Irish Whistles

Whistle
1

My sister is taking a trip to Ireland in a few weeks and I have asked her to bring a whistle back for me. I’m still new at the whistling game so could use some advice on a good Irish made whistle.

2

If she goes to Adare ( a beautiful town outside of Limerick) have her go to Shanna Quay and Steve will help her pick out the right whistle (according to price range).

Joe

3

Thanks for the tip Joe. I believe she will be on the west coast but may get into Limerick. Do you know of anyplace in the County Clare area.
Moyre

4

There are Clare whistles, which
are good inexpensive whistles.
They come in one piece and also
in two pieces–the latter comes
apart so that you can carry it in
your pocket. They are in
brass and in a new nickle
version.

5

Custy’s music shop in Ennis has a few whistles, Powell’s in Galway as well any reason why they should be particularly Irish made?

6

Peter,
Thanks for the info on those shops. As for your question, no particular reason I guess,
maybe it’s just because I’m Irish, or then again maybe it’s my sudden obsession with buying whistles.
Moyre

7

It was a slight bit of being contrary on my part asking it in the first place, most of the Irish mass produced whistles are not very nice.

8

While taking Peter’s point about the mass produced whistles, there are some very nice hand-made Irish whistles, like Cillian O’Briain’s ‘improved’ or Desi Seery’s high-end Delrin whistle. You can get those from the makers in Dingle and Wicklow, respectively, or from me by mail-order or in the Adare Shanna Quay shop.

The two main mass-produced Irish whistles are Feadog and Walton. Both ranges are fairly diverse now and there may be a whistle (or a whistle package) to suit many people on a budget.

Our most popular whistles in the shop, for serious players, (apart from the hand made Irish ones mentioned) are proving to be mainly British made. The Dixon is very popular.

That said, I’ll be sitting in my local ‘session’ tonight (it’s really a practice group) and all the whistle players - will be using O’Briain or Seery whistles.

Steve Power

Shanna Quay