The Dalslandpipes

The Dalsland pipes

The instrument was born when the desire to be able to play Swedish fiddle tunes on the bagpipes became too unbearable...

  • I started with a French chanter (Béchonnets´ inheritance!)
  • Then I added four tuneable drones(á la the Irish Uillean pipes) each one with separate valves for switching on and off.
  • Air is provided by bellows, to give maximum tuning stability and a more reliable instrument.
  • capsule-system which makes it easy and safe to change the chanter without harming the reeds.

Up until now I have built models in different designs with up to 5 drones and 5 valves.
In principal the conical chanters are available in a number of different keys but in practice the most useful are the a/d and g/c chanters as these fit best with the fiddle repertoire.

I call the instrument the Dalslandpipes, because Dalsland is my home district and most of the tunes I play come from there. 

Mini bagpipes

My mini bagpipes are based on the Renaissance bagpipes, the Hümmelchen.

The idea behind the construction was to create a soft-sounding "cousin" to the big pipes such as the Shepherds pipes, the Musette Béchonnet and the Medieval pipes. The mini pipes can not be overblown, but in principal they have the same "half covered" fingering as their bigger prototypes and work perfectly as practice instruments.

The mini pipes are in two keys:

C/F och D/G

Mini bagpipes