Mchaffies -- disappointing

Whistle
21

Actually, according to Webster, libel is

any false and malicious written or printed statement, or any sign, picture, or effigy, tending to expose a person to public ridicule, hatred, or contempt or to injure his reputation in any way

Stating that XYZ Whistles are not very good because of the way the mouthpiece is made, or the way the fingerholes are placed, or the wild colors they come in is not libel.

Stating that the mouthpiece causes cancer, or people may have to have fingers amputated from playing too long, or the wild colors causes blindness in sessions could be considered lible if not backed by substantiated proof.

My personal preference, for what it’s worth, would be to see the truth and not have everything sugar-coated.


[ This Message was edited by: John Allison on 2001-08-24 15:49 ]

22

Ok, everyone. Stimps and I have both posted the details. Let’s move on.

Jessie

23

Aye Carrumba! Holy Cow!! Yikes-a-freakin-hootie!!!

I go out for a bike ride (braving the hungry Florida gators, swarms of West Nile virus carrying mosquitos, and Shark infested waters…Okay, that last part isn’t true) only to return and find this thread has totally blown up! Boy, I’m guessing I’ve just taken another couple of big steps up Dale’s S*** list. I’ve got to be getting close to the top now.

Okay, First off to Stimps: Sorry girl, I really wasn’t trying to start a gang up on you, I hope it didn’t feel that way.

Next: I do think this has been a useful discussion, I just hope no one comes away from it feeling like they’ve been attacked personally.

Rich, I didn’t at all get the impression that anyone was being Ripped on. Which brings me back to what I postd in another thread - Why is it necessary for some folks to take these discussions so personally? We’re just talking here, no one is calling anyone names, or insulting them on a personal level. Hey I’ve seen ugly discussions on other lists/message boards, and we rarely ever come close here at C&F.

Jeeze, I’m really having a hard time understanding why we can’t debate these issues without somone calling it a personal attack. We’re just talking here aren’t we? I don’t see any insults in this thread (although I do admit to insulting someone on the flute board recently - but that’s another story entirely). Perhaps I’m just thick skinned, and thick headed to boot, but It didn’t seem to me like anyone was Ripping on Stimps.

Guess that’s enough out of me on this subject.

Peace,

Loren

24

Can I say two things, quickly:

  1. I agreed with Loren (no fainting, please) but wish Stimps had said what she said later, first.

  2. I wonder where John McHaffie is and what he might like to say?

Steve

[ This Message was edited by: StevePower on 2001-08-24 18:53 ]

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On 2001-08-24 18:52, StevePower wrote:
Can I say two things, quickly:

  1. I agreed with Loren (no fainting, please) but wish Stimps had said what she said later, first.

I can understand that, but no one seems to understand that a) I am a relative newbie to the board and hesitant to be coming on and, as people say, rip on anyone (and yes, I did feel sort of ganged up on, being told that I’m either being backhanded, slanderous or sugar coating things) and b) I’ve never actually seen someone on the board say anything bad about one of John’s whistles before this all cropped up (certainly not before I ordered mine), so I wasn’t sure if maybe it was just my set.

  1. I wonder where John McHaffie is and what he might like to say?

That I don’t know. Like I said, I sure wish that this hadn’t happened.

stimps

26

A third thing…

  1. It never occured to me that what you originally said was meant to ill-intentioned. Probably didn’t occur to the rest of the board, either.

Steve
:slight_smile:

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On 2001-08-24 19:12, StevePower wrote:
A third thing…

  1. It never occured to me that what you originally said was meant to ill-intentioned. Probably didn’t occur to the rest of the board, either.

:smiley: Thanks Steve for reminding me of that probability.

feeling better and dropping the subject until further notice.

stimps

28

On 2001-08-24 15:28, ndjr wrote:
I used it, as I have in this forum previously, because my observation that saying bad and unsubstantiated things about people in a public forum could be slander might possibly be considered to be legal advice.

Sorry if I wasn’t clear; what I meant was that if it becomes necessary to advise participants as to what constitutes libel in Canada in order to have them modify their posts, that advice will come from the administration here.

Thanks,

    -Rich
29

Jeeze, I’m really having a hard time understanding why we can’t debate these issues without somone calling it a personal attack.

Loren, I agree completely. I guess one of the disadvantages of this being such a friendly board, is that people are pretty sensitive and thin-skinned.

Stimps, I understand completely if you didnt’t want to give us all the gruesome details publicly (I almost choked on my coffee when I read the part about you cutting yourself on the whistle!), whether for fear of appearing to be a newbie, or because you didn’t want to appear to be slandering McHaffie. However, I still don’t see how writing about your dissatisfaction without any details is any fairer to McHaffie, or what the purpose of such a posting could possibly be…

I hope everyone can lighten up a bit: This is (I hope!) a discussion board for whistle players, where we can discuss whistle related topics, including our opinions about various whistles - whether positive or negative. I would hate for it to become just a “praise your favorite whistle” kind of board.

Cheers,
Jens

30

Hello all,

Been a few days for me being on here. Had to borrow a friends PC and get on-line. Wanted to stop in and check out the latest news.

I’m not going to say ‘boo’ to anyone in particular, expecially since I don’t feel I have too much of a right to bring my business into the board, and not on a peronal level.

I am terribly sorry for some people’s wait. If anyone wants a refund, they get it in due time once I receive the order back, and can inpect the whistles. I have only had one incident that is still up in the air on receiving a refund, and this is a special case.

If everyone is going to get on the ride here and needs an explanation, it’s really not proper, but if everyone has been paying attention, I have tried to drop in suddle hints here and there to let people know what’s going on without taking up space on the board, and causing too much worry.

I had some bad luck with my PC earlier in the year, and I requested everyone send me their original order WITH address. I have found some of these are still trickling in because they didn’t see the original posting of mine on the old board.

I took on an apprentice to help me get all the tubes drilled out while I concentrated on the mouthpieces. (which is the time-consuming, and touchy part) To try to make up for lost time.

I then had an extreme situation in my family.. my Grandmother to be exact, and it was a lengthy ordeal that was told to us would never get better… it finally did by some miracle, and everyone is good with that now.

These are NOT excuses for anything, but merely what has actually happened in the last few months.

Everyone has different opinions of my whistles, and I’ve had anything from extreme praise to extreme dislike. The adjustable mouthpiece seems to be good or bad in the eye of the beholder, alond with all the normal attributes of the whistle.

If one is unsatisfied with a product, then I understand a need to share the information. However, I am put in a bad situation to respond to people, because I hesitate to even post this on the message board. I do not think this is the forum for me to be imposing this information on, and I sincerely apologize to those who might feel the same.

If there are any questions or comments that anyone needs me to answer or hear, I am changing my feedback site to be just an e-mail link, as some people have had trouble using it. I was trying to consider those with only web-based e-mail, but I will go ahead and just put up a ‘mailto’ link.

Also I will include it here…

john@mchafiewhistles.com

Thanks for everyone’s time and patience with this post, and I apologize if it was any intrusion.

Have a good day all.

John

31

Well, I really don’t know whether to respond to many of the posts since they are other peoples opinions and everyone is entitled to them … I do urge those that haven’t heard from me to re-email, and possibly check out mail servers or what not. I haven’t ever just left someone in the dark on purpose, and I have had one in particular that I keep getting a ‘returned mail, message undeliverable’ from.

If anyone has any particular questions or comments they would like to discuss with me personally feel free to do so and I will do my best to make sure your questions/comments are answered.

I do usually spend my weekends in Little Rock, AK, playing at a local session, and I work on mouthpieces while there, so I can keep up as best I can.

Anyway, remember my recent posts. Everyone needen’t worry about their order. As long as you’ve e-mailed me in the last 2 months with your order and address details, you WILL receive your whistles within the next 90 days before I close shop.

I am not gone for good, but it will be some time before I start production again with my new designs I am working on.

Also I would like to point out to some, that I am doing my best to keep quality standard up to par, but I do not charge even half as much as some of the metal whistle makers, and my supplies are not all that cheap. I believe they are excellent solo whistles in appearance and sound. I use my own set on a constant basis, and they are made from the same templates.

I kind of hesitate to say these things, but I guess it’s okay on the board from what I’ve seen.


I hope all is well with everyone otherwise.

Blessed Be,

John


[ This Message was edited by: McHaffie on 2001-09-07 10:28 ]

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I ordered and got my McHaffie whistle (high D) over a year ago. I give it a mixed review:

The first whistle I received had a beautiful intonation – really unlike any other whistle I’ve heard. A really, sweet, lilting tone with no chiff at all. Unfortunately, the whistle was badly out of tune even with itself. (I was and still am a newbie – this was my whistle teacher’s opinion.)

I expressed this to John and he very nicely and swiftly sent me a new whistle. The new whistle lacked the same tone as the old whistle but was much more in tune, although it still had some problems in the second octave.

For whatever reason, I never really fell in love with the second whistle. (My Silkstone, on the other hand… :slight_smile:. But I can’t fault the whistle – particularly for the cost it was fine. And the adjustable airway is a really neat feature, even though in practice it tends to change the tune and timbre of the whistle.

And speaking only for myself, I found John very accomodating and received great “customer service”. It sounds like I may have “beaten the rush”, but at least my experience points out that if John is disappointing people, it’s probably because he’s overloaded, not that he’s being intentionally rude.

Scott Turner

[ This Message was edited by: srt19170 on 2001-09-07 15:54 ]

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On 2001-09-07 15:54, srt19170 wrote:
The first whistle I received had a beautiful intonation …Unfortunately, the whistle was badly out of tune even with itself.

Actually, “intonation” refers to how in tune it is with itself and reality. I think you meant “tone”.

:slight_smile: Jessie

34

Thanks Jesse,I was also wondering about that and a thought occured to me if folks generaly place to much importance on intonation over tone,after all,it hasnt stopped people from enjoying their Overtons…sometimes a killer tone compensates for everything.:smile:Mike