"Brand new set of ullian pipes practise set" eBay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=16226&item=3731126541&rd=1
No further information and also some strange spelling(s) of “uilleann”. :wink:

There’s also a full set up by the same lister. (Same maker too I assume)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3731129344&ssPageName=MERC_VI

No maker identified…caveat emptor

Yeah…think those photos are all blurred and grainy for a reason? :laughing:

Scanned from a brochure made in Pakistan? :roll:

Location: Letterkenny Co Donegal, United Kingdom >

I don’t think many up in Donegal would give that for an address :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

I was not too far away from reality. I asked the seller on eBay and here’s what he replied to me:

Hi, The two sets on ebay are made in pakistan we will have gremlin sets made in england and vignoles halfsets and practice sets made in ireland shortly.

I have no idea about these Gremlin sets but Vignoles rings a bell (actually seen and heared one here in eastern Finland played by a piper from England who’s now back there (maybe ?) and since then missing … Pete, where are you? :confused: ).

So, ya know I spend some nights up pretty late and flipping through the channels I see infomercials pretty often for “get-rich-quick” schemes involving eBay. I can only imagine that this is what they’re talking about -

Find the cheapest possible product you can, buy a ton of it, mark it up and sell lots to unsuspecting buyers who don’t know the difference. When one does an eBay search for whistles, I know that 95% or greater of what comes back I wouldn’t even use to grace my toilet plumbing with. Utter junk but the uninformed buyer may not know that…

Sad really if this is what’s going on - predatory sellers looking to make the fast buck on anyone who comes along. But then again, I guess this is largely what eBay is founded on these days, and America too for that matter. sigh

I don’t think many up in Donegal would give that for an address

– Peter Laban

:smiley:

I note it’s from Letterkenny… I’ve a friend there who owns one of the locals, he’ll get a good chuckle out of this, unrepentant Fenian that he is.

And look - the seller is also offering:

“10. bodharans all sizes available”

Stay tuned,
BrianC

I met a piper named Michael Vignoles in Atlanta, GA of all places (I believe he was living in Columbus, GA or Rome, GA at the time). He said he was from a family of pipemakers, based in Galway as I recall … ?

Not that I know anything about pipes… But it seems a pretty unusual name if nothing else. So I hope this is of some use, & all best!

Mike’s been in the business for quite a while now as I understand it. His site is below:

http://irishpipesmaker.com/