Dale Hears From Davy About the Davy Spillane Low Whistle

Whistle
1

On 5/2/04 5:43 PM, Dale Wisely wrote

Davy,

I’d like to order one of your Low D’s. Please advise.

Dale Wisely

On October 3, Davy Spillane wrote:

Hello Dale,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.
I am now taking orders for my new D low whistle.

We are still preparing the packaging /photos etc for formal comprehensive
shop distribution at the moment.

The D low whistle is available directly from me at this workshop now, we are very busy shipping our back orders.

Thank you,

All the best,

Davy.

(Davy continues:)

Here is the e-mail enquiry reply from my workshop manager John Mc Nicholas..

Davy has been developing a new tunable Low whistle, now available.

This latest low whistle replaces previous models and incorporates what Davy finds are the best attributes of the “all metal type” low whistle and the stability of Davys tunable plastic mouthpiece/hand made metal body
combination.

Health and safety issues have prompted Davy to replace the aluminium
mouthpiece with a stable safe plastic, this also avoids unsightly staining
of teeth and skin.

The new mouthpiece helps to resolve the problem of condensation and constant clogging that is inherent in the “all metal low whistle” design.
This problem has blighted “all metal” low whistle players, and spoilt many
moments of music making.

I am sure that those of you that have been playing these models for a while know what we mean !!

The careful and considered blend of alloys for Davys low whistle body
insures the best yet in terms of pure tone and balance of sweetness and
power.

We are taking orders for the Davy Spillane new low whistle now.

The price for the low D , €200 euro+ €10 euro for postage +p,
Delivery 2- 3 weeks

We are in the process of making a Davy Spillane low whistle
Tutor,dvd/cd/tutor book for 2005 .

Other keys of low whistle A, B, C, E flat , are available by special
order.

Thank you.

Best wishes,

John Mc Nicholas,

Davy Spillane instruments

(payment details)

bank draft, payable to :
d spillane
Lough South
liscannor
co clare
ireland

Dale writes now:

I’m starting to allow myself to perhaps believe we may be closing in on it.

By the way: As of 2004.10.03 22:08:11 GMT.
200.00 EURO=247.91 USD


I confess I was hoping he might offer a comp, but I don’t think he knows who I am. (Sorry, I really DON’T mean that to sound conceited. And I am SO glad little bit of unpleasantness from a few years back is behind us). I’m not in the habit of asking for a comp and I wouldn’t be ordering one on my own accord. So, I’d propose this: That interested parties contribute, say $20 USD. I will do so myself, of course. Once we raise $250, I’ll send Davy the check. Then those who contributed can, if they wish, be stops on a whistle tour. I’ll take delivery, keep if for 3 days, and ship it to the next person on the tour list. (Everyone will agree to keep it no more than 3 days.) I’d ask that only fairly experienced players/reviewers participate in the tour, and I’d like to keep it under, say eight or ten reviewers. Perhaps you would allow me to “approve” you for the tour…I need to try to be certain that the tour doesn’t, uh, stop somewhere along the way. Then we’ll post the mother of all multi-reviewer whistle reviews. Then we’d do something about getting the whistle to some lucky winner in some kind of charity thing, to be worked out later.

Other ideas out there? What do we think?

Now, I’m trying to get over any extant pessimism I have about this whole thing. But, I guess I’m a bit surprised that we haven’t heard from anyone yet that has one. We haven’t, have we?

Dale

2

Wow. Well, I’m not going to be on the tour, but I’ll be excited to learn who is!

3

Me too!!!

And I’ll be very intrested in their thoughts on this elusive whistle.

4

How about a yard sale of your collection of “complimentary” whistles to raise the purchase price?

5

Gee. I’d LIKE to part with some of them, but I’m unable to do so due to a problem with secur/////////BRK////\\\\\\STOP

6

$200 E’s for a Kerry/Howard style whistle? Wow, that must be some special alloy he is using, Titanium maybe? :astonished:

As far as the staining of teeth and lips is concerned, I have not experienced nor heard of anyone ever complaining about that problem. Can anyone else verify this as a detrimental thing? :confused:

Clogging on all metal whistles IS an issue, but one that is not fairly easily overcome.

7

We could just wait & see if he comps C&F.

Dale

8

I think Davy was reffering to his lipstick - which as we all know tends to comes off during vigorous playing sessions. :roll:

Seriously, this hasn’t ever been anything I’ve seen, experienced or even heard of in all my years of playing. Sounds like smoke and mirrors to me.

9

NorCalMusician wrote:
As far as the staining of teeth and lips is concerned, I have not experienced nor heard of anyone ever complaining about that problem. Can anyone else verify this as a detrimental thing?

I have been playing aluminum whistles and have never had a health or tooth problem. I did have a case of “Flaultist Chin” but this was not a direct result of the aluminum, but the moisture build up between the whistle and my chin.

I don’t think anyone actually makes whistles out of pure aluminum anymore. Most are using a aluminum alloys.

10

The text from Davys workshop manager must be some kind of promotional ploy to put people off buying all alloy whistle and making people think that there is some kind of problem (potentially) with them.
This to me is very strange as Davy has used an Overton for over 20 years,the same one I might add.I did not notice his teeth being damaged in any way,nor any of the miriad players that I know that have used Overtons,Albas and Chieftains
I have to see this as mis-information,not a nice way to launch a new product.
Buy the way,it’s not a good idea to grip the whistle with teeth,it only damages the whistle and may wear your teeth out.

Phil.

11

Yeah..playing all-metal whistles cured me of that habit. :blush:

12

Dale, that avatar is just too scary…

13

Davy seems to be overcoming it by having a plastic mouthpiece, so it’s no longer an all metal whistle.

14

Yeah, that one (Bush thumbs up) would be just too easy to take advantage of that hand. Could be pointing in a different direction with a different finger!!! :astonished:

15

Is it hoobyjooby about “flautist’s chin” or some other wackiness, or is it the whole connection to Alzheimer’s? (The health problems with aluminum.)

You remember back in the . . . (some decade) . . . it was thought that Alzheimer’s was related to cooking in aluminum pots. I don’t know if the connection has borne out, but that’s a traditional teaching.

Stuart

16

I believe later studies showed no relation between Alzheimer’s and aluminum.

Going by memory here, but didn’t they figure out the aluminum was actually accidentally introduced into the tissue samples in the laboratory?

–James

17

I wouldn’t want to be in any whistle tour that would accept me as a member! (Chiff Twain)


Sour grapes! (Aesop’s fox)

18

Check out this link:

http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/valentin.htm

The main text is not directly related to the comment, but at the bottom there is a link that is.

19

I confess to having the most interesting mixed feelings about the apparent lack of enthusiasm for the Spillane whistle tour idea. I think the years of speculation and waiting have not resulted in the whistle being “long-anticipated” so much as “long-talked-about-in-the-abstract.”

Did anybody follow what I just wrote enough to explain to me what I mean?

Thanks

20

I can, I think, if someone can e’spillane it to me! But you aren’t Lucy are you :smiley:

MarkB