Three of the best pipemakers ever, never closed their order books, Alain Froment,Geoff Wooff and Dave Williams had very long waiting times but at least you could put your name down and hope for the best. So why do you think that some makers close their order book . I don’t see the logic in it ,surely if a person wants to put their name on a list ,no matter how long that list is ,they should be given the opportunity to do so.
RORY
Let me know the date that you plan on retiring. I’ll come for an extended vacation at your place. Please order lots of Asian food. 
I’m just saying perhaps those pipemakers have an idea of when they’d like to slow down a bit and have adjusted their orders to suit their own plans.
Paul
P.S. …preferably sushi, Thai or Korean if you can get it. 
As Paul said, shouldn’t it be the maker’s decision, not the prospective buyer’s decision? Perhaps the maker is changing his business model, and it doesn’t include having a waiting list.
Steve
Perhaps a pipe maker wants to select with whom they do business, for any of a variety of reasons.
Maybe its because most pipemakers would like to deliver their work whilst the customer is still alive and not the other way around. 
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam
Quite a few customers are holding off on their pipes at the moment when their place on the list comes up. Shortage of money. Pipemakers are moving down their lists to find who is ready to have their order filled.
Some top makers have more than 100 pending full set orders. If every second guy cancels her order, there are still 50 before you 
I think it would not be in the best interest of the customer to have their name set down on a list, on which they may have a wait of a decade or more. I have a hunch that the majority of those pipe makers who have closed their order books are of a similar opinion.
Seems to me that oftentimes musical instrument makers get bored getting bogged down with a huge backlog of orders and the tedium of making the same thing over and over. Some are free spirits of artistic temperament by nature.
I would think that this type of maker might be better served by just making whatever sort of thing caught their fancy, and putting the things up on Ebay. They’re going to sell anyhow, one way or the other.
There’s a Highland bagpipe maker who does this. When he doesn’t have a set on order he needs to make, he just makes whatever strikes his fancy, experimenting with various materials for the pipes and mountings, different variations of shapes of the pipes and the mounts, etc. He puts the results up on Ebay and they always seem to sell.
I fear this is another symptom of the malaise currently gripping our society. Fat cat pipemaking CEOs too lazy to make enough sets and spending their huge profits on corporate jets while poor pipers struggle to afford 50 quid reeds. 
I think it may now be time for the emergence of a new Super Hero, this sounds like a job for:
CAPTAIN UILLEANN PIPER MAN !!!
I am fairly certain that many of the top makers have closed their books as they have all heard how awesome my playing is going to eventually be and they want to concentrate on making me lots and lots of great sets without the distraction.
I’m pretty sure that’s it.
What do you look like in tights?
Brother, man, you don’t want to go there! 
I,ve heard that if the makers with long open order books told you that you will have your pipes in july in eight years time,you will get your pipes in july in eight years time. Musicians of all kinds have put their names on long waiting lists with this in mind.
The only reason I can think of why a maker closes his book is that he can not keep up with his present list and the waiting time is getting longer not only because he is getting more orders but because he is falling behind. I suppose its the nature of the business.
RORY
The only reason I can think of why a maker closes his book is that he can not keep up with his present list
I can think of a few more . . .
maker might not want to be making pipes forever
maker might contemplate their creative life being mapped out for the next 12 years with dismay. Some makers are also players, maybe some would play more if they had the option.
maker might feel fairly close to a nervous breakdown as it is. A shorter list helps with this.
oh alright Rory you’ve got me bang to rights . . . .
Actually, I’d say that closing one’s books to new orders when the maker feels it is best to do so is a most honorable way of doing business. I’d much rather deal with a maker who was honest as to what he/she believed they would be able to take on in a reasonable time-frame. Having experienced not only placing an order but also putting a sizeable deposit on a set of pipes that I’ve never seen and being unable to get my deposit back either- well I’d much rather that this maker had been more upfront about his workload in the first place. So yes, I’d rather know that a maker for whatever reason(it IS their life after all) wanted to limit their future obligations, and thus freed me up to look elsewhere.
As well, I’d guess that there are a number of makers who have less of a reputation, and are even looking for business, especially if in the early years of pipemaking, and closed lists by “the name” makers would perhaps lead to more business for these newer makers, and allow them to achieve perhaps a well deserved reputation of exellence as well as delivery of pipes in the lifetime of the customer. Just my two cents for whatever it’s worth…
Frankly, I don’t think any books are closed. I think this has been discussed several times on this forum, that pipemakers (read: top of the heap pipemakers) make pipes for those they wish to. They likely cut off their list to the general fray in order to avoid loads of phone calls and other interruptions.
(now back to my 15th coffee of the morning - isn’t caffeine supposed to mellow me out?)
Yes- agreed. And so I think that this is both understandable- and that pipemakers or flute makers or whatever should be honest about this. This is very likely the situation in my case- I’m sure he is working on particular pipes that he is interested in or for specific people, and just sitting on the orders for those that he doesn’t feel all excited about- so as a newbie piper with a very plain set… it’ll be a few decades perhaps… 
But the “closed book” concept still sits just fine with me- I find the whole idea that some makers have lists going out to 5 or 7 years to be outrageous- I wonder why they do this- does it add some sort of mystique to the instruments when they are finally obtained- the idea that to get one of these will mean a wait of a decade or something? I just like the idea of honesty and transparency myself…
What could be more honest and transparent that a maker saying ,I have enough orders to keep me in work for ten years but if you want you can still put your name on my list and maybe you wont have to wait that long.
What could be more dishonest and dishonourable than a maker saying sorry my order book is closed ,when what he is really saying is,” I don’t know you”,”I,ve never heard of you”.”you’re probably a rubbish piper so go away”.
There is a well known acoustic guitar maker who made Eric Clapton wait six or more years for a guitar ,the same as any Joe Bloggs that wanted to put his name on his waiting list. Now there’s an honourable craftsman.
RORY