Since nobody here snagged it, I listed it on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2578596891
Cheers,
Michael
Boy, Michael, that’s a really BIG picture of you there, on ebay!
Excellent detail though. Someone will snatch them up.
It does show off the set pretty well, as well as give an idea of just how big the set is (and the case, sitting on the floor behind me, only half of which is in the photo), doesn’t it… 
Not the best picture of me, but I’m not for sale… 
That’s not what I heard! 
Listen to Michael though. This is big set. They look big on him and he is 7 foot tall!
Patrick.
Patrick’s being a troublemaker.
For the record, I’m 5’ 9", and weigh 165… Yes the set is big on me, but would fit just fine on Patrick, who comes from heartier stock than I.
M
OK, as requested, I’ve added “Buy It Now” as an option…
You know, I know that bass drone is a U bend and not an H, but that photo (especially in the blowup) is interesting in that it really makes the U look like an H. Do you see what I mean? I think it’s that the shiny nickel-chrome reflects the carpet so well it looks like the arc of the U isn’t there.
If that made ANY sense a-tall.
Oh, I’ve had email from Michael and he writes like someone who’s at least 6’5"; so don’t any of you believe that the set is small. And he doesn’t type like he weighs a pound under 250#. 
Stuart
Anyone, anyone have 5K??? PLEZZE! I’ve heard Michael play this set but, duty, honor and bills come first…
And to all, have a good Christmas
Did you have the H-U thing in the description all along?
Gosh, egg on my face! I didn’t even read that.
Dumb-%$#! 
Stuart
No, until someone bids on the instrument, eBay allows you to revise the description.
As people have asked me questions or made comments, I’ve made changes to the ad, so you didn’t miss it, I added it after you asked…
Cheers,
Michael
So Michael,
Who’s 3/4 set would you be buyin’ now?
With no bids in, one can change an eBAY description and tweak Selling Price, etc.
Even after a bid is placed, one can add to the description but cannot remove information. If the error is too major or too significant, one can cancel the auction and start it off again with all changes in place. New listing fee would be charged.
Once a bid is in and with less than 12 hours to go, no changes at all to the auction can occur.
Good luck with the sale of your B set, I hope it goes to a good home.
I thought you could append messages once bids were in, but that they would be tacked on at the end. Certainly you can’t change the original text once people have placed bids. Eh, not all that important.
Even though I’m not in the market for another B set, I really appreciate the fact that you didn’t mess with the stupid reserve auction thing. I think starting the bidding with your rock-bottom price is the best way for these auctions to work. And your Buy It Now price is quite appropriate. I think people should pay a premium for ending an auction early, but you also see these things where the bidding starts at $0, there’s a reserve, and there’s a Buy It Now of like $9K. This one is a really well-planned auction.
Stuart
I always find (both from experience and from observing other auctions) that starting out with a low price, and having a much higher reserve, and starting a bidding war, will cause much more interest and cause the item to sell for more $$$$.
I sold an old Gibson guitar on ebay twice. I listed it for 25K-Buy It Now (the least I’d take for it) the first time. One bidder. He flew out from Atlanta to pick it up and saw some little tiny flaws on the finish (which you could hardly detect) and backed out of the deal, wouldn’t pay. I lost the ebay commission (several hundred $$$) and had to file a non-paying bidder alert on an extremely nice guy (we still keep in touch).
So, a couple months later, after the other deal was finally resolved, and I got the ebay commision credited to my account (you don’t get refunded), I relisted it for $700 (with a reserve of 35K that was totally unrealistic to me), just to see how high a bidding war would take it (I was new at the game). Some guy met the reserve at the last minute (it went from about $10,000 to 35,000 in less than 10 minutes–just nutty) because he wanted it so bad and hadn’t seen the former auction.
The runner up ($250 less) offered me even more after the auction was over. And, several famous musicians were emailing me off ebay with money in hand in case the deal didn’t go through, I mean people like Chris Isaaks (who flew up to look at it), Jonathan Kellerman (16x best seller novelist), George Gruhn (collector in Nashville).
Now I always start the auction at a reasonably bargin price. Bidders seem stimulated by the idea, and having so many others bidding against them makes them think twice.
So what model Gibson was it Lorenzo? Any photos?
PD.
All auctions and resultant auction strategies are different. All can be successful. No one wants to leave money on the table!
Ted Anderson and I once agreed that a true Taylor set could be listed at $1 with No Reserve and get a great price!
One thing about uilleann pipes is that they have not hit the high range that you see in other instruments, from guitars to violins. The rarity is there, the demand from pipers is there, the dollars are not there.
Geoff Woof’s 25th Anniversary set at 25K set a new high price for a set of uilleann pipes. I’d imagine if Alain Froment were to part with his 4-drone, 5-regulator deluxe (ebony with ivory mounts) C sharp set, it would be in that range, too. I know someone with a Kenna set that wants to achieve an even better result. It is very rare to find a Kenna set stamped in circulation and available on the market.
Quite a few national newpapers picked up the local story, here’s one:
http://www.examiner.com/antiques/default.jsp?story=q.gibson.0806w
I’ll send you a couple nice pics if you’d like.
I see your point. I guess I’m looking at it from the bidder’s perspective, and I think it makes me personally less inclined to bid.
I’m not looking to buy a Gibson guitar for $35K either, though.
Maybe I would be more interested if it were a Coyne with some letter from Coyne and a full provenance . . . heh.
Though, I have to say, the best bagpipe deal I ever made was through eBay. I spent about $400 on a set of Highland pipes that turned out to be late-1700s manufacture, cocus with full ivory mounts . . . single small crack in the bass drone, repaired years ago. Made by a pipemaker whose dad was Bonnie Prince Charlie’s piper at Culloden. Only full set of drones by this maker around, I think. They were just languishing in an attic at Harvard when someone put them on eBay . . . but that auction had no reserve.
Stuart
I’ve actually sold a couple sets of uilleann pipes on ebay with the same surprising results, using the feature I mentioned above. Both sold for way more than I expected, and in one case twice as much.
But, from a buyers perspective, Stuart, I totally agree. It’s a great auction for me, the buyer, although I prefer up-close detailed pics on some parts, but it’s really straight forward. Nobody in their right mind would simply bid $5,000 and watch the “buy it now” option disappear instead of only paying $250 more and securing the deal.
I recently watched a digital recorder with a “buy it now for $1200” feature on ebay. Because someone placed a lower opening bid, the feature disappeared and the recorder ended up selling for about $1600. That would make you want to shoot yourself.
I personally think this B set should be selling for more. I remember when one like that was on BCs web site for $7200, or was that a Bb set?