Morag and the Monkey: Morag

July 2019
Morag has found a new home...in Amsterdam! I felt rather anxious, sending her off, but she arrived safely and has been warmly welcomed, and hopefully she'll now be helping another new piper take another step on their piping journey.

Goodbye Morag, and thanks for all the tunes.

March 2019
I am parting with Morag. In the end it never seemed to make sense to swap between sets of pipes and I stuck with the Monkey. I knew it would be better to let someone else enjoy playing with her, but she was my first set, and I kept putting it off parting with her.

So why part with her now? Mostly because I have taken up playing Anglo Concertina so that I can play some Irish tunes at our session. I am hiring a cheap plastic concertina, and I need a half decent instrument of my own. They aren't cheap and I don't have much spare cash, but I do have a set of unplayed pipes....

Morag is a set of Hope Pipes, made by Simon Hope in Essex, UK. I bought them in November 2011 directly from Simon. I understand that he is no longer making pipes.

Morag is a set of bellows blown Scottish Smallpipes in A. As far as I remember the ferules are boxwood and the bellows are elm. The drones have little pegs if you want to close them off (helpful when you are trying to listen to one at a time for tuning purposes, or for reducing the volume if you are practicing at home and have neighbours who aren't piping enthusiasts).

The bag is leather with no cover - the cover isn't missing, the bag was made without. The tube between bellows and bag has a little black velvet cover.

There is a Kilter Company case that she comes in - black, with a side pocket, padlock and key.