Burleigh NSP business for sale

[Julia Say]

Extremely unlikely that they are in concert G: more likely trad pitch, somewhere between F and F# (it varies).
It depends on whether they are fully mounted drones and how many tuning beads.
If one tuning bead, then 500 UK pounds max. in playing condition.
If 4 or 5 tuning beads, and mounted drones, then maybe a bit more than that. But there's a recession on.

If not in playing condition, then 2-300 UK pounds since it is impossible to tell what will need doing to get them going.

Julia

[Richard Strayer]

Originally Posted by Julia Say

Extremely unlikely that they are in concert G: more likely trad pitch, somewhere between F and F# (it varies).
It depends on whether they are fully mounted drones and how many tuning beads.
If one tuning bead, then 500 UK pounds max. in playing condition.
If 4 or 5 tuning beads, and mounted drones, then maybe a bit more than that. But there's a recession on.

If not in playing condition, then 2-300 UK pounds since it is impossible to tell what will need doing to get them going.

Julia

Thanks Julia. The mount looks like artificial ivory, and the drones are what he calls "complicated" drones (so more than 1 tuning bead). What I mean is that it's his standard chanter, which he describes as, "tuned in G major but like most other old instruments, the pitch is flat on modern concert pitch. The modern trend is to reed the pipes flat to match modern concert F."

The seller tells me the bag is airtight and it can be played, but I guess my biggest concern with a set of this age is will it need new reeds for optimum performance? How long do cauld wind pipe reeds typically last? Is it more about age or the amount they're played? Also what about maintenance of the keys, particularly the leather pads? I'm led to believe it was a set purchased by a GHB piper, so used infrequently and probably not regularly maintained over the years.

Also, apologies for somewhat hijacking the thread. To return to topic, I do indeed see on his web site that Burleigh has retired and now appears to only offer the odd repair service. This is one of the reasons why I'm a bit hesitant to purchase a set that may need servicing, if the maker is no longer really in business.

[Heatherbelle]

Originally Posted by Richard Strayer

Also, apologies for somewhat hijacking the thread. To return to topic, I do indeed see on his web site that Burleigh has retired and now appears to only offer the odd repair service. This is one of the reasons why I'm a bit hesitant to purchase a set that may need servicing, if the maker is no longer really in business.

I phoned round a few makers a year or so ago to see if I could get a Burleigh set refurbished. I bought them from ebay for £350. They seemed a bit tarnished so I thought of getting them spruced up, but they seem to play ok. Anyway what I discovered was that some makers don't like to refurbish other makers pipes, while others would have been happy to. However I didn't get round to doing anything about it, so they're still a bit lack lustre poor things.! iirc, David Burleigh puts a number on his pipes indicating what number of set it is. I think mine was two thousand and something. He must have made a heck of a lot of pipes in his time .

[brynley]

I have a Burleigh set numbered 2738 on the chanter and am happy to play them. My question is do these numbers indicate the actual numbers of instruments made, and if so where are all the pipers, or are a lot of these collecting dust? (If so you can send them to me!) As to people wanting to work on other makers pipes or not, on this side of the Atlantic this isn't an issue with Burleigh pipes as they are no longer shipped to N.America, and thankfully, there are some good experienced fettlers around, who are more than capable to take them on. I wonder what the highest number on a set actually is?

[North Idaho Piper]

Originally Posted by John Dally

It looks like David Burleigh's business is for sale.

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/16742823?search_identifier=e782a2937522db6cd163312 0d5ad20b6

It looks like there is an offer on the property. I wonder if the offer is also for the pipemaking business?

I would love to buy the business but I don't play NSP's (yet). It would also be expensive to ship the equipment. I wonder if David would be interested in an extended vacation to the NW US to teach the new owner?

Karl

[Julia Say]

Originally Posted by brynley

I have a Burleigh set numbered 2738 My question is do these numbers indicate the actual numbers of instruments made. I wonder what the highest number on a set actually is?

My understanding is that these are actual numbers. Very early sets do not have numbers on them (I'm meaning the first 50 or so), but apparently do have numbers in David's workbooks. There are also a very few right at the beginning stamped Armstrong-Burleigh.

The highest number I've seen is in the 3500 region: I'm not sure if it ever got to 4000 but it must have been close if not.

Julia

[Rob MacDonald]

Originally Posted by Richard Strayer

Thanks Julia. The mount looks like artificial ivory, and the drones are what he calls "complicated" drones (so more than 1 tuning bead). What I mean is that it's his standard chanter, which he describes as, "tuned in G major but like most other old instruments, the pitch is flat on modern concert pitch. The modern trend is to reed the pipes flat to match modern concert F."

The seller tells me the bag is airtight and it can be played, but I guess my biggest concern with a set of this age is will it need new reeds for optimum performance? How long do cauld wind pipe reeds typically last? Is it more about age or the amount they're played? Also what about maintenance of the keys, particularly the leather pads? I'm led to believe it was a set purchased by a GHB piper, so used infrequently and probably not regularly maintained over the years.

Also, apologies for somewhat hijacking the thread. To return to topic, I do indeed see on his web site that Burleigh has retired and now appears to only offer the odd repair service. This is one of the reasons why I'm a bit hesitant to purchase a set that may need servicing, if the maker is no longer really in business.

Contact Mike Sharp either through this forum or by email; msharp(at)sharpbagpipes(dot)com. He's not too far from you and will properly sort the pipes out.

[John Dally]

I'll second Rob's endorsement of Mike Sharp. He has fettled a lot of Burleigh sets so he knows what's what.
My first set was #329 or something like that. It served me well for many years. But, when I got my hands on a set of pipes made by Ray Sloan it was like throwing a string of firecrackers in a fire.
As Julia pointed out, there is a recession going on, regardless of what they tell us, and the wait list for many pipe makers is a lot shorter than it was a few years ago. It might be worth while to get your order in now while the order books are still open. The wait time may not be much longer than the time it would take to seek out a used set and get it fettled.

[Julia Say]

I know of at least two sets currently for sale over here. One is a Ross set listed at:
www.northumbrianpipers.org.uk/pipersforum

the other I must get back to the owner and get listed. My impression is that there are more for sale at present: I think folk are clearing their attics and making a few quid / dollars from unused items that they might previously have kept for sentimental reasons.

Several pipemakers I know to be working flat out, but the nsp world has lost the services of Robbie Greensitt, Colin Ross is slowing down (but has emphatically not stopped either making or servicing), and now David Burleigh is ceasing production of new sets. These combined leave a big gap at all levels of the market

Julia