Pipers regalia

[OC Richard]

Now this might strike you as strange, if you haven't seen it before: the feather bonnets of the pipers of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards have a band of zigzag pattern rather than dicing

[OC Richard]

Actually it's Major Gavin Stoddart - he was commissioned when at the Army School of Piping. Pipe Major is a non-commissioned rank.

Actually Pipe Major is not a rank, but an appointment. A Pipe Major might be a Noncommissioned Officer, Warrant Officer, or a Commissioned Officer, and is usually addressed as "Pipe Major" regardless, and still wears the four chevrons and pipes within a wreath of thistles, the badge of the office of Pipe Major.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_major

[Tartan Tess]

Cheaper than showing horses.

[creagdhubh]

Actually Pipe Major is not a rank, but an appointment. A Pipe Major might be a Noncommissioned Officer, Warrant Officer, or a Commissioned Officer, and is usually addressed as "Pipe Major" regardless, and still wears the four chevrons and pipes within a wreath of thistles, the badge of the office of Pipe Major.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_major

Yep.

http://www.thecelticlodge.org/great-...cleod-stoddart

http://m.pipesdrums.com/Article.aspx?sys-ID=1496

[Eric D Scott]

I was able to get really lucky this past spring. I was able to get a used bonnet and hosetops for $85 cdn, my wife made a plaid from tartan I got off an X retailer for $250 usd, a custom doublet from another online retailer for $275 cdn, my mother in law made my spats for the cost of the material ($40 cdn for the material, Velcro, buttons, thread), $25 usd for my red sash. Sporran was $99 usd. The baldric and kilt are band owned so they didn't cost me anything, but they would be $500 cdn for the kilt and another $250 cdn for the baldric. My RCAF pattern sword was also $250usd (replica).

But the surprise to the other band members on Canada Day, priceless!

[BobsYourUncle]

One of the best guides and sources of information out there is the Dress Manual of the Regimental Drum Major Association, available as a free PDF download here: http://www.drummajor.net . Don't let the name fool you, Piper's Dress is dealt with in great detail, as the Drum Major commands leads all, BOTH the Pipes and the Drums. That is a state of affairs at which Pipers have chaffed since it began in the 19th Century, but there you have it. For your purposes, it just means that the Drum Major Assoc. Dress Manual covers Piper's regalia in great detail. I can't recommend this guide strongly enough.

[OC Richard]

I should look over that PDF when I have more time. I will say that the Drum Major uniform guides I have looked at have what I consider to be errors, that is, rules about how to wear things which are at variance with how Full Dress is traditionally worn by the Highland regiments of Scotland. In all things Full Dress I will always follow the traditions of the Highland regiments over rules somebody made up recently. These rule-inventors often appear to have noticeable gaps in their knowledge of the subject.

Studying photos of the actual regiments will tell you far more than reading a list of rules somebody invented.

OK I just looked over that PDF and one thing immediately struck my eye, saying that Pipe Majors, on their crossbelts, wear an "Officers' or Senior Noncommissioned Officer's buckle". What is that attempting to say? Pipe Majors' crossbelts, like the crossbelts of all Army pipers, have hardware consisting of a buckle, keeper, and tip. The Pipe Major usually has a hardware set different from that of the rest of the pipers, and all of these (PM and pipers) are completely unlike anything that the regiment's Officers wear.

Here's the PM of The Black Watch. Just exactly where on his crossbelt is this "Officers' buckle"? I see the three bits of hardware (buckle, keeper, and tip) and the two badges long worn on the crossbelt by Black Watch pipers



Another thing these manuals consistently do is prescribe a specific length for the full plaid as worn by pipers and the DM. However a study of the way plaids are actually worn by Army pipers will demonstrate that there is no set length, for example photos of the pipers of The Black Watch will show some plaids nearly touching the ground, some only reaching to the bottom of the kilt, and everything in between. In other words these manuals are creating a rule, a standard, where none actually exists.