Here’s the second of the decision charts for new pipers – one of the most frequent questions I am asked is ‘what keys should I get?’ There is no perfect configuration – everything is a compromise – and the most common one is ‘standard 7’:

For anyone new to Northumbrian piping, and expecially for a lone piper, it can be difficult to work out which sort of instrument to get. Whether commissioning a new set or looking for a used instrument – here’s a basic guide to choosing your Northumbrian smallpipes pitch:

As you can see – the default answer is ‘F’. At some point I’ll add another chart for choosing keys – that question comes up even more frequently – and the answer is ‘7’

One of the features available on some sets of Northumbrian pipes is an interchangeable stock – here’s a description of what that means:

• Non-interchangeable: Chanter is plugged into a wooden stock that is tied into the neck of the bag. Unplugging the chanter exposes the reed.
• Interchangeable: A socket is tied into the bag and the chanter and stock are plugged in. Unplugging the stock protects the reed.

An interchangeable stocks is commonly used to allow a player with one set to switch between two or more chanters (e.g. 7k & 17k chanters or ‘F’ and ‘G’ chanters) whilst protecting the reed.

It is also possible to have an interchangeable dronestock – allowing you to swap sets of drones – but this is far less common and significantly more work to make.