Can anyone tell me if they know of any pipe bands anywhere that still play rope tension drums instead of the high tension snares that all pipe bands are using these days?

They still exist, generally playing "colonial era" or civil war stuff (more colonial, I think.) -- y'know, period "yankee doodle" costumes, etc.

There was one I personally know of around Ross Co., Ohio -- I don't know if they're still around.

You might check with Colonial Williamsburg -- if they don't have something on it on their web site, they might have contact info for someone who can hook you up with someone in your area. www.history.org

Oh, it might be worth sending an e-mail off to the Cooperman drum company -- they not only make *really* nice concert sticks, they do historical reproduction stuff including rope tension drums in a number of styles. They probably have some groups as customers, so they might be able to point you in the right direction. www.cooperman.com

I have only found one other band which is in Midland Michigan. www.midlandhighlanders.org. I am currently playing with a new pipe band here in CT that desided to exlusively play rope tension and we just took delivery on our drums from Cooperman 4 days ago and are very happy with them. I am trying to locate others in the country that also play rope tension like us. Our website is still under construction at this time. We got 9 drums to start but will need to order more soon since we are now up to 11 drummers.

For the record:

Snares 17"w x 15"d (x4)
Bass 26"w x 14"d
Tenors:
14" x 15"
16" x 15"
18" x 15"
20" x 15"

Beautiful drums.

Thanks for the info, I will try and locate the band in Ohio.

I wasn't aware they had pipe bands in Colonial Williamsburg and during the Civil War. I thought they only had fife and drum.

Colonial Williamsburg Fife and Drum plays....Fife and Drum.

Yeah, that's what I thought... but I guess DRUMS11 knows something we don't...