Hardback 2000 edition of Wilbert Garvin’s book on building the pipes on ebay under uilleann pipes. Started out at $30 and is already over $50. My old copy has £3.95 on the back. My, how times change. Is the book not currently listed on the NPU site?
This is not one of the rip off photocopies that were around a while ago, it’s the real thing.
Ken
Yes, it is still available from NPU. Here’s the link to their catalogue: http://www.pipers.ie/shop/detail.lasso?SKU=056
Price is 33 Euros. Not sure what that is in real currency. 
djm
uhh… less than buying on eBay?
Thanks for doing all that hard work lads, just to add to the currency exchange, I reckon 33 Euro is worth about $40 in american dollars, probably nearer $50 in Canadian dollars so the seller offered a good deal at the start but some people can’t resist a bargain no matter what it costs to get it!!
You’d also get 10% off on NPU as long as you’re a member.
NPU need all the business they can get just now so maybe the losers on eBay should be NPU’s gain.
Ken
The current bid is 65 US$.
Today’s currency conversion is:
65.00 USD
United States Dollars = 59.8671 EUR Euro
And it’s been said that the book can be had (new) from NPU can be had for 33 Euro, and that conversion is:
33.00 EUR
Euro = 35.8257 USD
United States Dollars
Interesting.
Well, I am the seller of this book and I am pretty surprised myself. I dunno, maybe it is the convenience of doing the whole transaction in the US, maybe it is the excitement of the auction, or maybe it is the thrill of buying a book from a famous and handsome seller! Can’t wait to see how much the final amount is - and if they pay up.
What kind of pipes is Wilbert using here? Concert pitch, it says; Rowsome? How accurate are the measurements, .25mm, 1/4", what?
I tried to find more info about it online, including searching NPU’s website, which only took the 386 PC with 9600 baud modem they apparently use as a server about 14 minutes; some booksellers had more info to offer as well, not that I’m complaining. Oh no.
I did find an amusing bagpipe slag from one bookseller, though=
“These are bagpipes. I understand the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the man-made sound never equalled the purity of the sound achieved by the pig.
Alfred Hitchcock”
Garvin doesn’t specifically name whoever made or designed the set he used to model the book from. Measurements are sparse, actually most of the book is sparse. I’m not sure what you’re looking for measurement-wise.
Garvin’s chanter: throat = 5.0 mm, reed seat = 5.0 - 7.0 mm, bell = 13.0 mm. Only 4 keys are documented: Fnat, G#, A#, Cnat.
This is NOT an in-depth manual on pipe construction; only 39 pages, including the bibliography. At best it glosses over each topic with a minimum of description, and no real discussion on options or possibilities.
Is that the info you were looking for?
djm
5mm throat? Gawd, fire breathing monster time.
Detailed measurements of woodwinds have measurements in 1/4mm increments measured in both directions, to account for shrinkage. Quite a few numbers there. I was curious to see if Wilbert had added much to his original book.
Any word about Craig Fischer coming out with his book, or has he, pardon the pun, shelved it for the time being?
This book is definitely worth every penny because it has been blessed by the North Umbrian Guru himself!!! 
I kid you not..the seller is indeed handsome at leist to some ??? 
Now if mr. Leistman autographed the book…gee wiz who knows 
…All Kidding aside Ive seen the guys work and well it is awe inspiring 
He is kinda famous in the N. Umbrian world.
Uh, thanks Mypipes. Did not know that I merited so many emoticons!
On Garvins book, it presumes one constant bore taper, so it gives the throat and bell dimension and that is all that is needed. I believe the “woodwind measurements in 1/4mm both ways” method is for measureing already made pipes, to try to figure out what had been the original taper(s) plus any scooping or whatever you call it. But anyway, Garvin’s book just assumes one taper. Whether that makes the best chanter is up for debate (my Quinn surely does not have one taper but I think Lynch and Britton do use just one). The edition of Garvin that I have has enough measurements to make the set he wants you to make and is surely a good place to start. You won’t be a famous pipemaker with using ONLY it as your knowledge base but, until Craig’s book comes out, its clearly the best book published on the topic (also the only I think). So there you go.
Quinn, Rowsome, Taylor, Egan, Coyne, Kenna, Harrington. Woofe, Angus…
None of this one bore hoo-ha for these. Notice how these one taper guys also make these armbusting pipes, hmmm?
Kevin, as I noted, this book is fairly sparse on details. I think its original value was that it was the only source of information at the time it was first published. As liestman has pointed out, there are a lot of assumptions in this book, some of them being that you already know something about woodwind manufacture, are an accomplished machinist, and have a fully stocked shop and can make any tools you need like reemers that are specific to the manufacture of UPs.
This is no longer the only source of info on UPs. There are also the scale diagrams for D and C sets from Alan Ginsberg (which I am told do not produce a working set any more than the Garvin book does), as well as the many articles in the NPU and IPC newsletters, the publications of the Sean Reid Society, and sundry web postings. Also, there are the many posts on this forum by helpful UP makers.
djm
To be fair to Garvin, I think he did a great job of putting some information together in a book form as a good starting point, but that was in the last century. What we really need now is for somebody really knowledgable to put out the ultimate reference, with detailed descriptions of processes, materials, dimensions, choices to be made, etc, on how to build wide and narrow bore in all the pitches, with a whole lot of “why” answered. So far what I see is a lot of information, some of which is contrary to other information, but no one has yet compiled it all, made it internally consistent, and published it as a single cohesive work. Maybe this will happen when universally standard reeds happen, but I hope it will happen sooner.
djm and liestman are indeed giving credit where credit is due. Wilbert’s book has to be judged against the information desert which predated it. (As I explained to one of my daughters who didn’t see what was the big deal with the Beatles: You had to know what things were like before they came along.)
I don’t remember when it first appeared, but the original Garvin booklet was designed to help people who were fairly competent in the generic skills required to make themselves a set of pipes at a time when there were still only a handful of makers. It certainly wasn’t intended to be a complete guide for a professional maker.
Liestman, do not fear. I will produce such a volume of work for reference. I will also include design theory to allow people to design their own pipes. This info will also assist in reverse engineering existing UPs such that the user will be able to design reeds for an individual chanter or regulator, no matter what the design flaws may be.
The only thing standing in my way of producing this reference is my need to purchase a metal-working lathe and learning to use it. Then again too, I will have to produce a working set of pipes. That’s two things. There are are only two things standing in the way of my producing this reference: the need to purchase a lathe, and the need to produce a working set of pipes. Of course, I won’t really know if my reference works unless the results are reproducable. That’s three things. There are only three things standing in the way of … :roll:
And then there will be need to win the lottery to support myself while I do this ofver the next five years …
Don’t hold your breath.
djm
“This auction is the real thing and, now that I have built my drones, I would like to pass it on to another to help them along the path.”
John, you mentioned on your Ebay ad, that you built your own drone’s.
If you used the dimensional data from the Garvin book, how did they
turn out?
I’ve never understood the sniping, that has gone on in the past, directed
at this fine book. True, the chanter bore is drawn as a straight taper,
and the reed seat depth must be measured and scaled from the page…although if you look to the immediate left, you’ll see a dimensional datum line for it.
For precision freak’s, (like me 
), Daye has published measurement’s, the point’s of which, when splined on a CAD/CAM, display the appropriate acoustically significant bump’s…and Bruce Childress, last month in this forum, published data for D & B chanter bore’s. Chris Bayley has a lovely CAD drone drawing on his site.
Hi John. If you are a “precision freak”, this is not likely the book for you. You probably need to wait for DJMs book or Craig Fishers book if it is ever done.
When I was getting set to build my uilleann drones, I weighed all the data I could find (Garvin, Ginsburg plans, a few sets of uilleanns that I could examine and play, articles especially by Quinn on Taylor drones, some reading over the years on bore theory, and my own experience with Northumbrian drones). I settled on something very close to a Kirk Lynch set of drones with a little modification (hollowed end piece on bass and baritone, lighter overall construction, reeds of my own design with blackwood bodies and plastic tongues) and I think they are quite nice. They are exactly what I wanted (maybe not what someone else would want) and very stable. I have had several honest (I think) compliments on them and they blend well with my 2-3 year old Quinn chanter.
So I used the Garvin book as one source of information. That is why I did not say in my Ebay ad that I built the drones in the book exactly and they are fabulous.
Shouldn’t there be mention of a comfortable chair in there somewhere?