I wish i had kept my old Fedogs, im sure i have a mark one i was given in 85ish from my granney as some sort of outsourced punishment to my mother. that would have been the one i learnt my first tunes on.
alase, i play my whistles to destruction, and only really owned one at a time, thus my frist D sustained a crushed tube and was subsiwuently lost - i have a mk3 i still play, but the head-joint is craked after a bodged un-sticking exersize and tube is so soiled its practically black.
As I think about this, you may still have a point. During the time period mentioned, whistles were hardly fast-selling items in our big general music shop. And I believe I always re-ordered from the same distributor. So it’s very possible that all the Feadógs that came my way were actually from the same initial wholesale stock. I have no way to know.
Still, I think assuming that the Feadóg color change was consistent and datable is a useful working theory, pending more data.
It seems to suggest the MKI (and they call it that) was offered from 1978 - 1991
From 1991 - late 2001 the MKII was offered.
Since then, it’s been the MKIII, with no other variation of the whistle’s design mentioned.
The entire piece aims to support (or should I say, “hype?”) a theme of constant research and development… which, from everything I’ve seen and read, seems to translate into the addition of a whistle in the key of C, and a tireless effort at streamlining their production (to put it nicely).
All of that aside, having looked over the pictures, I think you are definitely on to something with this color dating theory, despite the whole “variation in color between lots” thing.
Have Feadogs indeed continued to improve? Is the MkII better than the MkI? And the MkIII better yet? If so the MkIII must be one fantastic whistle! Because I love my old MkI.
I see that they now offer all-black whistles, which I would guess would be popular in Ireland. I say that because a guy at Susato told me that the whistles they ship to Ireland are always all black, and that the Japanese like white and brown and mixed-colour ones.
I have the painted 'dogs in non-psychedelic grey and black. The finish actually feels good under the fingers and gives them a slightly “heftier”, non-slippery feel. I don’t play them much so I don’t know how they’d wear over time.
And that was fortuitous for those of us who sometimes traveled without our whistles. The most reliable source I found for Feadogs in the 80’s and early 90’s was actually a couple upscale educational toy store chains and, believe it or not, Toys-R-Us. The Clarke Sweetone seemed to supplant the Feadog in these outlets once it became available.
I was in one of the local music shops yesterday, looking for something else, and noticed a couple of apparently new Feadogs in a wicker basket, with some other stuff, kazoos and the like … the thing that struck me is that they had the older-style “transparent sticker with the green writing” rather than what seems to be the current opaque oval sticker. Are these likely to be of any collectable interest?
I wouldn’t say they are valuable but they may be collectible to some players. They certainly don’t sell for much on the second-hand market, IME. The early Feadogs were just different from the Gens and Clarkes that were available at the time. They were cheap and available. Some of us preferred the Feadog. Some did not. If I run into NOS (new, old stock) Feadogs I buy them. They do show up on eBay regularly. But as I have said here before, I like the older Feadogs not because they are superior whistles but more out of a nostalgic attachment. It’s the only whistle I played for many years. Others will have their own well reasoned opinions.
Sure! Often enough. I can’t say they appear every week but they do come up for auction now and again. You have to know what you are looking for and depend on the quality of the photography for condition. They aren’t generally listed as “rare collectible Feadog Mark I in mint condition”. but more likely just as an old whistle. A lot of these were made and many were bought as souvenirs and have sat in drawers or cupboards unplayed. The clear plastic box that many were packaged in keep them in nice condition if you are lucky to find one like that. They usually go for less than $10 too. And that’s appropriate. A couple of years back after we discussed Feadogs here a few showed up on eBay with starting bids of $35 or more. I assume that was someone trying to cash in on the fervor generated by discussions here. Kind of like some Hohners I saw recently. The beauty of these things was that they were cheap, plentiful and played acceptably well.
and now to muddy the water a little more, after spotting several of these here and there (and picking one up quite cheap out of curiosity) in recently, it appears that Feadog is marketing a replica of it’s own MKII. They are calling it, “The Original Feadog Irish Whistle.” Here’s one of these on eBay right now:
I doubt it’s the only one you’ll find. The one I picked up reminds me a lot of Walton’s Mello D. It’s a little rough in finish, compared to the MKII I used to have, and the head could use a tweak. I wouldn’t call it bad at all, just rough. I stuck my Mack Hoover black top on the barrel, and I’ll probably leave it there.
I believe that “The Original Irish Whistle” is just the standard trademarked copy of the Feadog company and it is used to refer to any whistle they are currently making and marketing. It’s really hard to tell what generation of Feadog that eBay seller has from the photo.
And that was fortuitous for those of us who sometimes traveled without our whistles. The most reliable source I found for Feadogs in the 80’s and early 90’s was actually a couple upscale educational toy store chains and, believe it or not, Toys-R-Us. The Clarke Sweetone seemed to supplant the Feadog in these outlets once it became available.