First you are wondering what it is here is the link http://www.highlandhornpipe I just bought 2 (the one in A and the one in D they absolutly incrdible and if you play Highland pipes and are looking for an inexpensive, durable, and great sounding instrument to brign to sessions this is it. Note: I am just a musician who likes the instrument I am not the maker nor affliated with him except that I like instruments he makes. 
Iāve not played one but listened to all of the sound samples on the website. Tell us what you think. I trust you already play GHB and know the plot.
Cheers,
Aaron
I used to play alto sax donkeys years ago, so I thought Iād give the āwee deeā a try. Itās a one-octave instrument and so far I havenāt managed to get anything out of it except some really rather unmusical honking sounds. Thatās doubtless just me. Maybe I need a harder reed in it or summink. Or a lot more practice. Or both. It is well made though. But if youāre a whistler thinking of buying one of these so you can sound like the UPs ripping through all your favourite tunes, forget it (one octave, remember).
hope this helps.
This Instrument has been around for many centuries in the form of the pastoral reed pipes, shepherds twin pipes, whit horns etc. and my personal favoriteā¦The Scottish āStock and Hornā. This instrument had twin melody pipes and a closed bore drone, all with single reeds, packaged in one cylindrical wooden blank. It was saved from extiction by Robert Burns.
The single reed pipe (hornpipe) was by far, the most common throughout eastern Europe and the UK/Ireland during the Renaissance and Baroque periods and it was Denner who transformed it into our modern clarinet with the addition of a Bb speaker key to the single reed pipe.
This instrument is limited in range but, like the Oboe, very expressive. No tin whistler should be without one!
āBest betā for further reading on this type of instrumentā¦
Francis Collinsons āThe Bagpipeā. Rare, expensive and usually found on most library inventories. I hope the āC&F Vetsā will chime in here with more info/history on this wonderful type of reed pipe.
Thomas Hastay
Interesting I can play the Wee Dee just fine you must be doing something wrong. I think they are great and no Highland Piper should be without one I also heard a rumor that the maker was going to make one with whistle fingering and I think I might have given him the idea. Also if you want to play GHBs or the like and donāt like the idea of a Practice chanter this is for you. I find the A works really well in Slow Airs because it is really mellow. Also I never played any type of Sax but can easily play this it might be because I play Bassoon thought but the two are so different.
Bassoon is a double-reed, no? Like an overgrown oboe?
Of course you think itās easy - youāre used to the evil double-reeds, so something in the sax/clarinet family is simple for you. Many years ago, I used to play oboe and sax, and the sax was much easier to get a decent sound out of. So were clarinets.
Trying to figure out if (for the non-GHB player) this makes more sense than a Maui Xaphoon - a plastic Xaphoon is about 1/3 the price, and is fully chromatic over two octaves (at the expense of a much more complex fingering system).
Itās a tempting thought - but Iād probably be better off puting the money into a flute or several good whistles. Though Iām much more likely to pick up the Hornpipe or Xaphoon than a real set of GHB.
That is one ugly looking instrument, but it sounds interesting and in tune.
I saw a Breton guy playing something similar at Sidmouth many years ago.
I think I might have a go at making one with a Clarinet mouthpiece and some plastic tubing.
John S
Is there a reason this is only 1 octave? Why couldnāt an octave key be used,
like on a Clarinet, or some such? Even an octave and a half would be betterā¦
(Iām not dissinā the instrument, Iām just wondering if thereās a physical reason
that limits it to single octave)
Yes, an octave key could be added, I think.
But then youād lose what seems to be one of its selling points: fingering identical to the GHB.
Iād love to see something that had fingering identical to the Uilleann pipes (and the same range) but I suspect that then youāre getting too close to being an alternate-fingering version of the clarinet.
Good point.
I guess the reasons are more about chanter fingering, than physics.
As DCrom pointed out itās for GHB fingering and GHB tunes only have a range of one octave.
Was your Breton man playing a bombarde or a treujenn gaol? Both look similar but the bombarde is a double reed.
Cheers,
Aaron
This is something I didnāt know about GHB. It may also not surprise you to find out that
I donāt know what GHB is. Sounds like a date-rape drug.
(Actually, I assume something Highland Bagpipes?)
GHB == āGreat Highland Bagpipesā as opposed to various sorts of Scottish smallpipes.
I wonāt even attempt to get into the complexities of the various sorts of pipes - both because it can get pretty involved, and because I donāt know much about them beyond āthey existā 
The thing about the GHB is that itās a hard instrument to practice without getting the neighbors up in arms: you WILL be heard. Playing outdoors, the sound can carry over a mile. Playing indoors - well, wear your earplugs.
Smallpipes, Northumbrian pipes, Uilleann pipes . . . all typically have a lot less volume, and are often (usually?) played indoors. It sounds like the motivation behind the Highland hornpipe is, at least in part, to be able to transfer over those GHB skills to an indoor setting with a cheap insstrument.
All is clear, now, thanks DCrom.
Would the GHB be the type of pipes one would see in a Pipe and Drum corps?
Exactly though with the help of amplification (of the other instruments) it is common in folk groups (Tannahill Weavers, Battlefield Band, Wolfestone etc.).
DCrom again nailed it on the head about the Highland Hornpipe being an indoor alternative to the GHB. There is a market nearly as big as the GHB market for such alternatives.
Although I donāt see whatās wrong with the practice chanter. A good one can produce melodious tone and with circular breathing you donāt have to worry about phrasing for breathing. One of the current GHB innovators, Gordon Duncan, did so on his appropriately titled CD, The Circular Breath.
Cheers,
Aaron
The problem with PCs is they are really out of tune usually and all of them are tuned differently so t get a PC into a=440 is really hard that is why this is meant as a session instrument (or a Ceildh [SP?]) also sax reeds are cheaper and eaiser to get than PC reeds they sell Sax reeds at any music store. PC stands for Practice Chanter.
Iāve found that my shuttlepipes fill the bill for an indoor instrument that can be played with other music makers that also uses the indentical fingering as the GHB. Actually, I end up practicing more on it than on the practice chanter.
Awwwwwwwwwwww!!! 
I e-mailed the maker of the Highland Hornpipe, Duncan Gillis, and had the following reply:
You are the second person in as many days to ask about this and its really funny because
I am just working out a whistle version. The first one will actually be a Low D. If you
are interested, I will keep you posted.
so watch this space!
b