I’m attracted by the above three whistles that have become grouped together because of their similarities in design and can afford to buy one only. But would like to know which of them possesses the most backpressure and which, not necessarily the same, the least air usage. Thoughts please. Many thanks.
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I have owned both the Wild Irish and Killarney. The Killarney requires the least air and has decent back-pressure. It is an all-around performer, very popular on this forum. Sweet tone, in tune through both octaves, very responsive. It is one of my go-to whistles and I will never sell it.
I sent the Wild Irish back when the brass insert separated from the fipple and McNeela refused to replace it… thankfully I was within the return window and sent it back for a refund. It sounded great (at first), is loud and very top-heavy due to the head design.
The Lir is very similar build to the Wild Irish and I suspect they come from the same overseas factory. Check out this thread https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/a-sad-lir-whistle-story/104753/1 to read about the Quality issues that a number of forum users have reported about the Lir.
Good luck in your decision.
AW
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I share that suspicion and would add Mullan to the list. Killarney is the only one of them that explicitly indicates the country of manufacture.
I have a Killarney and it is beautifully crafted. The tuning is very good and it moves easily between octaves. The only fault I find with it is that it seems to clog with condensate quite easily even when warmed up. I also have a high D aluminum Tilbury; it has similar characteristics but doesn’t seem to clog as easily. As such, I prefer it over the Killarney. It is a little more expensive than the Killarney, but not in the same range as some of the other higher end makers. I am not really sensitive to how much air it needs, so cannot comment on that.
All I know is avoid all these bad factory lookalikes. The quality isnt there. To my knowledge Killarney is handmade. If it is ‘factory’ made or partially mass produced by some shop, its at least made well with high quality control. Which is good enough. No reason to support these bad cash grab factory whistles when you can spend a bit more and know what your getting is quality.
Careful there, both the Wild Irish and Lir whistles are more expensive than the Killarney; whatever they are.
Also, on the “handmade” versus “factory made” front. We know very little of the manufacturing processes used to make of any of these whistles and “handmade” is too often a marketing ploy that means nothing much.
Your right on pricing, I thought the wild whistle especially was cheaper. I’m thinking of a different made in china lookalike that was like $50 ish. If they cost more that makes even less reason people should be buying these other ones.
Yes we have no idea how killarney are actually made, if its in a workshop, factory, machine shop mass producing parts for them, etc. all I know is I’ve never heard of 1 quality control issue. So whatever they are doing is good. I myself dont believe ‘hand made’ is superior to quality mass production. I would trust a professional machine shop to be able to make blocks, tubes etc with more quality than I can, to my specs, in a lot less time. It just seems like most of the time the mass produced stuff isnt the highest of quality to have as big a margin as possible.
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all I know is I’ve never heard of 1 quality control issue
Best read up on the earlier threads, I would suggest.
It’s all water under the bridge but it hasn’t always been plain sailing,especially early on.
The D and Eb they sent me are lovely players but workmanship was a bit shoddy, Ill fitting parts and missing pins, that sort of thing. Things that would have put me off buying, had I encountered them in a shop. Things that should not have been sent out.
But they seem to successfully have cleaned up their act and scaled up their operation since.
Mr. Gumby, for perspective, when was your experience with the early Killarney whistles?
This is a bit of thread drift, but I’ll say that the early experience (mine and others) with Killarney was still generally positive, but as Mr. Gumby says not entirely consistent. I have two, a D bought c.2014 and an Eb bought c. 2017. The D definitely looks like an early model of something, came with some tooling marks and scratches and the brass/delrin in the head isn’t entirely flush (off by a tiny bit). The Eb is a step up, came clean and shiny and everything’s pretty much flush. Now I see they’ve added a fancy engraved logo and such (both have no brand or key marks). They seem to have come a ways in fit and finish, and as Mr. Gumby says you can read some old threads to see that my experience of the earlier Killarneys is not rare.
I knew people who got Killarneys early on and the tuning was off, or they just didn’t play right. Not many, and IIRC the makers were good about making things right if asked. But there were a couple bumps in the road. To be expected, really, for a new maker that got so popular so quickly like they did. The D and Eb I have both play wonderfully, and I play them often. I’d certainly recommend them to anyone looking for a whistle with low air usage.
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Imagine, a company actually starting business and then rapidly increasing the quality and design of their products! Changing, evolving, improving, caring about their product and their customers, responding to feedback. Will this sort of thing catch on in the UK?
Will this sort of thing catch on in the UK?
How do you feel that is relevant to anything discussed on this thread?
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I bought a high D McNeela Wild whistle. I’m busy comparing it to my other D whistles. I like that it’s a little heavier than others and I don’t mind that it is black. It is fairly easy to play and has a great lower octave. I like the chaffy sound of it. The upper octave is a bit hard to be in tune on F and G and A unless you are playing fairly loudly. Those notes come out a little flat when played softly. Maybe this is typical of D whistles and is part of the “sound”. My new whistle is tuned as sharp as I can physically make it go and the lower octave F, G and A are then perfectly in tune. I wish I had more leeway. However, I have run into this same issue with several of my Dixon whistles in that they are also not able to be tuned much higher than what is good for the lower octave. That said, I am liking the power and ease of playing this new whistle and the price is very reasonable.
So on the flat high notes that need to be pushed sharp. Whistles that have flat sides inside the windway dont have this, and the notes break closer to in tune even for the higher notes. I personally only like whistles like this, but many people are fine with the normal trad design and are used to them. ‘flat side’ whistle makers include Goldie, Burke, MK, Reyburn, Alba (which I’ve played all of and have easier second octave tuning), and some others I haven’t played.
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Resurrecting an old thread as I noticed that Hobgoblin were selling a Glenluce (their own brand) whistle that looks identical to the Wild Irish but is stated clearly as Made in Pakistan. Big Whistle also do their own Compass brand of whistle that looks very similar but has no country of origin listed.
When I did a search I found a Pakistan company called Kami Tin Whistle who have a photo of a similar Sindt style whistle on their web site. They also have a range of plastic top ones that seem very similar to the McNeela AerFlo whistles.
Now, having said that, I bought a Wild Irish a while ago in a sale because I needed something louder. I find it plays in tune well (if you have the head pulled out a bit), has a good low D and plenty of bark when I need it. Its not as refined a sound as the Killarney. I play with someone who owns one of those and you can tell the difference. I think if you are in the UK and you want one of this style of whistle it might be worth looking for sales at Big Finish or Hobgoblin for their versions of this whistle (Compass and Glenluce) as its likely to be cheaper unless you get a very good deal like I did on the McNeela.
That’s my 1p on this debate.
At this point There’s a whole plethora of different brands of similar whistles in various shops. The bandwagon is creaking at the seams.
I have more or less lost interest in keeping up with what is what: I don’t have a need for more whistles.
If your baseline is "cheap’ or ‘in tune’ I suppose any of them will do. There are, however, whistles of this type that are designed and/or made by actual accomplished whistle players, which in my book gives them a headstart over the various products from Pakistan, China or wherever the factories are located.
Im very happy with my Wild . I bought the Killarny and Wild at the same time and prefer the wild tone. Richer . Very nice whistle really . My othrer D is an Aluminium Burke and a susato for noisy sessions!!