United Kingdom · Instrument making; Wood craft; Scottish heritage
Piob Mhòr — Great Highland Bagpipe Making
The making of the Great Highland Bagpipe — Scotland's defining national instrument, consisting of a bag (traditionally sheepskin, now synthetic), three drones (bass and two tenors), and a chanter, all made from African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) turned on a lathe and bored to the specific internal dimensions that produce the characteristic Highland pipe sound. The pipe maker reads the correct bore quality through the same played-tone assessment as the Alphorn (CRAFT-1270) but calibrated to the much smaller and higher-pitched chanter and drone bore — tapping the bore with a small rod and listening for the correct resonant ring at each bore diameter.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not listed; Highland bagpipe tradition on the Scottish national heritage inventory
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