We are excited to introduce our latest product, the Kintyre Practice Chanter, a new design of 'long' practice chanter developed by Stuart McCallum and Willie McCallum.
The Kintyre practice chanter boasts a beautiful, clear tone, and thanks to the innovative watertrap incorporated in the top piece, the sound lasts much longer. Regularly emptying the watertrap will ensure hours of uninterrupted practice.
The bottom is made from African blackwood and the top is plastic.
Willie McCallum himself describes it as "the only long practice chanter I have played that feels like a pipe chanter," making the transition to a pipe chanter much easier. Modelled on the McCallum Solo Chanter, the Kintyre practice chanter is particularly beneficial for owners of that model. However, our user testing group found the same advantages even if they play a different pipe chanter.
We believe the Kintyre Practice Chanter will be a valuable addition to your collection and enhance your practice sessions.
Check out our blog about "Getting Your New Practice Chanter from J Higgins" :https://www.jhiggins.net/blog/getting-your-new-practice-chanter-from-j-higgins/
Important Product Note: All practice chanters can develop mold and fungi with regular use if not cleaned and disinfected properly. This can lead to chronic inflammatory lung disease. Please take careful precautions to ensure your practice chanter is cleaned and disinfected on a regular basis to prevent mold and fungi from developing.
4 Reviews Hide Reviews Show Reviews
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This feels just like my Bagpipe Chanter
I LOVE this chanter! Kudos to Willie McCallum on this revolutionary practice chanter! It feels just like my bagpipe chanter and has made it so much easier to transition from it to my pipes on tunes I am in the process of learning! BRAVO! I HIGHLY recommend this chanter!
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Worth the wait and worth the money
I don't do a lot of reviews, but I felt I needed to do an actual review of this product, given the previous reviews seem chiefly to complain about shipping, lol. I payed for this product with my own money and do not work for J. Higgins. The product arrived well packed in a plain sturdy box. Upon opening and assembling rhe first thing that struck me was the beauty of the instrument. This chanter has a very nice dark brown and black grain with a shiny, satiny smooth finish. The band is shiny and nicely engraved. The mouthpiece is comfortable and blows easily. The chanter has a nice sweet tone and is well in tune, I believe a piper must have fitted and adjusted the reed prior to shipping because it fits just as it should at the perfect level. The deeply counter sunk holes are comfortable and there is no guess work as to where the fingers should be and I feel I have fewer missed fingerings. You are able to feel the vibration of the reed and chanter much better than any chanter I have ever played. The only problem that I had initially was it was more difficult to birl at first, but that seems to be working itself out. In short the chanter is a joy to play. It is expensive, but I feel that McCallum could charge more for it, but am glad they do not. This is an improvement on my long Shepherd blackwood, which I thought to be the pinnacle of practice chanter until now. The two main improvements over the Shepherd are that the holes are deeper and the Kintyre has a water trap, which allows me to practice longer and my practice sessions are higher quality so far. There trap is easily and quickly emptied be removing the chanter cap and blowing backwards through it. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a nice long blackwood chanter and I don't think you'll be disappointed. I knew that there would be a wait when I ordered it and I feel it was well worth the wait. Many Thanks to J. Higgins and staff. Many thanks for Willie McCallum for developing this chanter and I hope it will inspire more companies to make similar chanter.
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Chanter review
I can’t get it to tune correctly. It is hard to hold. The shipping was very slow in fact it’s so slow I haven’t even received it. Apparently you created a label then closed for Christmas and New Years before the post office could get it. (John's reply: Hi Bill, sorry you're having trouble with the practice chanter. I'll be glad to take it back if you want to send it to me. Regarding the shipping of this item, the postman did indeed show up on 12/23 to pick it up from our business, and obviously it did not get scanned. I'm a little confused when you say you didn't receive it but find it hard to play, but I am going to assume you did receive it. Unfortunately we are at the mercy of the US postal service and we cannot do anything to ensure it is scanned as the driver's don't do that. The scan takes place at the post office. It would be nice if their drivers had scanners but they do not and it makes it seem like we didn't ship it, but we did indeed ship it).
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McCallum Kintyre PC
I would gladly review this item, but I have not received it yet. I have been a bit concerned as your last communication (12/23/24) advised me that it had been shipped, but the USPS Tracking does not list it as shipped. I have been doing business with you folks for a number of years and have always been satisfied with your service and I see no change now, my PC will arrive when it gets here. Review to follow. (John's reply: Richard, sorry about the lack of tracking. December 23rd we shipped 12 of these and the postman did indeed collect all of them from our business. All of these that particular day did not get scanned. The driver does not have any scanning device. That is done at the post office. It didn't get done obviously and we have complained to them about this. It causes a real uproar, and we understand why, but ultimately we have no control over what happens inside the post office, and they are not prone to offer any help. Sincerely, John Higgins).