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11th September 19, 01:58 PM
#1
Guitar friendliness
Does anybody here play the guitar? It occurs to me that kilts etc are not very friendly to guitars. The outfit is full of sharp, hard, scratchy things including buckles, sporrans, kilt pins. Is there scope for guitar friendly soft sporrans (a place for capos and picks) and soft leather belts with soft leather belt buckles(!)?
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11th September 19, 02:09 PM
#2
Just turn your sporran around to your side when playing, like drummers do in pipe bands. And don't wear a belt.
(I say this as a mandolin, banjo, and guitar player.)
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EagleJCS,Farmer Jones,Father Bill,huntgathergrow,imbrius,KiltedSergeant,kingandrew,Nemuragh,Scooter,Tarheel,TheOfficialBren
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11th September 19, 04:11 PM
#3
I'm a working musician, as in playing music pays my bills.
I play in a kilt 90% of the time I'm on stage and never have an issue due to how I'm dressed. Just leave the belt at home where it belongs and if you have to, slide the sporran over to your left hip if you play that low. I don't have an issue myself. An all-leather day sporran with leather strap won't mark up the back of an instrument if you find yourself making contact in any case.
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11th September 19, 04:54 PM
#4
Also, a Tone-Gard really helps keep the back of your instrument from getting scratched.
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12th September 19, 05:17 AM
#5
When I play guitar kilted, I'm usually sitting on a stool so the sporran is a nonissue - there's enough room behind the instrument (moreso if I play my 1982 Ovation Balladeer). I haven't played kilted standing yet but I'd probably just swing the sporran around to the side.
I haven't tried playing Chapman Stick kilted yet but I suspect I'd do the same (swing the sporran to the side). The caveat there is that to play a Stick, one needs a belt of some sort. I have a dedicated Stick belt that I would just wear over the top of the kilt so that shouldn't be a problem. I'll give it a try at my annual Christmas concert at my in-laws' house. Festively kilted.
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12th September 19, 06:01 AM
#6
Been playing for years. Not an issue at all. No belt needs, sporran can be turned to side or back with leather belt, picks can be put on mic stand, unless you wear your guitar down to you knees, kilt pins do not get in the way. Besides when you scratch the back of your guitar, this is called road wear, and is deemed a badge of courage amongst guitarist on the road.
If you really want to eliminate this issue, but a Gretsch 1962 Gretsch G6122-1962, Chet Atkins Country Gentleman Electric Guitar Chet Atkins, Country Gentleman model, it comes with a full vinyl pad attached to the back of the guitar, specifically designed to eliminate the buckle scratches. Only cost over 3500, best playing guitar I have...
Last edited by CollinMacD; 12th September 19 at 06:03 AM.
Allan Collin MacDonald III
Grandfather - Clan Donald, MacDonald (Clanranald) /MacBride, Antigonish, NS, 1791
Grandmother - Clan Chisholm of Strathglass, West River, Antigonish, 1803
Scottish Roots: Knoidart, Inverness, Scotland, then to Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada.
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12th September 19, 07:20 AM
#7
 Originally Posted by Nemuragh
The (kilt) outfit is full of sharp, hard, scratchy things including buckles, sporrans, kilt pins.
The last thing you want near an expensive wool kilt are sharp things! It's why the traditionally made kilt accessories have smooth surfaces.
Personally I rarely wear a kilt pin or a waistbelt, which I consider nonessential (and potentially annoying) do-dads.
The sporran is another matter. If I were playing a guitar that I wanted to keep pristine I would wear a plain leather sporran on a plain leather sporran belt. The only metal bit would be the buckle on the belt, which I would have around my backside.
BTW I picked up a very nice used 12-string many years ago for an amazing price because the former owner wore some huge cowboy buckle and the back of the guitar was trashed. I didn't care. I didn't buy the guitar to stare at its backside. (I never was very good at guitar, and the front side required my full attention.)
I've been a musician for over 40 years and I happen to favour instruments that look like they've been places. I usually buy my instruments used, the more dinged-up the better. (I get them for a lower price, and I never have to worry about cosmetic harm.)
Pipes I love the look of: my 1945 Starcks, chips and chunks missing here and there, and a glorious tone

Pipes I don't love the look of: modern pipes with cheap bling (white plastic and CNC-engraved alloy)
Last edited by OC Richard; 12th September 19 at 09:16 AM.
Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte
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12th September 19, 08:45 AM
#8
I've owned guitars since '71. Wouldn't say I really play, but I appear in public abusing a guitar at least two days a week, sometimes more.
As an example, Mountain Music Day at Vogel State Park will see one of the bands that have grown from my bluegrass jams. We played last
year and were invited back. I am rarely seen with a guitar without a kilt on me. I have never had a problem as long as my buckle is centered.
Sporran a non-issue. I'll point out that I am playing acoustic, not low-slung electric. Nobody else I play with wears a kilt, so no other experience
to offer.
@OC Richard, I also much prefer your pipes to the cheap-looking blingy ones.
Last edited by tripleblessed; 12th September 19 at 08:49 AM.
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12th September 19, 09:15 AM
#9
 Originally Posted by tripleblessed
Mountain Music Day at Vogel State Park
It's cool to see the music called what I'm used to hearing it called in West Virginia, "mountain music".
My grandfather played fiddle, banjo (4 and 5 string) and mandolin as well as piano and euphonium (in the local miner's band, back before WWI).
BTW vogel is one of those easy translations, we just need to know that German g > English y.
It goes something like
vogel > voyel > foyel > fowl. I imagine that there are indeed birds at Vogel State Park.
It first struck me when I saw a baseball player named Vogelsong.
Anyhow as a piper the challenge is wearing kilts while playing the uilleann pipes!
If it's an uilleann-only gig I wear trousers.
But if it's a gig where I'm switching pipes, say playing soft preservice music on the uilleann pipes and a ceremonial recessional on the Highland pipes (marching out of the church) then I wear kilts.
This presents challenges because the uilleann pipes must be played seated and kilts can be problematic when sitting. Especially if they want you up on a high stool and/or up on a high part of the venue. (Note the piece of leather to stop the uilleann chanter with; it won't seal on fabric.)
Last edited by OC Richard; 12th September 19 at 09:25 AM.
Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte
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12th September 19, 10:35 AM
#10
 Originally Posted by OC Richard
It's cool to see the music called what I'm used to hearing it called in West Virginia, "mountain music".
My grandfather played fiddle, banjo (4 and 5 string) and mandolin as well as piano and euphonium (in the local miner's band, back before WWI).
Not kilt related, and surely a thread drift, but that's mainly what I play. Some call it mountain music, some call it Old Time (a term which also includes a few other genres). Appalachian fiddle tunes were what drew me from being primarily a mandolin player towards playing clawhammer banjo and fiddle. A lot of those tunes are what I call "trance tunes" that I could play or listen to for hour after hour. I have a great affinity for Round Peak style fiddling, though I know I'll never master it.
As for instrument wear, I don't mind honest wear. But I think it's downright silly to intentionally abuse an instrument or "distress" it just for street cred. Nor would I intentionally allow my instruments to get scratched, cracked, or worn if I can avoid it. Real, honest wear just happens naturally over time and should never be one's goal IMHO. All my instruments are expensive enough that I keep them insured via a specialty musical instrument policy, I keep them in the best cases, I humidify them in winter, and I protect them when being played. I don't treat them like museum pieces, since they're meant to be played, but I want to keep them looking and sounding their best not only for me but for the next generation that will own them. People who flippantly give their instruments buckle rash are disrespecting the instrument, the luthier, and themselves in the process.
This is one of the reasons I really can't recommend the Tone-Gard highly enough. Its primary purpose is to keep the back of the instrument from being muffled (which affects tone and volume, especially in mandolins). But it also keeps that beautiful wood off of my torso when I play. It would be a crying shame to scratch up the back of this beauty. The cage of the Tone-Gard has saved the back of my mandolin more times than I could count from getting dinged up.
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