Here we go again… another eBay auction for plastic practice pipes and the starting price is $11 more than it’s normal retail price. I wasn’t going to comment when I saw this auction thinking no one would be interested, but it now has a few bids.
most of us have seen this hideous monstrosity before…but I JUST noticed for the first time, that the actual velvet bag (which I was thinking looked pretty nice, not a bad price for a velvet bag) appears to be a GHP bag cover…you can just see the yellow fringes for the drone holes…
Yep, these bags are quite common in GHB solo circles.
BTW, I had my hands on a set of these a couple of years back; apart from being hideously ugly in construction, they did actually produce an in-tune scale from the bottom to high B. The set I played was far too light in set up, but with a meatier reed would have been a far better prospect than the paki junk that goes for similar prices. They’re made by one of the Scottish makers that specialise in selling plastic smallpipes to those with cloth ears for tone.
No, you’re not mistaken - I’ve recently received a catalog of Irish gifts and this “creature feature” is in there, with the same photo as posted above, and a 2nd pic in the catalog shows two remaining “fringe holes”, which really had me laughing.
For an even funnier look - check the finger position(s) in the above photo.
Great observation Brian! When Tony posted this same thing last year, and asked why this guy was smiling, I think some of us must have gotten a little too with the startling fact that this crazy guys kilt must have just fallen off, to realize that he was missing that finger hole completely. Again… Good one!
:roll: Two Fiddy for a complete Uilieann starter set.. ITs gonna have to have some extremely good reviews before I pay that little. And before I get something that looks like The Long GHB poly chanter I already have.
The bag shape makes no sense to me. Isnt there a good reason why good Up bags are shaped the way they are???
And the bag cover, the person sewing it had to make the neck extra long, and they are going to sew on two extra collars? I have sewn lots of bag covers, Collars are the hardest part. Knowing what I know there is no way in hell that I would do two extra that wont even get used.[/quote]
I forget who the maker was but in talking to some insiders at Lark in the Morning the whole rig was a conversion from a GHB smallpipe/practice pipe setup. They changed the molds internally etc and came up with an UP chanter, with a reed modified from the same practice chanter design, adding a lengthy staple extention. Externally, it would have been cost prohibitive so they left the slender OD and big sole.
Great observation Brian! When Tony posted this same thing last year, and asked why this guy was smiling, I think some of us must have gotten a little too 
with the startling fact that this crazy guys kilt must have just fallen off, to realize that he was missing that finger hole completely. Again… 