Norden Sackpipa Association of the Americas (NSAA)

Just wondering if anyone here plays the theme from Fargo on your sackpipa. I read in some YouTube comments that it is originally Norwegian folk song but sounds like a sackpipa tune to me.

http:/ ...

Actually, this was not my idea. One of my customers requested it because his right thumb was somewhat handicapped and he requested that I put the hole on the front of his chanter. He also wanted the ...

As for tunes playable with fiddlers and nyckelharpas the main problem is the key. Most Swedish pipes are in A, which is not a very common key on other instruments (with regional exceptions of course ...

It's encouraging that precedent has been set. We here in the USA are very fond of importing and unleashing exotic invasive species. Hence, there's bamboo around in places. Getting it in that certai ...

Has anyone attempted to use bamboo to make a reed? It too is a giant piece of grass like Arundo Donax. I believe it's even a cousin of Arundo Donax.

Hello all,

I got beautifully crafted set of E/A from Boris Favre and currently thinking about adding a set of bellows to avoid pitch changes when playing for longer time non-stop. Usually after 4-5 ...

Forum member Boris Favre is interviewed on Canadian national TV about his pipe making (Swedish and Uilleann pipes):

http://www.radio-canada.ca/emissions/c_est_ca_la_vie/2009-2010/Entrevue.asp?idDoc ...

It's about time! Smile

Thanks Tex. And just an hour ago Olle was named "Riksspelman" by the Zorn jury in Delsbo!

I asked professional Spanish bagpiper Anxo Lorenzo who replied "Gaita de barquï¿½n".

By the way, there is a recent and very nice video of Anxo at MySpace (

If you want to hear some cra ...

About Swedish. My signature is English spelled in Swedish, If you want to know how some of our characters is pronounced. Wink

Like this? Smile

http://skaendoenejveeoen-eenglisjfoennediks.blogspot ...

Being primarily a fiddler, it is expected that his approach to the fiddle would have translated in some way to his manner of piping. But had he heard those old recordings before he started playing to ...

I like the idea of using canvas-type materials. Let us know how it holds after a few months of playing. FYI, I have just posted a new bag-making demo http://www3.telus.net/bo/bag-insidestitch.htm whic ...

I've made a "strawstrument" out of yogurt container material...it's best suited for double reeds because of the curvature. It seems like it's too soft for a single reed application. David ...

Thank you!

These are great, though I do wish I could see the top thumb more as it seems to be vital to some of the embellishments. I think if you turned so that your right side faced the camera ju ...

Is there any particular tune you would like to see recorded first? If not, I would probably start with the ones on my page with

Very Happy

I'm partial to Ljugaren on the beginner tunes page, Polska eft ...

Hmm.. A thought just occured to me. If the hands and fingers tend to be in the way when filming an instructional video, why not remove them? ...

The problem with the method you describe is that you ...

I have thought about that, as a way to extend my web site. Both for reed making and playing techniques. The problem is that many playing techniques on bagpipes, in particular embellishments, aren't th ...

Ran into this a few days ago though it's obviously been posted for a while. This is probably someone from this forum and there are definitely other people from this forum that have seen this though I ...

Since we've entered a wild speculation phase I'll throw in my guess.

Drainage port.

Here's my reasoning: You have an instrument developed in cold times. Houses probably weren't heated well, pe ...

I'm not sure what to say about the practice chanter though I'd be leaning against it (and you should definitely avoid the ones off of ebay). Not because a practice chanter is a bad thing, but because ...

Also, don't discount the possibility that you don't necessarily need another swedish bagpipe player (though it would be preferable). I see you've found the presentation thread (where everyone can say ...

Whisteul,

Perhaps this link will help if you decide to make a vinyl bag. The material doesn't need to be any kind of special vinyl except that "fluff" backing is not good.

http://www3 ...

That's wild looking. Is the drone a G?

That hole tuning mechanism reminds me of the interesting drone switching mechanism on the Walsh convertible smallpipes. You can see it here about halfway down the page: http://www.hotpipes.com/walsh. ...

Aaron, the idea of collecting and organizing songs specifically fitted to the pipes is a great one. Using a database that you can search with various criteria seems a little excessive, but will proba ...

So the idea is to either make all the tone holes double so it sounds like two chanter going at once or just make one full side of regular tone holes and only an A tone hole on the other bore only to a ...