Our Story

McConnell Bags & Bellows (MB&B) was founded by Jordan McConnell with his father in 2022. Jordan is a luthier (mcconnellguitars.com) and a professional musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist playing guitar, banjo, Irish flute, penny whistle, and yes — the Uilleann Pipes. During the pandemic Jordan was playing his pipes more often and found himself unsatisfied with the performance of his bellows. Seeking inspiration and information from a variety of sources and drawing on his skills building high end acoustic guitars he designed and built his first set of bellows in 2021. The first set led to additional sets, each one an improvement, eventually resulting in a design that looked good and played well. Sharing his work on social media he got many positive comments and inquiries about acquiring a set. Seeing this demand and seeing perhaps a small business opportunity Jordan approached his father Rob McConnell in early 2022 about setting up a company to pursue that opportunity. And so in 2022 MB&B was formed. Through the course of the first few months the design was refined and improved to make it easier to build, more reliable and efficient in their operation. The first sets of bellows shipped out in June 2022. Feedback from both players and builders was very encouraging.

Currently McConnell Bags & Bellows is proud to offer high quality tacked and stitched bellows, riveted and stitched bags, accessories and options and even a tie-in service. Our bellows and bags are handcrafted entirely in-house. Nothing is outsourced. Materials from leather and woods to glue and tacks are carefully selected to be of the highest quality. Using Jordan’s connections in the guitar world we source both exotic and domestic hardwoods for our bellows that are unique and beautiful making every set unique to its owner. Recognizing that Uilleann Piping is not a one size fits all world we pride ourselves on offering a personalized service that tries to respond to each pipers individual requirements. Check out our price list and gallery or contact us to see what is currently available or in the works.