Closed order books

[ferris54]

"Actually, I'd say that closing one's books to new orders when the maker feels it is best to do so is a most honorable way of doing business. I'd much rather deal with a maker who was honest as to what he/she believed they would be able to take on in a reasonable time-frame."

Agreed, a certain maker from Richmond, Yorkshire should have heeded this many years ago.

[Joseph E. Smith]

Agreed, a certain maker from Richmond, Yorkshire should have heeded this many years ago.

Let's not go there, please.

[rorybbellows]

It's fascinating, if a bit disturbing

I’m sorry your disturbed ,but you don’t have to be a chef to comment on the service in a restaurant ,you don’t have to be a mechanic to complain that your car is taking to long to be repaired and you certainly don’t have to be a pipemaker to be concerned about the future of Uilleann pipes.

To me long waiting list shows commitment to pipemaking ,the three makers I mentioned are/were dedicated to their craft and made pipes to the end and maybe Geoff will as well. Closed books say I’ll make pipes for awhile but then I may want to become a monk or join the foreign legion .

I hate elitism for who’s to say that the piper who is moved down the list for a “known” piper would not himself be a great piper with a good instrument.
Pipemakers who stroke their ego’s in this way are not doing any service to piping.

The long list worked for the modern great makers as shown by the hoards of people who put their names on those lists ,and the microcosm of the piping community that is represented on this board who are against them, are in the minority.

RORY

[Paul Reid]

I hate elitism for who’s to say that the piper who is moved down the list for a “known” piper would not himself be a great piper with a good instrument. Pipemakers who stroke their ego’s in this way are not doing any service to piping.

The long list worked for the modern great makers as shown by the hoards of people who put their names on those lists ,and the microcosm of the piping community that is represented on this board who are against them, are in the minority.

RORY

Not sure who eluded to this, unless you're paraphrasing incorrectly. Pipe makers can make pipes for whom they wish. Don't like it? Then I guess your choice may be to make your own, or lump it (or find another source). Elitism - to me that is a pejorative word for choice.

[Cayden]

Pipemakers put in an awful effort into their instruments, at least the good ones do. Setting up a set of pipes requires a lot of mental energy, at least in the case of the pipemakers I know. As a result they like to see their efforts rewarded by seeing their instruments played well by good players. It's only natural that when push comes to shove good players or promising young players slip in on the waiting-lists and take preference.

[rorybbellows]

Pipe makers can make pipes for whom they wish.

This is true,but the honourable one will make pipes for the next on their list not the "known" piper who thinks he has a right to skip everyone else.


RORY

[PJ]

This is true,but the honourable one will make pipes for the next on their list not the "known" piper who thinks he has a right to skip everyone else.

I've heard that Alain Froment helped out a young piper, giving him the chance to buy a full set that Alain had just completed but whose original "purchaser" was no longer able to buy. Does this mean Alain Froment was not honourable because he didn't offer the set to the next person on the waiting list?

[Paul Reid]

I'm not sure what honour has to do with it, but what I said is that they will make pipes for whom they wish. What I neglected to continue with was - good piper, bad piper, rich or otherwise. It may be true that there are top-notch pipers getting preferential treatment - but it is certainly not documented and therefore extremely difficult to argue. I would move to end the ambiguity and pick up another topic.

[PJ]

I would move to let pipemakers sell their pipes to whomever they wish.

[rorybbellows]

I would move to let pipemakers sell their pipes to whomever they wish.

You are of course right,and we are just talking and voicing our opinions,not laying down any laws.

RORY

[billh]

Closing the order books is not a statement "I'm not making any more pipes after this" - far from it.

Speaking of ego stroking, a long list could become a vanity too, if the list is too long to reasonably anticipate reaching the end. In which case it does not do a service to anyone but the maker. It certainly doesn't prove anything about commitment IMO.

The desire to satisfy existing commitments fairly, while retaining the option to make a set for a top-notch player "someday", when the backlog clears, is one good reason to stop taking orders for awhile. Putting a 'special' customer in front of the queue, whether a great player, an eager youngster, or just a personal friend, is quite a different thing from putting a special customer at the end of a "closed" list. The former does seem like grounds for complaint, unless the affected people in the queue are consulted.

Now, as long as the maker can actually meet the agreed-on target dates, I see nothing wrong with 'slipping in' a chanter or two - but how many makers can really make those deadlines? Once lists get long, the ability to fix a date reasonably usually goes out the window, so last-come-last-served is the implied expectation.

Nobody seems to have picked up on my point about an open order list as a "public offering". There are plenty of reasons why makers may wish to limit the range of such offers; after all, the output of any pipemaker is finite.

[uillmann]

It is is safe to say that pipemakers do not want to spend all of their time making pipes. In fact, most all pipmakers only do it for a month or so out of the year, as the vast majority of their time is spent sunning themselves in St. Tropez, or lounging in a sky suite, sipping brandy while watching the ponies, or just tooling around Rodeo Drive in their Porsche. They have a fondness for better sushi, and can be seen jetting off to Tokyo on a regular basis, and most of them dislike snow and ice, so they tend to their books in the Cayman Islands in the colder months and only venture into the Hamptons for yachting during the high season.

[tomk]

Untill one day , the choice is clear ,, drive the mummer into the house , through the kitchen window .
hummer ,, it should say hummer. lol .

[tommykleen]

It is is safe to say that pipemakers do not want to spend all of their time making pipes. In fact, most all pipmakers only do it for a month or so out of the year, as the vast majority of their time is spent sunning themselves in St. Tropez, or lounging in a sky suite, sipping brandy while watching the ponies, or just tooling around Rodeo Drive in their Porsche. They have a fondness for better sushi, and can be seen jetting off to Tokyo on a regular basis, and most of them dislike snow and ice, so they tend to their books in the Cayman Islands in the colder months and only venture into the Hamptons for yachting during the high season.

AH HA! OUTED!

[uillmann]

It is is safe to say that pipemakers do not want to spend all of their time making pipes. In fact, most all pipmakers only do it for a month or so out of the year, as the vast majority of their time is spent sunning themselves in St. Tropez, or lounging in a sky suite, sipping brandy while watching the ponies, or just tooling around Rodeo Drive in their Porsche. They have a fondness for better sushi, and can be seen jetting off to Tokyo on a regular basis, and most of them dislike snow and ice, so they tend to their books in the Cayman Islands in the colder months and only venture into the Hamptons for yachting during the high season.

AH HA! OUTED!

It is time the truth came out!!!!!! Bill H. and David Q. are in Monaco, playing baccarat at this very moment, draped in naughty French women, gambling your deposits, yes your very musical dreams, away, forever, a whim of fancy.... oh, the travesty....the humanity...

(I am shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!)