I have been away for a while, checked in every now and again to see whats happening.
I was recently made redundant, then managed to get a new job almost staight away
so I will still be travelling and taking photos and shooting video in far flung places.
I have a few delrin whistles which always travel with me, I have a beautiful Abell in blackwood and silver only a few years old if that, totally unmarked and in as new condition, regularly oiled, I am after one of the new Delrin and brass Lon dubh whistles, I have sent whistle and drum an e-mail to see if they still have some, but if some one has one they wanted to trade for a mint Abell, just drop me a PM or e-mail me, either way I will be selling it to fund more Delrin, and yes it is probably the best sounding whistle I have ever owned, I have played a lot of whistles, and I do believe the best one is the one you play the most, which happens to be a susato for the tunes that don’t require to many high A or B notes and a mashed up clarke for the tunes that have those high babys, so the Lon Dubh is a treat and the best of both worlds, yes the Abell does everything you ask of it - BUT I have always been a wood worry whistler and with the travel I just don’t feel comfortable dragging it round he world.
if you want some piccies I will upload some tommorow night, but believe me it is gorgeous.
would rather keep it UK but am not adverse to sending overseas with the right carrier and insurance.
if there is no trade I would be looking for around $360 or ÂŁ220
pm me if interested or e-mail - mark(at)howard3596.fsnet.co.uk - just replace (at) with @
I am just wondering… are you really sure that you want to trade your Abell whistle for a Londubh? I was gifted a Londubh this past Christmas, so I have a couple of thoughts about that:
First, it is a very nice whistle to play - one of my favorites, actually. I like the back pressure and the sweetness and flexibility of the second octave. Overall, it is very response, and fairly well-balanced between octaves - but not great. The lower octave is actually a little “fuzzy” (some people like to be polite and say, “complex,” but that means fuzzy) in comparison, but the whistle can pull it off okay.
Second, the workmanship on the Lon Dubh is good, but the finish work is somewhat lacking - not enough attention to detail, IMO - to the extent that there are tooling marks on the beak of my whistle. The overall design of the whistle makes it somewhat fragile at the tuning joint. Here the delrin has been machined paper-thin (this is not an exaggeration at all). It has a 5/8" brass sleeve on the inside, and a bronze ferrule on the outside (where the name, “Londubh” is engraved) with this paper-thin layer of delrin sandwiched in between, and 2 little tiny nickel pins holding everything together. I don’t just think it’s weak at this point - I know it is, and the reason I know it is, is because it affects the operation of the tuning slide in a telling way. Delrin is a durable material, but don’t expect it to be as durable as brass (for example) when it has been machined to the same thickness, because at that thickness, delrin is going to be somewhat brittle by comparison.
My third complaint is rather minor in my own opinion, however, it is worth mentioning. The whistle “bag” - or sleeve is actually what it comes in. Not a nice sleeve either. It’s a piece of cheap vinyl or naugahyde that has been haphazardly stitched into a sleeve, with no provision for preventing the whistle from sliding out the end. Mine actually has holes in it where the machine went off of it’s crooked little path a bit too much, and the stitching was pulled out so it could be resewn, leaving the holes behind. The sleeve is sewn first, then trimmed off very close - almost to the point of cutting the stitching as well. It looks as if it was made by a child. Not what one expects to get when purchasing a $400 whistle.
Which brings me to my point. The Londubh costs $400, but if I had spent $400 of my own money on it, I would have sent it right back to Blayne and asked for a refund, because it isn’t worth $400. I am sorry to make such a damning statement about a handcrafted whistle of some repute, but that is really what I think about it.
