. You still need a bag, moisture control, drone reeds, a chanter, a chanter reed and cords.
The four sets. The Poly never cracks or warps and has mirror bores. The PH01 is the classic look, the PH02 the stealth look, the Heritage Viking the most intricate engraving you will see. All four: R.G. Hardie, Glasgow, five-year guarantee.
Three packages. Basic gets you a set built and ready to play. Premium is your pipes set up the way I set up my own.

Links to Products Mentioned in the Video:

My Full Video on Each Set:

Chapters:
0:00 Don’t buy bagpipes until you watch this
0:57 Who this video is for
1:44 The red flags: eBay and Amazon
2:25 What quality looks like
3:05 New or used?
4:08 What “sticks only” means
4:39 Who makes these: R.G. Hardie and Peter Henderson
5:33 Set 1: R.G. Hardie Poly
8:08 Set 2: Peter Henderson PH01
9:52 Set 3: Peter Henderson PH02
10:40 Set 4: Peter Henderson Heritage Viking
11:50 All four side by side
12:42 The five-year guarantee
13:03 In stock now, and the three packages
13:22 Sticks Only
13:34 The Basic package
15:16 The Premium package
17:25 Which set is for you
17:49 Questions, subscribe, the Inner Circle

Watch the video above, or read the full transcript below.

Follow BagpipeLessons.com on your Favorite Platforms:

Video Transcript: Do not buy a set of bagpipes until you watch this video. Here’s the problem. There are so many choices. Different styles, different brands. Even inside one brand, there’s a dozen or more choices: this mount, that engraving, this wood, plastic. Does any of it matter for the sound? Is it all about looks? What is worth spending your money on? And then there’s everything else a set needs before you can play a single note: the bag, the reeds, the cords, the chanter, all the extras. I hear from pipers who want to get a good set, but they don’t want to waste their money. They’re looking online for good information from a source they can trust. So here it is. I’ve got four sets of bagpipes here today I’m going to show you, from the most plain to the most decorated. I’m going to walk you through what all these options are, what you should spend your money on, and the red flags to walk away from.

I’m Jori Chisholm from BagpipeLessons.com, and this video is all about how to spend your money wisely when buying a new set of bagpipes. Maybe you’re just starting out and you’re moving from the practice chanter to your first set of pipes. Maybe you’ve been playing for decades and you’re looking at getting a second set. Or maybe you’re a parent who’s looking at buying a set of bagpipes for your son, daughter or family member. And one thing I want to tell you before we start: everything that I’m going to talk about today is something I have personally played or personally recommend. I have also made a full-length video on my YouTube channel about every one of these four sets, unboxing them, setting them up, so you can hear them and see them in greater detail. All those video links are in the description below.

First, the red flags. If you search for bagpipes on eBay or Amazon, you’re going to find sets for a couple of hundred dollars or less. I’m amazed they are allowed to get away with this. These are not intended to be played as a musical instrument. They are what I call a bagpipe-like decorative object. They will not work. A set of pipes has a lot of parts that all have to work together. The whole thing has to be airtight, and these will not work for you. If you bought one, it’s not your fault. But one of the things you want to watch out for is if there’s no name brand on the pipes. A full set of bagpipes that actually works, that is quality, is going to cost more than $149.

Each week, the Inner Circle's lively sessions are designed to benefit pipers of all skill levels, all around the world.

LEARN FASTER. FIND GREATER ENJOYMENT FROM YOUR PIPING. JOIN ME.

Join the Inner Circle

So what are you actually looking for? Here’s what I look for on any set of pipes, whether they’re new or old. High-quality wood. Then the hardware: every mount, every ferrule, every cap that’s attached to the wood has got to be really solid. No gaps, no cracks, nothing loose, nothing that turns when you press on it or wiggles. You also want to look through the bore. You want it to be smooth and shiny and reflective, like glass. No rough patches, no gouges, no scratches. The thing that matters most about a set of bagpipes is the sound. A high-quality set has a stable sound. It sounds good, it’s easy to tune, it stays in tune. That’s what you’re paying for with a quality set of pipes.

Now, should you get a new set or a used set? When I was starting out many years ago, if you wanted a really good set of bagpipes, you had to get an old set. A Henderson from before the First World War was one of the best sets of pipes you could find, and they still are really high-quality pipes, but they’re antiques, they’re expensive, and they’re hard to find. When I started out piping, new pipes weren’t considered high quality enough to be played by top pipers. Thirty years ago, most of the top pipers in the world were playing old pipes from that golden era of pipe making. Today, many of the top players play brand-new sets, just like this one here, and that’s because the manufacturing, the material and the design have all gotten really good. For you, that’s good news. You can get a great, high-quality set of bagpipes at a great price. A used set might not be the bargain it looks like, because a used set is going to need a new bag and new reeds and all kinds of stuff, and right away you’re adding a lot more money on top of whatever you think you’re paying for that old set.

So let’s start by looking at what a set of bagpipes is. The bagpipes themselves are what we call sticks only. Sticks means the pipes themselves. So we have three drones, a bass drone and two tenors, a blowpipe, and five stocks. That’s a set of bagpipes, but it’s not playable. You also need a bag, a moisture control system, drone reeds, a pipe chanter and a pipe chanter reed, and the cords, so that the drones will stay on your shoulder when you play.

I’ve got four sets of pipes we’re going to look at today, and they’re all made by R.G. Hardie in Glasgow. R.G. Hardie and Peter Henderson are the same company, and I’ve been to the factory. I’ve toured it many times with my family, and I’ve watched them make bagpipes. The pipes are really high quality, and they are combining the best of traditional pipe making with modern technology. They have these amazing computer-controlled machines, so that whatever their design is, it comes out perfectly every time. The nickel is engraved by laser. Alastair Dunn, who is the director of piping there, is a double gold medalist, former pipe major of the Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band, and he plays these pipes, and he works very closely to get the sound that he wants. These pipes are played by top soloists and players in top pipe bands around the world.

Let’s start out with the simplest, most plainly decorated pipes by R.G. Hardie. When you order a set of bagpipes that is sticks only, this is what you’re going to get: a box with bagpipes in it and no extras. These are the poly pipes, and probably from where you are, you can’t tell that these are plastic. Some people call this Polypenco. Another brand name is Delrin. What R.G. Hardie calls them is acetal, but they all mean the same thing, which is this hard, shiny black plastic material. It is very strong. It will never crack. It will never warp. It is very stable. And what I love about these poly pipes is the bores. These are like mirrors. If you look down here, it is just totally shiny, totally smooth and reflective. They’re perfect on the inside. And what that means is that your sound is going to be smooth and efficient and stable. No warping, none of the problems that you might see with a really old wood set where the wood has changed over the decades and all sorts of flaws emerge. You have the beading and combing, which is this cool pattern on the drones, and then you have an imitation ivory ferrule. This is a ferrule here. Then you have these simple black projecting mounts, another ferrule here, and this we call the tops or the ring caps. A classic look with the imitation ivory and the black mounts. And with this set of sticks only, you’re going to get two tenor drones, this is one, you’re going to get a bass drone, five stocks, and a blowpipe. A really cool thing about the R.G. Hardie poly pipes is that the blowpipe is their Adjusty-Stik blowpipe, which is adjustable length, which is really good if you’re first starting out, because you can adjust the length and get it just perfect for you and your height and your posture. The other cool thing about the Adjusty-Stik blowpipe is that there is a really nice valve inside the blowpipe. Very durable, very reliable. I’ve got a set of these pipes and I play them any time I’m going to be playing in any kind of extreme conditions. If I’m going to be hiking out into nature, if I’m going camping, or if I’m playing on somebody’s sailboat. And I definitely play these pipes any time I have a performance in really bad weather: playing in a crowded pub on St. Patrick’s Day, playing somewhere where the weather’s going to be cold or wet. I don’t want to take my blackwood pipes into those conditions. I take my R.G. Hardie poly pipes. They sound great, they look great, and they are very stable, and they are not going to get damaged by getting wet or cold. I know a lot of pipers who have two sets of pipes. They have a more fancy, expensive blackwood set, and then they have their R.G. Hardie poly pipes for these tougher environmental conditions.

The next set I want to look at is an African blackwood set, the Peter Henderson PH01. This set here is actually my son’s set, and the PH01 has a very classic look. African blackwood, engraved nickel ferrules. Another ferrule here, and this is what we call the slide. This is the narrow part where you’re tuning. And then you have these beautiful nickel caps on the drones, and a little bit of imitation ivory on the bushing there. So this is probably the most classic look of all the sets today. African blackwood, and a hundred years ago it would have been silver and ivory, or nickel and ivory. These days we don’t use real elephant ivory, but you really get that beautiful elephant ivory look with this imitation ivory. Here’s a brand-new set of the PH01, and you can see really shiny, beautiful nickel. If you like the shine, when you get these you can just shine them up with a cloth periodically, every few weeks or months, and bring them back to this beautiful shine. Although it’s a pretty cool look when they get a little bit duller and a little bit tarnished. That’s also a really cool kind of vintage look. And now you’re also going to get these really nice, smooth, shiny bores on the inside. Another great feature of all R.G. Hardie and Peter Henderson bagpipes that are made of wood is that the blowpipe is lined with plastic, and the blowpipe stock is lined with plastic. It’s wood on the outside, so it really has that classic look that matches the rest of your bagpipes, but it’s lined with plastic, which means it’s never going to crack. The blowpipe and the blowpipe stock get the most moisture going through them, and those are the two parts of the bagpipe that are most likely to crack, and R.G. Hardie has completely solved that issue by lining the blowpipe and the blowpipe stock with plastic.

Next, let’s take a look at the Peter Henderson PH02. It is identical to the PH01 except for the mounts. Instead of being imitation ivory, these are blackwood, so they match the pipes themselves. So you’ve got the engraved nickel ferrules, the engraved nickel slide, and then the nickel ring cap, and then the bushing there is African blackwood to match the mounts, and these really cool African blackwood mounts. Some people really like these. They call them the stealth bagpipes, or somebody wants to call their pipes their Darth Vader pipes. A very cool look of black and silver together. Going to be identical in sound to the PH01, just a little bit different look.

We’ve got our fourth and last set, which is the most intricately engraved bagpipes I have ever seen in my life. These are the Peter Henderson Heritage Viking bagpipes. I did a whole unboxing video on these pipes, and these are truly extraordinary, unlike any other bagpipes I have ever seen. It’s the fantastic Peter Henderson sound with a unique look on the outside. First off, instead of the traditional beading and combing, it’s this laser-engraved Viking pattern. This is really beautiful, and you have to see it to believe it, so check out the pictures where you can look up close at this Viking engraved pattern. And then you have laser-engraved nickel with more Viking runes and cool symbols on here. The mounts here are made from a lighter wood, which is boxwood, which has a really nice contrast to the African blackwood of the rest of the bagpipes and the engraved nickel. I just think it’s a really cool vintage look, and maybe from a distance you can’t tell how unusual and distinctive these pipes are, but when you get up close, anywhere you go with bagpipers, if you have this set, you’re going to get a crowd gathering around you and people are going to want to check out these bagpipes.

So here I’ve got the tenor drone from all four of these bagpipes, and what you can see is you’ve got the acetal, or the poly, bagpipes: all black with the imitation ivory. And next we’ve got the PH01, which is blackwood with engraved nickel and these beautiful imitation ivory mounts. Next we’ve got the PH02, which is identical to the PH01 except for these cool stealthy all-black blackwood mounts. And then finally, we’ve got the incredibly beautiful and ornate Viking bagpipes, the Heritage Viking bagpipes from Peter Henderson, that have this amazing Viking pattern engraved on the wood and on the nickel, and then these really beautiful boxwood projecting mounts. So really an amazing array of bagpipes here.

All these come with R.G. Hardie’s five-year guarantee. I have a really great relationship with all the folks at R.G. Hardie, and specifically with Alastair Dunn. Great guy to work with, great company to work with. High-quality pipes that look great, sound great, are easy to play, easy to tune, stay in tune, a full, rich sound, and really stable.

So the last thing I want to talk about are the three different options that I have on my BagpipeLessons.com shop. You can buy all four of these sets right now. They are in stock as of this moment that I’m making this video. But check the product links in the description below. Go to our website and find out what we have. So what are your options? When you buy from BagpipeLessons.com you can buy them as sticks only. That is the three drones, blowpipe, and five stocks. Doesn’t have the bag, doesn’t have the reeds, doesn’t have a pipe chanter, anything like that.

Learn From the Best

I'm Jori Chisholm. I created BagpipeLessons.com to help you fulfill your dream of becoming a piper. I hope to see you soon at weekly online sessions of my Inner Circle.

Discover the Inner Circle

The next set you can buy is what I call the Basic package. I take your set of sticks out of the box and build it for you so that it’s ready to play. Here’s what you get when you order the Basic set. I’m going to fit a Bannatyne pipe bag. It’s a hybrid bag with the zipper on the bottom, my favorite type of bag. You can choose from any of the standard sizes. Comes with this bottle water trap. I fit that for you. Comes with the standard set of Ezeedrone reeds. Fantastic reeds, really stable, great sound. Go great in all of these sets of bagpipes. The world’s best-selling drone reeds. And it comes with the Poly Infinity Chanter. Really great sound. Super comfortable to play, because the holes are up to 40 percent smaller than some of the other pipe chanters on the market. So if you have smaller hands, or just if you want a more comfortable playing experience, check out the Infinity Chanter. And then finally, you get to pick your color of drone cords. The cords hold the drones together so they stay on your shoulder nicely. Right now we’ve got three colors. We’ve got navy blue, we’ve got black, and then we have Royal Stewart. And Royal Stewart is mostly red, but it’s got a little bit of green and blue and some other colors mixed in. They’re a classic look. In your Infinity Chanter, I will set you up with one of my Foundation Reeds, which is a fantastic reed, easy to blow. You can pick the exact strength of reed that you want. I build every set for you to the exact specs that you want, with the bag size that you want, with the color of cords that you want, and get that pipe chanter reed at exactly the strength that you want, guaranteed to work. The Basic package is the bare essentials for what you need for a functional set of bagpipes. There’s a lot of stuff that I recommend that you’re going to get with my Premium package.

If you want your pipes to be set up exactly how I set my pipes up, you want to get my Premium package. It’s going to be everything in the Basic set, but some more. Three additional Foundation Reeds in my Tone Protector Reed Case, so they’re ready to go in a humidity-controlled reed case. You’re also going to get my Tone Protector Chanter Cap, which goes over your Infinity Chanter, and it’s going to keep your reed in perfect playing condition by keeping it at the perfect humidity level when you’re not playing it. And you get the Dri-Flo moisture control system. This is my favorite moisture control system in the world. It goes inside your bag. You don’t even know it’s there. You can’t see it, but what it does is it filters the moisture out of your breath, so that by the time the air gets to your drone reeds, it is completely dry, still warm. It protects your drones from getting wet, and it protects your drone reeds, keeps them totally dry, so your pipes really stay in tune. So you can be playing in all sorts of cold weather and your drones will be warm and dry on the inside because of the Dri-Flo. Also, you’re going to get some really important essentials for your maintenance. You’re going to get these R.G. Hardie cotton brushes to brush your pipes out. You’re going to get my Precision Tuning Tool Kit. It’s got everything you need to adjust the strength of your pipe chanter reeds. My Bagpipe Gauge, so you can work on steady blowing and measure how hard your pipes are, and so you can get all your reeds perfectly matched. A roll of black hemp. You’re going to get my best-selling InTune Mic, which is the world’s first microphone that attaches to your chanter and works with your smartphone, so you can get your pipes in tune with your phone, by yourself, wherever you are in the world. And my Bagpipe Phone Mount, so you can use your phone with your pipes. Mount it right on your blowpipe, whether you’re using a metronome, a tuner, reading sheet music, or any app that you like to use with your piping. The Phone Mount makes that super easy. And finally, you get the amazing R.G. Hardie Deluxe Bagpipe Case. Plenty of room for all of your piping gear, your bagpipes, all of your gadgets, all of your accessories. It’s nice and strong. Lots of little pockets and storage areas for all of your gear. And this comes in black, navy blue, and heather gray. A fantastic case.

So those are your options. Four sets of bagpipes, three different packages. Whether you’re looking to get your first set of bagpipes or you’re looking to upgrade your piping experience with a second set: the poly pipes, the classic PH01, the more stealthy PH02, or the unbelievably beautiful and ornate Peter Henderson Heritage Viking pipes. I hope there’s something here for everybody.

If you have any questions, reach out. The link is in the description below. If you love this video and you want more, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. And if you want to get more help from me with your piping goals, join my BagpipeLessons.com Inner Circle. I do live Zoom classes almost every week for members. And recently I launched my new Inner Circle website. It’s got all of my lessons, all of the Zoom classes, everything that I’ve taught, all in one place, accessible from your computer or from your phone, wherever you are with your bagpipes, and you can get any question answered instantly. Check that out at bagpipelessons.com/innercircle. Thanks everybody for watching. It’s an amazing time to be a bagpiper. These are amazing bagpipes. See you next time. Happy piping. Mahalo.