On eBAY: Pat O'Riordan D Whistle

crookedtune · Post by **crookedtune** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 1:31 pm

Wanderer wrote:Wow...someone paid $7000 for a guitar on ebay.

http://tinyurl.com/zb8b9

OMG! Oh, my goodness! What in the world?! LOL!

I remember seeing things that Mandolin Bros. in Staten Island was trying to get $60,000 U.S. for. They're all just wood and strings, but money's just paper and it's all made from dust in the end anyway. It's no worse than paying millions for a Renoir.

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 1:32 pm

Wanderer wrote:Wow...someone paid $7000 for a guitar on ebay.
http://tinyurl.com/zb8b9

Wow... that is a gorgeous guitar. That's some odd bracing seen
through the sound hole.

Paul Reid · Post by **Paul Reid** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:40 pm

[/quote]...but money's just paper and it's all made from dust in the end anyway. It's no worse than paying millions for a Renoir.[/quote]

So at what point does an instrument change from an instrument to an investment? Don't read me wrong, if I had $150,000 spare around I'd be buying a Bösendorfer yesterday, and I fully understand the value of quality.

I'd also give 10% of that to charity

chas · Post by **chas** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 7:47 pm

Paul Reid wrote: So at what point does an instrument change from an instrument to an investment?

I would say it's an investment (or collection item) when it's not played, and add that if it's an investment, the buyer expects it to increase in value. If one buys an instrument, be it an O'Riordan or a Generation, to play it, I would say it's simply an instrument.

crookedtune · Post by **crookedtune** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:55 pm

Obviously, you have to use common sense, but instruments tend to hold or increase in value unless abused. I have bought any number of used instruments, played them for months or years, and sold them at break-even or even a profit. Spending a few hundred dollars for an instrument may seem frivilous to some, but I'll wager it's a lot cheaper than bowling, skiing, golf, attending sports events, or any of a hundred other hobbies I could name. I feel NO GUILT about my WHOA. (....of course I did pass on the particular whistle under discussion....)

Dave Parkhurst · Post by **Dave Parkhurst** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 9:41 pm

I suppose if you enjoy the instrument, the price is superfluous. I've spent more than that on an instrument that I hated.
Dave

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 8:05 am

Dave Parkhurst wrote:I suppose if you enjoy the instrument, the price is superfluous. I've spent more than that on an instrument that I hated.
Dave

That's what you get for playing U-Pipes

Loren

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 8:15 am

crookedtune wrote:...I'll wager it's a lot cheaper than ... attending sports events

Boy, no kidding. For the price some people payed to see the Stanley
Cup finals, I could've bought some very nice whistles. And a flute.

Heck, for the price people pay for a beer at those games, you could
get a nice tweaked Generation.

Paul Reid · Post by **Paul Reid** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:37 pm

That's what you get for playing U-Pipes

Thanks for the dialogue, gang. Gave me some perspective. Also, I don't believe in guilt as long as there is balance. I'd give my right arm to have some sets of uilleann pipes, but I think that would be a bit of a set-back.

Cheers,

eskin · Post by **eskin** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 3:19 pm

I have an O'Riordan concert high D whistle with a wood body, gorgeous and pretty much as new. I never play it, always seem to find myself with a Burke or Copeland in my hands. Might put it up for sale at the market price, sure could use the cash to help with vet bills...

Dave Parkhurst · Post by **Dave Parkhurst** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:54 pm

Loren wrote:
Dave Parkhurst wrote:I suppose if you enjoy the instrument, the price is superfluous. I've spent more than that on an instrument that I hated.
Dave
That's what you get for playing U-Pipes

Loren

okay... that it!!! I'm playing outside your bedroom window at 3:00 a.m. without tuning!!! You will tremble in fear at my lack of ability!!!

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 6:17 am

Dave Parkhurst wrote:
Loren wrote:
Dave Parkhurst wrote:I suppose if you enjoy the instrument, the price is superfluous. I've spent more than that on an instrument that I hated.
Dave
That's what you get for playing U-Pipes

Loren
okay... that it!!! I'm playing outside your bedroom window at 3:00 a.m. without tuning!!! You will tremble in fear at my lack of ability!!!

Dave, I live halfway between Boston College and Boston University, and you can practically spit from one to the other. So, if you can make yourself heard above the all the partying college students, with their blasting stereos at 3am, perhaps you will annoy them for a change, in which case I'd welcome the noise my friend.

Loren

crookedtune · Post by **crookedtune** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 9:24 am

Loren wrote: Dave, I live halfway between Boston College and Boston University.......
Loren

My old stomping grounds!!! Of course, that's when we were wearing bell-bottoms and John Silber was the man with a plan. There were a lot of pipes around then too.....

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 9:41 am

crookedtune wrote:
Loren wrote: Dave, I live halfway between Boston College and Boston University.......
Loren

My old stomping grounds!!! Of course, that's when we were wearing bell-bottoms and John Silber was the man with a plan. There were a lot of pipes around then too.....

Believe me, there are still a LOT of pipes around

It's no wonder these college kids are always complaining they don't have enough money

Loren

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 2:01 am

Just to clarify for those who were puzzled about this sort of pricing a page back. Nobody has ever said that it is wrong to pay that sort of money for a whistle, unless of course it means your family go without food but that has nothing specifically to do with whistles. What some people hold is that, with Pat's whistles, it is wrong to use market forces to determine value, when he himself could do so but declines to.

There is a tendency, evident in some earlier posts on this thread, to mock this view. Evidently those who do so have never contemplated the possibility of rationally using other criteria, something every capitalist country does when it erects trade barriers for example. The view might be wrong but it is not stupid. To think that there might be no more rational way of pricing the whistles is to imply that the criteria Pat himself uses are irrational.

When Pat is no longer making whistles, perhaps there will be nothing left but market forces to fix the value of his whistles. For the moment, however, there are considerations that carry very much more weight—his own valuation of his whistles made in full knowledge and defiance of what market forces say. I buy and sell old instruments and do so largely by following the market, as you must if you want to play. I myself would not buy nor sell an O'Riordan except for roughly what he charges while he is still making whistles.