on eBAY: Willie Rowsome Bb Set for Sale - ca. 1905

Uilleann Pipes
21

Jeff- I also do not begrudge doctors what they make. The profession requires many years of study and training. My orthopod makes approximately 100 times my wages in a year. He did a great job on my knee. Would I trade my job for his? Not for a minute. The beauty of the free enterprise system is that if you don’t like the work by a person or a company, you can go somewhere else. Don’t like your doctor’s work, find another. Don’t like a pipemakers work, find another.
The side benefit of this system concerning pipes is that a set, by a “good” maker, holds its value or even increases in value. This allowed me to purchase a very nice practice set and fifteen months later, sell that set for close to my expenses. I put that money toward a 1/2 set that I dearly love. Did I pay more for the sets than the previous owners? I don’t know, but I did pay what I was willing to pay for each of the sets. The beauty of Ebay is that I can stop bidding any time I want!
I love historical items and the only thing sad about this set is that the original chanter isn’t with it. Still, it is sooo cool that this much of the set survived. Who knows, maybe the chanter will turn up out of a closet somewhere and we will get to hear its voice again. :smiley: :smiley:
Sorry to hijack your thread Jim (at least it got a bump) and I wish you well with your auction. I hope the set finds a good home where it gets played constantly with a break here and there for a meal. :wink:

John

22

Of course, having the original chanter would be optimum. As sets in disrepair go, though, it all came together nicely. I don’t know how it happens but I have seen other sets just get demolished along the decades.

Many pipers end up with modern chanters on their old sets - Robbie Hannon, Mark Hillman, etc. They find that a modern chanter sounds better with other instruments. Old tuning in chanters can be funky, never mind the modifications over the decades.

23

Not entirely true, some pipers end up playing a modern one because they cannot find a reedmaker who can make the old chanter go the way they want it, in quite a few cases they’d drop the modern chanter instantly when the old one is going again.

24

Uh, OK but in the two cases I mentioned, they both use modern chanters when they play with others or when they record. Add Eoin Ó’Riabhaigh to the list. While singling out an instance where a piper would ‘find a reedmaker who can make the old chanter go’, I have noticed that for most pipers, especially professionals, looking for that great sound and a great reed is endemic.

25

Pipers may, as you well know, record on a modern chanter but won’t give their real opinion on it in public because they depend on the maker for their reeds, what they say in private is another matter.

Just to be clear, I wasn’t casting any doubt on the set for sale because of it’s new chanter. If it’s lost it’s lost. I also have a pupil who has a Willie Rowsome concert set, the previous owner went to buy it with Sean Reid selecting a set for him, when buying Sean chucked the original chanter and handpicked the best Leo chanter he could find for the set. Which I think was probably a good call.

26

There you have it , ladies and gents. Sean Reid: piper, fiddler, engineer, and unabashedly discerning consumer.

What a guy. Someone should start a society in his honor.

It is the case though that far too many old original chanters have sadly been tampered with by pipers or pipemakers who didn’t really know what they were doing. I recently saw an absolutely stunning old four drone/one reg. set of narrow bore Coyne pipes in boxwood. I think they had originally been intended to play somewhere in the vicinity of Eb. The present owner had procured it from a reasonably notable woodwind intsrument maker who had in turn been given it by a family in the Northwest US who had discovered it collecting dust in grandpa’s attic. It had apparently been brought over to the States from Ireland in the mid-1800s and passed down through the generations as a family heirloom.

…Aaaanyway. This instrument maker set about restoring it and when he was finished, showed it to some friends (including the present owner). The outside was a very lovely dark rich honey color, but a quick glance at the chanter showed that the wood of the bore was very light in color as if it had been recently turned. “Did you, uh, make any modifications to this?,” asked one of the people present. “Well, I got it down to 440,” said the maker.

Still sounded quite lovely and all, but that story sure gives me the heebie-jeebies, let me tell ya.

27

Yikes!!! That’s terrible. It never ceases to boggle my mind why folks just do not leave well enough alone…and in this case, appreciate the instrument for what it is (was), an example of pipemaking from the last couple of centuries, without trying to modify it in anyway.

28

anima- nice avatar and the team time trial has just started
And here I was trying to save up for a Gallagher D set. I’ve written it before but we all need a 90% full set- works for 90% of a us, at 90% of the cost.

29

One more hiccup on the listing - here’s the new number:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3735712321&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

30

Jim, is there a way for people to see what has been bid on an item, or is it just blind bidding? How would I know if I have been outbid, or how would I get a chance to bid again? The article says initial bid $5000, and that the reserve has not been met, but I can’t see where the reserve was set (?).

I see in the old photo that there were tassles depended from the drones. These seem to be missing now. Surely you don’t expect to get top dollar if the tassles are missing. :smiley:

djm

31

With this auction, bidders names remain private but the bid amount is public. Reserves are not public in an eBAY auction; the Seller can tell people privately or publicly about the Reserve price (or not at all). The Reserve for the auction is $10,000 - anything below that will not ‘close’ the auction; I put the Reserve in the auction listing.

32

Auction ended early with “Buy It Now” price of 12K. Truely a historic set. Congratulation Jim.

33

Hi,
It was not a ‘good’ auction. The set is relisted.
Jim

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3735712321&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

34

Man, that’s pretty harsh. Good luck this time.

35

Its the tassles, man! Restore the tassles to their rightful place and this auction will fly!

djm

36

Jim, what’s the procedure giving negative feedback to a private sale?
Does the auction number and history show up on the bad bidder?

37

That same bidder closed down many auctions by hitting the Buy-It-Now. While feedback might slow him down, those actions are fraudulent and, hopefully, that account will be shut down.

38

Explain to me one thing, and this is not really a criticism.

Why do you start the bidding at $5K, but then right below, in the text, say that the reserve is $10K?

Why not just start at $5K? (WHOOOPS! SEE NOTE BELOW) I guess I can understand a secret reserve, but when you publish the reserve . . . what’s the point? It can’t attract more buyers with the lower opening bid, since if they look, they see that the opening gambit is half the reserve.

Stuart

EDITOR’S NOTE: The third paragraph should read WHY NOT JUST START AT $10K. I realize my comments don’t make sense now. SORRY!

39

Everyone has a different approach to their auctions and their terms. So, I am balancing setting expectations on the Buyer’s side with my objective of maxing my auction result and doing so expeditiously (auction listings do have a cost). So, technically, I could roll the dice and start the auction at .01 and hope that all the high rollers are following the auction and prepared to bid. Publishing the Reserve (or sharing it privately in e-mails) is strictly up to the Seller. I think that at these price points it is most fair to share the reserve upfront and hope that more than one bidder wants to outbid each other (a Seller’s dream).

40

No, I understand that. And it’s not wrong for you to disclose the reserve, I guess it just defeats the purpose of the reserve. Unless you think that you won’t get $10K, and want to see how high the bidding is.

I’ve bought stuff on eBay from reserve auctions, though. If I don’t get to the reserve, or the item never gets to the reserve, then that’s fine. But, if someone does a reserve auction and then publishes the reserve price, it completely defeats even the knowledge-acquisition mode of the reserve.

Set the reserve at $10K, start the auction at 1¢, and then if people only bid up to, say, $6500, then you have a better idea of what the market will bear. If you set the reserve at $10K, tell people it’s $10K, and start the bidding at $5K, what idiot would bid $6000? Not many, since there’s no point. And on eBay, that’s the way things go; if you set a high reserve, and don’t tell people, they tend not to bid.

Having bought and sold stuff on eBay, including things (pipes, ironically) worth the price range we’re talking about, I guess it’s just my opinion, based on a lot of experience, that this particular type of auction is the least likely to succeed. Even with an expensive item with a reserve and a low starting bid, you’d be amazed at how quickly people will outbid each other to find out what the reserve price is. The converse, starting with your “reserve” as the opening bid, tends to work extremely well for things with a broader market (like Pat D’A’s Fender).

I mean, do you expect people to bid less than $10K, knowing that you’ve now told them that you won’t take less than $10K? And what does it tell you if someone does bid $6K? Not much, since I think I’m not the only one who’d be turned off by this kind of listing.

I want you to get the most for your set as well, actually. I just don’t think this is the best way to do it. It’s just my opinion, and you didn’t ask, so I will shut up now. :wink:

Stuart