From Joanie Madden - Warning about O'Riordan Whistle Scam

Whistle
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Hello Dale and Fellow Whistle players…

Only recently, I shared a post on Facebook of a video on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dL6DkDoplQ) regarding my great friend and amazing whistle maker, Pat O’Riordan attesting to the quality and craftsmanship of his whistles and I proclaimed that he’s one of the greatest makers in the world. I’m sure many of you who own O’Riordan’s will certainly agree with me. Well, through that post, I unfortunately was contacted by a few people and saddened to learn that there are some shady people trying to take advantage of Pat’s good name and make a quick buck by putting together scraps of whistles they gained access to from his workshop and selling and masquerading them as real “Pat O’Riordan Whistles”.

I can tell you that Pat, like all the talented whistle makers I know, was forever fine tuning his designs. He was never satisfied and was always experimenting to make an even better whistle and whenever we would meet, he’d whisk me away to a corner somewhere to get my thoughts on different thickness in the tubing, a different taper in the bore and a different way of cutting the chiff in the fipple or mouthpiece. I can only imagine all the odds and ends of his experiments would be all over his workshop.

I’m sure that Pat would not be happy to learn that his good name and reputation are on the line as these whistle bits are being sold as the real deal. The crooks are people that don’t know the first thing about penny whistles and these whistles are being sold to unknowing fans of Pat’s work who aren’t aware what they are buying until they arrive and the buyer discover that there are wrong tubes with wrong mouthpieces, inferior products and I am disheartened to hear this and offered my help to the family in any way I could to protect Pat O’Riordan’s impeccable reputation.

The family has asked me to share this statement…
“Patrick J. O’Riordan, nor his legal representative, nor any member of the O’Riordan family are selling O’Riordan Irish whistles or whistle parts at this time. If you are approached by anyone claiming to be an O’Riordan family representative, please proceed with caution.”

In case an O’Riordan comes up for sale, please be aware of this situation.
whistle players please Share.

All the best to you all…
Joanie Madden

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I don’t know what’s going on with this scam, but I can confirm that when we visited Pat’s workshop a decade ago, the walls were lined with experimental whistles.

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Thank you for letting us know.

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What a shame, that some crooks are willing to defoul this fine gentleman’s good name for their own profit!

Pat’s whistles are fine works of art made by a great man and a real master craftsman, and I’m very proud, he sent me some over here to Germany. I still remember him asking, if I could send him a little German flag for his workshop, as he collected flags from all the countries he had sent whistles to. And the thought, that for many years somewhere in his workshop there now was my little German flag on the wall, is really pleasant indeed. :smiley:

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I saw an O’Riordan body on eBay in the recent past. I’m wondering if that was one that was taken from his workshop. Might be a useful lead to track whoever is selling them, if that’s the case.

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“putting together scraps of whistles they gained access to from his workshop”

What I wonder is, how did unknown persons gain access to his workshop?

Are we talking ordinary burglars? Odd that they would target experimental whistle parts, then assemble them and sell them.

A sad story anyhow.

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Obviously I don’t know what you saw – it could be something different – but I know there’s been at least one legitimately acquired O’Riordan body on eBay in the last few years. My D/C set was a D/C/Eb set when it was made. When I purchased it from a friend, I got the D and C bodies, but the Eb body was given to a mutual friend who already had a compatible D whistle. (This was back in the day, so I simply purchased a complete Eb whistle from Pat.)

Fifteen or so years later, that Eb body was sold as part of a whistle collection downsizing. The buyer was actually eager to purchase the rest of the original set from me, but I’m not parting with mine!

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@colomon. The Eb body now is in my hands. I really want to buy its original mouthpiece. :laughing: :smiley:

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I just want to know if Pat is still making whistles and selling them in a small area.

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No.