Narrator: Crafting an artisanal bagpipe
takes steady hands, attention to detail, and sharp tools.
The bagpipe's history spans around three millennia,
with roots in early civilizations.
And it's been a key part of Scottish heritage
for well over 600 years.
But there's only one workshop left in the country's capital
that still makes these instruments by hand.
We went to Edinburgh to see how the city's
last traditional bagpipe makers are still standing.
At Kilberry Bagpipes,
Dave Wardell and his apprentice, Ruari Black,
take about four days to craft a single instrument.
They make many different kinds of traditional pipes,
but the most famous of all
is the Scottish Great Highland bagpipe.
This style consists of five pipes connected to a bag.
The blowpipe is the smallest.
The player blows air into it to inflate the bag,
which flows over the reeds inside the pipes to make music.
The three pipes on top are called drones.
The two tenors play just one note,
and the larger bass is the same note an octave lower.
These give the bagpipe its distinctive continuous tone.
And then the chanter has holes that the player uses
for the melody, like a recorder.
Dave always sharpens his tools.
He does this around once every hour
to keep them in good shape during the intense process.
Dave: I've actually got nerve damage in my left arm,
which is probably due to the manufacturing of the bagpipes.
You're working constantly with your hands.
You're on your feet all day.
That wood's very, very hard.
You're sharpening chisels, gouges.
Narrator: He uses African blackwood to make the pipes.
Dave: It's a very, very dense grain
and gives a better tonal quality.
It's also very, very long-lasting,
very, very hard wood.
Narrator: It's popular for high-quality woodwinds
like clarinets.
Ancient craftsmen used to use local hardwoods
to make their instruments,
but Dave gets his supply all the way from Mozambique.
He drills a hole in a block of wood to form the air tunnel
of each pipe.
Before the mechanical lathe,
artisans had to carve every hole and shape every pipe
completely by hand.
But now, most bagpipes are mass-manufactured by machines,
rather than by hand like at Kilberry.
As the apprentice, one of Ruari's tasks
is to roughly shape the wood into a cylinder.
As the lathe turns the block,
he uses a sharp chisel to round off the edges evenly.
Ruari: The main motive was the way the pipes were made.
Everything is hand-done start to finish.
There's no CNC machines.
It's all hands-on.
Being taught how it was done
in the most traditional ways, even still.
Narrator: Dave takes on the more intricate
decoration work, called beading and combing.
This is a delicate process
that gives each pipe its traditional pattern.
Combs are the small bands of grooves cut into the wood,
and the beads are the smooth sections between them.
Then, Dave makes the projecting mounts.
He drills these pieces out of wax
and puts them on each drone between sections.
They help the pipes move when tuning
and hold them in place once the pitch is perfect.
Dave applies a coat of varnish to the wood sections
and mounts.
Then he hammers on the decorative metal ferrules.
He buys these from a silversmith for added flair
to set Kilberry pipes apart from standard ones.
He covers fine wool string with resin
to wrap around the fittings.
Dave: This resin's very sticky,
so what that does is it creates a bond with the wood
so it doesn't slip.
This is a process called hemping the pipes.
Narrator: Hemping makes the connection airtight.
And it has to be done carefully so the pieces hold together
but can still move just enough to tune.
Dave inserts a single reed into the bottom of each drone
and a double reed into the chanter.
Like all woodwinds, the reeds vibrate and produce sound
when air passes through.
Now the pipes are ready to go into the bag.
Dave seals them into a Gore-Tex bag with a zipper
and rubber gaskets.
Traditionally, the air bag was made from animal hides,
and Dave still receives some custom orders
with this request.
But many players say synthetic bags like this
have better moisture control and are easier to maintain.
Finally, he gives the finished pipe its last decorations,
the cover and cords.
The protective cover is often made of velvet or tartan.
And the cord keeps all the pipes in place.
Dave: OK, now that's a bagpipe fully assembled
and ready to be tested before it goes to the customer.
Narrator: Ruari tests the pipes by checking
tuning quality and playability ...
... before he packages them up to be shipped off
to Kilberry's customers all over the world.
Dave: Now with the internet, it's opened up worldwide.
I mean, you'd be amazed at some of the places
we've sold bagpipes to.
It's just quite incredible, really.
Or why somebody from Kazakhstan would want to play
a Great Highland bagpipe, I have no idea.
Narrator: Scottish Highland soldiers used bagpipes
as an instrument of war as far back as the 14th century.
Originally known as warpipes,
soldiers played them to inspire troops into battle
against their English invaders
and to strike fear into the enemy.
Their high-pitched tones travel for miles around,
making them perfect for the battlefield.
They were even used as recently as World War II.
Nowadays, bagpipes are mainly used in ceremonial settings,
as well as highly competitive and prestigious piping bands,
one of which Dave used to play in.
You're supposed to enjoy the instrument.
I took it to a different level.
I mean, at one point I was probably practicing
three, four hours every night, every day of the week,
obviously striving to be the best I could.
And at the age of 15, yeah, I was playing in Grade One bands
and competing solo and all that sort of stuff, yeah.
But there comes a time you have to pull back a bit
from it. It's just a bit too intense at times.
Narrator: So instead of playing the pipes,
Dave focused his passion into making them.
Mass manufacturing in the 20th century has decimated
the traditional craft,
flooding the market with lower-quality pipes
that can be made on a larger scale for less money.
Machine-made pipes can cost as little as $100,
whereas a set of Kilberry bagpipes
usually costs around $1,500.
A few years ago, Dave thought he'd have to close
the workshop for good due to lack of demand.
But he got a lifeline from an unlikely place.
Gordon Nicholson is a traditional kilt maker
who just happens to have a shop right next door.
Gordon: Back in 2018, the "for sale" sign went up
outside Kilberry Bagpipes.
Dave had agreed a redundancy package with the then-owner.
So I'd gone back home and spoke with my wife and said,
"We're going to lose the last artisan bagpipe maker
in Edinburgh."
And her reply was, "You know what to do then."
Narrator: He also runs a kilt makers academy
focused on carrying that tradition forward as well.
Together, both shops take advantage
of Edinburgh's bustling tourist trade,
offering tours and demonstrations.
Another way of keeping these crafts alive?
Promoting musical heritage.
Ruari balances his apprenticeship building bagpipes
with his passion for playing them.
He's been a piper since childhood,
and now he plays with Ireland's premier pipe band.
Every Saturday, he flies to Dublin and back
just to practice with them.
Ruari: Yeah, it's a big commitment.
You end up getting home quite late at night.
Narrator: This devotion is heartening for Dave,
and it gives him hope that the craft he's dedicated
his life to will continue.
Dave: Ruari, again, I think is very like me when I was younger.
He's dedicated to his piping 100%.
It is important to keep the traditional way going.
The traditional way of bagpipes
will always keep going.
It's taught in the schools in Scotland now,
and it's very important to me, but kids love it.