Michael MacHarg has been a musical instrument builder for almost twenty-five years. His business, The Wee Piper, is located in the Vermont home he shares with his wife, and where they raised their son Iain. As you can see from the listings below, Michael specializes in building bagpipes and related instruments. But such was not always the case.
He started out in the business of making Scottish pipe bags. Although he still makes pipe bags for a great variety of bagpipes and for a growing number of pipe set builders, he has branched out to become one of the premier custom builders of entire pipe sets representing many lands and cultures.
Michael's interest in the world of bagpipes was inherited from his father, who also taught him a great deal about the art and science of the pipes. Over the years, he has conducted extensive research on the subject and has, thereby, gained a great deal of personal experience with these instruments. In his travels, he has also profited by his associations with other instrument makers and players, sharing methods, tips and techniques which contribute to the quality of these instruments hand-made by Michael MacHarg.
After restoring a number of Scottish Highland pipes, Michael experimented with building his own pipe sets. Like his custom pipe bags, these sets found quick acceptance among serious pipers. Today, Michael MacHarg pipes are available in a wide variety of styles and woods, and are sold throughout the world. All from The Wee Piper shop in the hills of central Vermont.
Over the years Michael has researched, replicated and built a wide variety of instruments native to west-central Europe, including:
Scottish lowland border pipes/halflong pipes
Scottish lowland smallpipes
Scottish pastoral Pipes (ancestor to the Uilleann pipes)
Irish Uilleann hybrid/Scottish smallpipes
Irish/English concert pitch (D) wooden flutes
Fifes in many keys or pitches
French cabrette
French folk oboe in concert (D)
French folk oboe in (G), also called musette de Champagne
Shepherd's cornemuses (C)
Flemish Renaissance bagpipe in (C)
Flemish medieval-renaissance bagpipe in (F)
Breton biniou kozh (A), (B flat), (G)
Breton veuze (G), (A), (B flat), (B), (C)
Breton biniou braz (similar to Scottish highland pipes)
Breton folk clarinet
Breton pibole (G), (A), (B flat), (B), (C) (similar to the bombarde)
Breton bombarde (A), (B flat), (C), (D)
These are but a few examples of what is available from Michael MacHarg and The Wee Piper. He also does repair and restoration work, hand-making new parts to replace those damaged beyond repair. When building new instruments, Michael favors exotic woods like cocobolo, African blackwood, Honduras rosewood, boxwood and plum. But he also keeps many other beautiful woods on hand. Visit The Bagpipe Web to see pictures of bagpipes hand-made by Michael.
For all your piping needs, contact Michael MacHarg at The Wee Piper, RFD2, Rte 14, Box 286, South Royalton, Vermont 05068. Or call him (evenings) at 802-763-8812.