Chiff and Fipple Forums

Hi, last month my new bagpipe arrived!

It is a Hümmelchen, made by Christian Dreier from Germany. I can play in key of C-major, F-major and D-minor. It is made of calf leather and burnt wood.
- Chromatic chanter (C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, A, Bb, B, C, C#, D)
- 2 drones (bass drone C or D, 2nd drone F, G or A)

After playing my first bagpipe for almost 2 years now (a 1-drone medieval bagpipe in G/A) I'm looking forward to playing new tunes in new keys
I had to wait 10 months since order, now it is finally mine, I'm pretty excited

Here is like it looks and sounds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L43XPC8de9Q

Regards,
Meticus

Hey sounds great! Nice playing too!

This is neat!

Thx
I really like playing it. The volume is convenient to play at home without ear plugs
(I'm sure my neighbours also appreciate it when I play this one instead of the ear-piercing medieval A-pipe xD)

That set is quite a bit snazzier than the ones I'm probably getting. I like the dark colour.

[Thread revival. - Mod]

I also really enjoy the Hümmelchen. I have played medieval music on it for several years.
Mine is from Steffen Fischer in Germany.

Anyone interested in those instruments, should check out his website:

https://sackpfeifenmacher.de/

That's a beautiful instrument, in appearance and in tone.

The tone sounds similar to a Northumbrian Smallpipe, does it have a narrow straight/cylindrical bore?

Does it achieve the chromatic notes by using doubled holes as on a Recorder?

Thanks!

pancelticpiper wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 6:41 am That's a beautiful instrument, in appearance and in tone.

The tone sounds similar to a Northumbrian Smallpipe, does it have a narrow straight/cylindrical bore?

Does it achieve the chromatic notes by using doubled holes as on a Recorder?

Thanks!

Mine has a narrow cylindrical bore, where only the very end is conical.
It does not have doubled holes, but whit different fingering, the following tones can be played:

C, D, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, B, C, C#, D

Hi Danish Piper,
I have been considering purchasing a Hummelchen from Steffan Fischer for some time now, the audio examples on his website sound really good. On reading your post I'm interested to ask you about the F#, G# and C#, particularly the fingering for F#, as I would like to also be able to play the chanter in the key of 'D' major.
Do these notes have good tone and volume equal to the chanter's other notes in the scale(s)? Does the chanter have a bottom hand thumb hole for the F#, And lastly, does your chanter sound as good as the audio examples from the website?
Thanks
David

pigwhistle wrote: ↑Wed Mar 08, 2023 1:27 am Hi Danish Piper,
I have been considering purchasing a Hummelchen from Steffan Fischer for some time now, the audio examples on his website sound really good. On reading your post I'm interested to ask you about the F#, G# and C#, particularly the fingering for F#, as I would like to also be able to play the chanter in the key of 'D' major.
Do these notes have good tone and volume equal to the chanter's other notes in the scale(s)? Does the chanter have a bottom hand thumb hole for the F#, And lastly, does your chanter sound as good as the audio examples from the website?
Thanks
David

Hi David
I will highly recommend his instruments. I have played mine for 8 years and am very happy with it.

The tone and volume is good for all notes, also the # ones.
The volume is os that you can play with other instruments whitout overpower them or being overpowered. I use mine both indoors and outdoors.
The sound quality is as good as on the website. Well maby even better. I have a recording of mine, if you want something to compare with. Here is a link:
https://youtu.be/UcXai8TgbIQ

The chanter does not have a second thumb hole. The sharp tones are tanken by using a altered grip on the standard holes.
These grips can be a little tricky and the individual tones might need to be tuned.
When blowing the top hand notes, one have to be carefull, since these tones are quite sensitive regarding preassure.

I have a picture of the fingerchart, but it seems that I cant upload it here.
Let me know if you want to see it, and I can send it somehow.

I hope this answer helps.

Hi Danish Piper,
Thank you for your response, it's very helpful to me, I'm definitely keen on the Steffen Fischer Hummelchen. Thank you also for the youtube link, the pipes and your playing sound really good, the harmonies are wonderful, lovely to hear bagpipe harmonies when done so well. No problem with the finger chart, Steffens website says charts, including the cross fingered tones, are available.