SOLD
(to a gentleman in Baltimore)
DAMN! I’m so jealous. Congratulations to the buyer.
that amount of money scares me 
IMO Ebay artifically inflates prices.
Capitalizes on base instincts of human greed.
(Not to lessen the instruments importance in any way)
I hope they are lovingly cared for.
These pipes weren’t sold on eBay. There were advertised on uilleannobsession and on this forum.
IMHO, the asking price was perfectly reasonable. I’ve heard of Wooff sets being sold for prices not far off that amount. We’re talking about an historically significant instrument.
I stand corrected pj 
, altho my feelings about ebay are unchanged.
Yep for your comments on eBay. Not to mention RISKY??
I am curious about the “restoration needed”. That phrase can cover the gamut. I wonder who might do the work. There are few people out there who are capable and have the knowledge and sensitivity to do the work right. I hope the new owner finds one of them. Maybe the owner will keep the board informed on what work is done on the set? 
t
One word answer for those concerns Tommy…
Come on everybody, say it with me…“QUINN”
Besides playing them regularly, I have done almost no maintenance on them in the two decades I have owned them. But they are due for a going over, and a new voice, and they deserve a fine job of refitting. And I would agree that Mr. D. Quinn is the best man for the restoration job, although I would equally entrust his esteemed cohort, Mr B. Koehler with the task.
Good riddance, miserable contraption! I think I’m going to buy a quality harmonica! Or maybe an old Sho Bud…
Mark Hillmann
Mark -
I hear your sentiments. I have to admit that every time I see a Taylor style set of pipes, I remember a movie I saw called “Dead Ringers” and the strange OBGYN instruments that the demented brother designed in that movie. To me, a Taylor set looks like one of those surgical instruments - possibly designed by an alien.
Oh, but they sound grand. Just look a bit strange to me.
Forget the Sho Bud - grab an old Emmons.
- Tom
It’s a Taylor thing: you wouldn’t understand.
Correction: It’s a Taylor_esque_ thing: you wouldn’t understand.
t
Or a Sierra, the Floyd Rose of pedal steel.
“Dead Ringers”? “You’ve been playing the regulators on a mutant!” No way they look that bizarre. Someone once compared them to HR Giger, too. Ehhh. The closest thing I see in them is Art Deco, which someone pointed out they anticipated by decades.
They are less Art Deco, but more Modern - or at least moving towards it and way ahead of the curve/trend - by several decades, for sure.
Taylor pipes wouldn’t be out of place in a Fritz Lang movie.
incidentally, from where I believe their residence to be in Philly (Nicetown)
they were surrounded by light manufacturing at the time. Certainly no shortage of metalrolling shops, furniture makers, leather works, etc.. all this type late vic industry, mostly individually owned ‘mom&pop’ enterprises.
Hi CHasR. I sell and buy stuff (not related to UPing) on Ebay and am perplexed by what you say… I get incredible bargains and often sell things at a really cheap rate. People bid on things based on their own determination of how they value something and what they can afford. Given that you argue that the free market system of Ebay is flawed, what would you suggest as an alternative (I’m not “baiting” you, I’d really like to know).
I agree philly is a nice town , oh and If you change your mind , you could always make an offer to but the taylor pipes at the mercer museam in " bucks " county , lol pardon the pun . This makes me homesick .. tom . K .
well im not going to argue the merits of online auctions with you Beau;
this is simply my opinion & Im entitled to it. Twice burned, thrice smarter, that’s all.
tomk; since Im likely never to get my hands on that mercer set,
the next best thing for me is to track these guys down in philly.
right now I’m searching through Brennan (their aprentice’s)'s evidence, by cemetery records and the Phila Archdiocese. (if death came from the Phila AD, we should all live to be very old.)
Brennan lived in OL Pompei parish, their current vicar is not interested in pursuing 90 y.o. records. There are 40-odd J Brennan’s buried in Holy Sep cemetery dec’d prior to 1940. I havent even begun to check out the non-dioscesan cem’s.
I can tell you that , at Brennan’s time, 7th + Butler was somewhat upscale. Of course now, it’s a shell of a neighborhood, but back then it was close to a large park that held regular concerts, and within walking distance of some pretty expensive mansions (now mostly rehab homes) on Broad St. In the other direction, accross the tracks, conditions were much more cramped: no porches or yards; 2 or 3 story multifamily tenements. Brennan’s row were all single family rowhomes, many with porches + yards last time I went thru there, aprox 1985. So Brennan had moderate means, imo.
Back to small industry + Taylors. The other prime choice i put their ‘workshop’, local legend puts it there also, is in a 4 block radius between Market, Chestnut, Front + 3rd. There were a lot of dockside chandlers here, plenty of workshops. I have reasons for not fully being convinced of this, one being Brennan;s location, and the densest Irish immigrant community, which was closer to Brennan’s hood than to Center City.
Course, one word from NPU, who reputedly have some of their letters, with return adresses, would put all this speculation to rest and I 'd have to find another divertive obsession. o well! 
Actually, David Quinn once told me that Benedict is much better at doing the restoration work than he is. Either of them would be a good choice though.