and she does play the pennywhistle
Aye, but not in that song
Also not in sight, but within earshot is an oboe…
I have a friend with a Lon Dubh in purpleheart. It’s the best whistle I’ve personally played. She’ll never sell it (I’ve tried!). If these new whistles come close to what the wooden ones are, I predict it would be THE go-to whistle for people looking in the $50 - $100 range. I can’t wait to hear some reviews.
I’m pretty excited to see the reviews on this also when it comes out. If the feedback is good, I can’t see myself not buying one …at least that’s what I’m telling myself as I try to resist the urge.
I went ahead and pre-ordered today. Hopefully, Blayne will get them in soon and I’ll have one in my grubby little hands shortly…
Despite my wife’s protests last night, I think this is my first new whistle in 2 years, and even if my memory is off…that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.
Eric
It amuses me to see so much skepticism over a whistle that no one has actually held in their hands yet, let alone played… Pat O’Dwyer’s work has always spoken for itself in the hands of any accomplished whistler. In the past, the only real characteristic of the Lon Dubh that I have seen as any disadvantage to owning one has been the price - the three I’ve played and the one I’ve owned have been very fine whistles. In all of these whistles, it is apparent that Pat has very exacting standards for his finished instruments, much like John Sindt, and I imagine that this is the reason behind the extended waiting times for his instruments. I think that many of you expressing skepticism about this new whistle ought to take a step back and stop disecting the opinions of others that you may have read… the myths which have surrounded the Lon Dubh almost as long as Pat has been making them. All of the as yet expressed homophobias aside, the fact is despite whatever impression a photographic representation of the Lon Dubh might give you, they are quite beautiful to behold in person and the mouthpiece is very comfortable. It has the feel of a traditional pennywhistle. The tone is outstanding, and the Lon Dubh can really sing… it is very sweet to the ear, yet it is equally capable of expressing a more melancholy timbre for tunes which require it. Based on what I know of Lon Dubh’s from experience, I have no reason to believe that anyone would regret buying one at the price this latest version is being offered for. That’s my two cents on it… and yes, I did preorder one as well. It took me less than three minutes to make that decision - that is how confident I am in Pat’s work.
And thanks to you Blayne, for all of your work in extending this opportunity to those of us in North America, and for all of your other contributions to the art as well. Well done. 
Well said, AvienMael.
I am still very excited and hopeful.
Pat O’Dwyer’s work has always spoken for itself…
I expect great things, if I had the money I’d pre-order.
What I think is going to happen is that the whistle is going to be wonderful, the pirce will
go up, naturally, and here comes the waiting list.
All joking aside, I remain skeptical at least for now of the “wunderwhistle” descriptions of it. I believe one of the strengths of the whistle as an instrument is how word of a good whistle travels without much help from the maker. Heck, Sindt doesn’t even have a website in 2012, and he’s got a waitlist of more than a year. The reason I’m not jumping to buy one just yet? Not a lot of people play them. At least not compared to other whistle makes. I’ve heard and had the chance to play Copelands, Burkes, Sindts, Rayburns and more, but I’ve never seen a Lon Dubh at a session I’ve attended. The only video on YouTube with a Lon Dubh is Blayne himself, and non-video recordings are scarce. By comparison, you can type the name of almost any whistle, even fairly obscure ones, into a video search and come up with at least a page of results.
My two cents on this is that if you have the chance to play one and like it, go right ahead and buy it. It’s great to stand out with a less common instrument. But I definitely wouldn’t pre-order a prototype whistle I haven’t got the chance to play, and doesn’t have a significantly large following such that one can get an idea of what they’re buying.
Now, I’m sure there’s a silent contingent of handmade Lon Dubh owners that love their whistles, but they need to speak up and tell us what they think. Then they need to compare the injection-molded version with the handmade and weigh in on the issue. This may turn out to be an excellent instrument, but for now, caveat emptor. I’m with Panceltic piper on this one.
I can understand the skepticism. It is surprising that the only Lon Dubh on youtube is from Blaine (and imho the reverb makes it worthless as far as showing the whistle’s tone). If it wasn’t for the fact that I’ve played a Lon Dubh, I probably wouldn’t have given this thread much attention.
But they have spoken up and told us what they think - look for yourself right on this site! I personally don’t judge anything based on the content of YouTube videos or the proliferation of the same 
. I also don’t choose a whistle to “stand out” in the crowd as it were. Just as you assert that John Sindt has no website through which to order, neither does Pat O’Dwyer - and he too is considered an accomplished whistle maker… and if you think a wait list is telling of John’s abilities, just try ordering one directly from Pat and see what your wait will be on that 
. Those who got one of the 25 whistles released last year, waited 5 years for the opportunity. Nobody said anything about ordering a prototype whistle - to the contrary, this whistle will be released when, and only when, the maker feels it lives up to his standards, and his standards have always been high. The point to all of this is to make the Lon Dubh more available than it has been in past years. It isn’t as though the Lon Dubh is a rare whistle, though there are fewer of them than the other whistles you’ve named… At one time, it was Blayne’s top seller among the high-end whistles he offered. Maybe one thing you ought to have more consideration for is that you don’t see them come up for resale as often as any of the other whistles you’ve named.
Of course, I’m not going to purport that this will be the end-all, be-all whistle for everyone - or for anyone, for that matter. Some people have played Lon Dubhs and felt they weren’t suited to it… the same can be said for every other make of whistle out there. I’m simply saying that there is no reason to doubt, at least at this point, that the latest version of the Lon Dubh will be as good as the models that preceeded it - and for the price, I think it’s a very reasonable “risk” as some would have it. It’s one thing to extrapolate on a whistle based on one’s personal experience… it’s an entirely different thing to make extrapolations based on none.
Thread Revival…
Have there been any sightings of the new, injection molded Lon Dubh since this was bashed about in May 2012?
Best wishes.
Steve
Since I PMd Blayne here on 31 July about availability and he’s not opened the message yet when he was pretty prompt before, guessing some kind of problem/hold-up?
Sorry about that Peter - didn’t see that I had a private message.
It’s taken longer to bring to market as Pat has had to rethink the molding of the fipple plug. He has changed the design so that the fipple plug will be inserted after the molding process. There was too much heat build up using the former process. No no real problem, Pat’s just taking extra time to get things right.
Best,
Just returned from Ireland filming for the documentary on Patrick Olwell. While there I met up with Pat O’Dwyer and played a couple of the new injection molded LDs. They play as great as I expected them to. Sweet and in tune.
As it turns out, Pat was able to tweak the tooling so that he won’t have to put the fipple plug in after the molding process afterall.
Here’s an iPhone clip of Cillian O’Briain and I having a tune on two Lon Dubhs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzr2xT-nXCo&feature=youtu.be
And just for fun, a behind-the-scenes look at our trip…
Looks like they’ll be ready to send to Whistle & Drum sometime in late December. Not in time for the holidays but soon thereafter.
Looks like they are now available.
The one on ebay is in delrin, which I take it is not injection moulded and, I presume, a different thing from the whistle under discussion.
Hi Mr G
I was going by the description. It is described as the new 2012 model.
David
It is described as the new 2012 model.
Which I took not necessarily to mean the injection moulded one this thread is about. It’s also well over twice the price quoted in the OP.
We’ll hear about it in due course.
Which, of course, is not an entirely unknown occurrence on eBay.
Best wishes.
Steve
That does look to be the one that is on ebay ( the new one ) though it is, as noticed, much more expensive than what the street price of these will be.