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

leremarkable · Post by **leremarkable** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:26 pm

Anima wrote

"OK, I now understand that there has been some work on this set since last year"

Some work? Did you see the box of crap that Jim McGuire paid a visionary amount of money for, and arranged to have them restored to their present glory? You should really take a look at the photo's of this set before it was restored.

Anima wrote

" Now as far as your knee surgery went, the VAST majority of your "greater than $12,500" bill went not to your orthopedist, but also to the anesthesia doc and the most importantly the HOSPITAL."

Do you expect the regular person who has to undergo a procedure to distinguish between all the various sections of the medical fraternity who take slices of the v. large pie?

Jim McGuire · Post by **Jim McGuire** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 2:15 pm

Purchases for restoration can be nerve wracking. Having someone of Brad Angus' caliber to work on them is key to a successful restoral. This set was in ebony and that helps as far as it won't be warped as one often sees in old boxwood sets.

anima · Post by **anima** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 3:00 pm

Sorry Jim, I didn't realize it was you who put this set up for acution, I thought it was someone else who bought it solely to push the price up and make a profit - I remember a person of this sort being alluded to in a prior posting. Again, I apologize for my profiteering comment.

Jeff

Clarification: I'm a little jaded, having been outbid on several (non-piping) items only to see them show up again soon after in the listings at a much higher reserve price, yes I understand that this is legal and it happens all the time, it just really ticks me off.

Jim McGuire · Post by **Jim McGuire** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 3:26 pm

Hiccup in the listing - it's out there again:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... RK:MESE:IT

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 6:48 pm

Man, I could spend hours just looking at those pipes. A tremendous "well done" goes out to Brad and Jim for the restoration.

srfmowman · Post by **srfmowman** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 6:56 pm

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.

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.

John

Jim McGuire · Post by **Jim McGuire** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 8:23 pm

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.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 12:39 am

Jim McGuire wrote:
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.

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.

Jim McGuire · Post by **Jim McGuire** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 12:54 am

[quote="Peter Laban]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.[/quote]

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.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 1:19 am

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.

The Sporting Pitchfork · Wed Jul 07, 2004 4:07 am

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.

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 4:34 am

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.

fel bautista · Post by **fel bautista** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 7:11 am

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.

Jim McGuire · Post by **Jim McGuire** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 10:09 am

One more hiccup on the listing - here's the new number:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... RK:MESE:IT

djm · Post by **djm** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 10:18 am

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.

djm