Featured on Scottish TV's "Live at Five", 24th January 2018, the Lindsay System Chanter project has been covered in detail, in a series of articles in the National Piping Centre's "Piping Today" magazine between Jan/Feb 2018 and March/April 2020.

June 2024 out of stock - When we have Lindsay System Scottish Smallpipes in stock, they will be viewable here, and can be purchased directly via this page. At other times, advance orders can be placed via this link.

Contact Donald directly via lindstruments@gmail.com or @lindstruments on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, with any questions. The facebook group Lindsay System Chanter is an active forum, new members are always welcome.

The Lindsay System Smallpipes are an innovative new design of pipes, featuring a keyless, extended range Scottish Smallpipes chanter with a range of almost three octaves.

About the chanter : 

Developed by Donald WG Lindsay in Scotland between 2006-2018 as a consciously “open source” design, the Lindsay System Chanter is the raison d’etre of Lindstruments. Making chanters and pipes is a key part of what we do, but our primary focus continues to be on sharing the design, exploring the instrument musically, and supporting the community that is developing around it.

Workshop plans were published during 2019 in Piping Today issue 97, and a growing community of both makers and players are supported via Facebook groups "Lindsay System Chanter" and "LSC Makers Circle".

In January 2019 the uniqueness and potential significance of the design for the piping community was acknowledged when three of the most significant “Lindsay System” prototypes were added to the museum collection of The National Piping Centre in Glasgow, Scotland. 

About the Lindsay System Scottish Smallpipes :

In order to fully support the Lindsay System Chanter, a set of four drones has been developed, along the lines of those usually provided for the now-traditional "combination" sets of A/D Scottish smallpipes.

Drones : The drone pitches are as follows - Bass A/B, Baritone D/E, Tenor A/B and Alto D/E. The inclusion of an alto D/E drone, in what is essentially an "A" Scottish Smallpipes set, is intended to provide a means to better support playing within the second register of the Lindsay System Chanter, as well as improved drone support for playing in the keys of D and G.

Bag and reeds : All pipe sets are supplied with Pipe Dreams' "Eezedrone" reeds, a cane chanter reed, and a canmore hybrid bag. Main stock and blowpipe stock do not need to be "tied in" in the traditional fashion, being instead equipped with a robust and easy to use screw-threaded clamping system (see pictures).

Any replacement Canmore pipe bags purchased through Lindstruments will arrive pre-cut with holes precisely sized to match the requirements of your pipes' screw-threaded clamps. Bags can be large, medium or small as required.

Brass linings : The drones are currently fully brass lined, top & bottom, providing a clear and stable tone. The tuning chamber of each drone is entirely formed from thin walled brass - it is my own belief, having played drones that use brass-only tuning chambers throughout my Smallpiping career, that this provides a very clear and resonant sound.

O-rings : The entire set uses o-rings, embedded in precisely sized dovetail grooves, to provide airtightness. Drone stock tenons are screw-threaded to avoid slippage while tuning, while the tuning slide joints are still hemped in the traditional way, to allow the player to easily hemp the slide to their preferred firmness. 

Drone stop caps : Four decorative end caps hang on short hand twisted cords from the drones. These have an o-ring embedded into their circumference, which fits into a groove around the top of each drone. A second o-ring on the drone end ensures a double seal when the drone is not in use.

Bellows : As of September 2018, Lindsay System smallpipes now come equipped as standard with a set of bellows made by Niall Kelleher. Bellows come in large "Uilleann" size or 3/4 "smallpipe" size. 

Bag cover : Lindstruments' smallpipes come as standard with a teal velvet bag cover made to measure by Debbie Covers and Crafts of Glasgow. The bag cover is edged with a patterned gold-coloured trim, and drone cords are coloured to match the set. Alternative materials and colours are available on request.

Shipping : shipping will be arranged by courier once your pipes are ready, and you can make payment for it at that point. Within the UK, shipping itself is likely to be in the region of £20, with good insurance available from our insurer for around £60.

For overseas orders, the shipping cost is likely to be in the region £150 to £200 stg, depending on where you will need the pipes shipped to. Please do feel free to obtain your own quotes for shipping and insurance. We are happy to provide weight and dimensions for this, and to help arrange collection of your pipes.

For more information about the chanter and its capabilities, including video and audio, please click here or select "Chanter Information" from the menu.

Materials : Lindstruments has become well known within the Scottish piping and traditional music community, and beyond, for our use of new and innovative materials and manufacturing processes. We'd encourage anyone interested, to read more about this aspect of our work here.

Facebook live workshops : A weekly live workshop now takes place via facebook, covering technique and repertoire for these pipes, and including the opportunity for a live Q & A ; if you'd like to take part, send a join request to the facebook group "Lindsay System Chanter" to view and participate in these workshops.