Taylor set 4 sale

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 6:23 pm

I was browzing around today and noticed a Taylor set (with problems) for sale on Ebay. Item#85868553. Buy-it-now price is $8,000.00. Oi! well.. It is a TAYLOR. THere are only so many.

[ This Message was edited by: Paul on 2002-04-15 23:32 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Paul on 2002-04-15 23:40 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Paul on 2002-04-15 23:43 ]

Dionys · Post by **Dionys** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 11:49 pm

It's a Taylor, but it's missing a few bits (though not the chanter, thankfully). Someone mentioned (perhaps in the UP mailing list) that the chanter at one time was *not* confirmed as a Taylor. I do not know if this is true, but whoever purchases this might make certain to have some clause where you can return it if you're not satisfied that it is a Taylor chanter.

There is also the cracked block which could be due to almost anything. Let's hope it is not because of poor storage at some point during its life.

Also keep in mind that 8,000USD will buy you a *beautiful* set from a modern master (if you can get on their list) and a few used sets from Ebay, even decent ones from good makers less than a decade old.

Of course there's nothing like a 'Taylor,' and it is a piece of history. We could, however, all debate which chanters / sets are our dream sets regarding timbre / volume / balance and come up with more than one answer per person.

It's easy to say that Pakistani sets are generally crappy, but when you move up to the level of the better / best makers you start taking different things into consideration other than how 'well' the set was made.

Just some thoughts,
Dionys

Roger O'Keeffe · Post by **Roger O'Keeffe** » Tue Apr 16, 2002 4:53 am

I look forward to a nail-biting auction battle between Peter Laban and Ken McLeod ;->

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Wed Apr 17, 2002 3:26 am

that'll be the day

Kevin Popejoy · Post by **Kevin Popejoy** » Wed Apr 17, 2002 9:37 am

Dionys · Post by **Dionys** » Wed Apr 17, 2002 10:05 am

Apparently with all the work it needs, it's not reasonable enough for anyone yet. I do hope someone will buy it and restore it, though. It'd be nice to see another Taylor set being played.

Do you know if the current owner (with his other Taylor set) swapped any of the pieces to the set he's keeping?

Dionys

Kevin Popejoy · Post by **Kevin Popejoy** » Wed Apr 17, 2002 11:15 am

Dionys · Post by **Dionys** » Wed Apr 17, 2002 5:12 pm

True enough. Would it be a 3/4 set with the particular regulator that is missing? I guess it's all a matter of opinion. When you take into consideration the cost of a new set by a good maker (and the waiting period), $7500 doesn't sound bad. When you take into consideration what is missing and how much money you might spend on restoration, some might think $7500 a tad bit high. Then again, some might not.

As for having money on hand, that's also true. If I won the lottery (may lightning strike me 3 times while riding on the back of a bunny), I wouldn't hesitate to purchase it. If I had $8000 earmarked towards a full set, though, it would take a lot of careful deliberation. Though I'd personally love to own a Taylor set, of course.

Dionys

Kevin Popejoy · Post by **Kevin Popejoy** » Wed Apr 17, 2002 6:35 pm

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Thu Apr 18, 2002 4:46 am

David Quinn is probably your best option for the restoration. You can wonder though about the added cost of the operation. Often it is cheaper getting a new set rather than extensively restoring one. And lets be fair: look at that soundbox on the bass, the size of it and the hole in it, that won't work very nicely so you are looking at binning it and replacing probably the whole part of the bass add to that a new reg, an overhaul and the pipemaker's time figuring out all the bits and what they are supposed to do. $7500 is only a start for this project.

Kevin Popejoy · Post by **Kevin Popejoy** » Thu Apr 18, 2002 12:27 pm

CoyneLover · Post by **CoyneLover** » Thu Apr 18, 2002 12:40 pm

Actually, the regulator itself would be a relatively** simply project...Much easier to make than a chanter. The keys are, frankly, much simpler and easier to manufacture.

I simply couldn't imagine paying $7500 for a set like that however...that's a LOT of money. Keeping in mind, as a friend of mine says, that pipes are nothing more than a bunch of wooden straws with holes in them!

The fact is..you would spend a very large sum of money for a questionable instrument in need of much restoration and care. I would say that 50% of the cost is simply the Taylor name...which holds a great deal of mysticism for many pipers.

Myself? Honestly...you wouldn't catch me dead with a Taylor...no other reason than the fact that I think they are horribly ugly, and acoustically over-rated. (uh oh..here comes the hate mail!)Granted...if someone gave me one I would gladly accept it...just long enough to clean it up and sell it on eBay for a ridiculous sum of money.

CL

Dionys · Post by **Dionys** » Thu Apr 18, 2002 5:22 pm

I must admit the keywork on the regulators makes me wonder 'what the hell was he thinking' in terms of beauty. I imagine his concern was for playability. I wouldn't turn down a Taylor set, and if it were a Taylor set in need of minimal repair / restoration work and I enjoyed the sound of the chanter I wouldn't re-sell it but would enjoy the restoration. Right now, though, if I had the US$8000, I'd probably put it towards Woof's 25th anniversary set. Even though it might cost double that considering everyone that seems to be interested in it.

I also agree that it is all about sound. Yes, it's a *Taylor*, but "how does it sound" (once restored) should always be the question first out of your mouth. After all the restoration and re-working (but hopefully not reboring - gah!) of the set, what happens when you discover the tone/timbre isn't what you want, what you expected, or nearly as good as a modern set or a different set by the same maker? I guess you put it on E-bay, put "TAYLOR SET" in big letters and hope someone bites.

Granted, the chanter doesn't seem to need any work (other than the cracked block), so you should be able to get an idea of what it sounds like.

Dionys

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Fri Apr 19, 2002 1:04 am

On 2002-04-18 14:40, CoyneLover wrote:
Actually, the regulator itself would be a relatively** simply project...Much easier to make than a chanter. The keys are, frankly, much simpler and easier to manufacture.
Myself? Honestly...you wouldn't catch me dead with a Taylor...no other reason than the fact that I think they are horribly ugly, and acoustically over-rated. (uh oh..here comes the hate mail!)Granted...if someone gave me one I would gladly accept it...just long enough to clean it up and sell it on eBay for a ridiculous sum of money.

CL

Firstly, re-making a Taylor reg, including the keywork could be quite a job actually.

I agree Taylors are ugly yokes and personally I don't care that much about them. However, they are much nicer than Rowsomes. I know several Taylor that have lovely drones, which is unusual in itself in the concert pitch world. The problem with some Taylor chanters is that they don't have a cross-fingered c natural which may be a matter of not knowing how to reed them, I played one Taylor last year owned by Rolf Knusel which went well, the chanter lacked in flexibility tone wise but went otherwise well, he had metal reeds in the regs and that worked well too. It wouldn't be my set of choice but as concert pitch sets go it worked quite well.

I also played in a new reed in the Patsy Touhey chanter recently. I played it for over an hour, that chante was very different in character, it wanted to play very loud, but at the same time it didn't scream at you which was fine (set up more quietly it suffered a severe case of 'auto-cran') again not a chanter I would play my daily music on but it went well. Interestingly it 'wanted' to play that Touhey style with lots of back-stitching and his particular approach. It definitely had a character of it's own and you could recognise the sounds of the old Touhey cylinders.
Good support for my theory that the chanter often dictates the style you move towards.

I think the main issue in the Taylors is finding a reedstyle that makes them work. Interestingly the Touhey chanter had a reed in it that was probably made by Mike Carney and it's staple had it's taper the other way i.e. it widened towards the reed head. Experiment in re-reeding it showed that was the only way it would work well. (back to the workshops now guys and try that)

[ This Message was edited by: Peter Laban on 2002-04-19 03:10 ]

James Falin · Post by **James Falin** » Sat Apr 20, 2002 2:58 pm

Looks as though someone bought the pipes. An amateur luthier. Let us not hope an amateur pipes repairer.

Jim