Meeting Cillian O'Briain (picture)

Uilleann Pipes
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What vacation to Ireland would be complete without shopping for whistles? :slight_smile:

Thanks to some of you helpful Chiffers & Fipplers :smiley: , I was guided to the small shop of Cillian O’Briain in tiny Dingle, Co. Kerry. Off the beaten path at the edge of town, I found Cillian’s workshop in a small crafts village.

As it turns out, Cillian closed his retail shop some time ago, and now only maintains a workshop :confused: . I believe he may have been surprised to have a visitor. The shop is full of workbenches, grinders, lathes, etc., truly a working environment.

I inquired about his tin whistles, and he proceeded to find a step ladder and search for a certain cardboard box amongst others on a shelf. The box revealed several dozen O’Briain-improved Feadogs, and one tuneable low-D. 'Twas the low-D I had my heart set upon, and it played beautifully. I added a high-D Feadog to the shopping cart.

I pressed Cillian for an impromptu tune on the low-D, and he obliged.

As I was walking out the door, Cillian stated “You’ve just purchased possibly the last low-D I’ll make.” :astonished: He went on to say that his interests remain with the Uilleann pipes. A chill went to the spine, thinking about having the last of a quality instrument from this craftsman (though to be sure, there must be more on the shelf at Shanna Quay and the like).

This was the highlight of my trip to Ireland. I am practicing the reach on the low-D, and thinking about the lovely little harbor town of Dingle and a little shop on the hill.

Below is a picture of Cillian and the low-D on the right, meself on the left.

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So, exactly what does he do to improve a Feadog whistle?

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Peter Heelan had one of these “tweeked” Feadog whistles at Lark Camp this year. Mickey Z said it was the best whistle he had played in 20 years. I believe Cillian tweeks the fipple air window a tad. Everyone seemed to love it. (but don’t tell the whistlers about this…or he will never get back to making pipes!!!) :astonished:

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He unglues the fipple to make it tuneable, then fills the cavity behind the voicing window with some kind of white putty. Finally, he cuts off the original blade and replaces it with a new one made of transparent plastic. So in the end, the voicing has been completely redone.

The result is a whistle that plays beautifully, responds fast, is not weak on the bottom or shrill on the top, has a nice little percussive “pop” with each note, and a very traditional sound. Some people dislike them because they require good breath control (== take very little air), but IMHO they’re wonderful. The Eb (using a Generation tube and Feadog fipple) is even better than the D. If i had to lose all my whistles and keep only my O’Briain, i would still be OK.

g

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Agree 100%, they’re great whistles.

I’m puzzled why some people don’t like easy-blowing whistles though, I tend to think the harder blowing ones are unnecessarily difficult to control in terms of intonation and phrasing. With the gentle blowing whistles you are able to take a breath when you want to and when doing so best serves the tune, not because you’re seeing stars, turning blue, etc.

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Absolutely. My Susato whistles are like this. When you get to the top hand in the second 8ve, you have to suddenly triple air pressure to keep it up there. This is for both a Susato D and B in black plastic, so it is not just a fault of one whistle, but obviously part of the general design. I much prefer my beat-up old Generation D. I haven’t found any other cheapy whistle to match it, including the newer stuff from Generation. Unfortunately, Susato are the only one’s I know of who make a Bnat whistle in anything like an affordable model.

djm

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I think it’s because a lot of people who have strong opinions about whistles don’t actually know how to play the bloody little things. :smiley:

They like picking up a whistle and blowing a few soulful notes, but they don’t know what it takes to play a jig or a reel with consistent intonation and pulse.

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I remember, in 1982, i was offered a full set of Johny Bourke pipes, for £900 by cillian obtian. He said the chanter was a bit dodgy so he said hed throw in one of his chanters…all for £900.
Unfortunatly i was a poor student at the time and could`nt afford them.
Allen Moller bought them in the end…they were a cracking set of pipes.

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Yeah, I have one of these improved whistles in D and it is great.

Patrick.

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Wonder how much I could get for mine on ebay in a few months then?? Heh Heh!

I have an Overton Low F from Cillian, and he had made some improvements, just voicing and a spot of tuning (and a tuning slide). A very tasty thing.

I thought he made the bodies for his whistles and just bought wholesale mouthpieces for ‘tweaking’??

Alan

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That’s the case on my D. But glauber mentioned his Eb is a Generation body and tweeked Feadóg top.

PD.

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I seem to remember reading somewhere that he used to make bodies for his high Ds because he didn’t like the tuning in the Generations and older 'dogs. Then when Feadog came with their Mark III model he was satisfied with the tuning, and started using their tubes instead. There probably isn’t a Feadog Eb, so he uses a Gen tube for that. The heads on the D and Eb are exactly the same, though my D has a green head and my Eb a black one.

What he does with the whistle is more than just tweaking; the voicing is completely redone from scratch. It’s still probably cheaper to reuse the head than to make one entirely.

In the US, these whistles are available for about $40 from whistleanddrum.com; in Ireland, they’re probably cheaper.

This info is for the high whistles (the “O’Briain Improved” line). I’m not sure about his low whistles, but i think he made all the pieces for those.

g

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That’s exactly why, after a week or two on a Copeland D whistle, I had to sell it. I couldn’t play the same tunes and breath in the same places where I was use to breathing. The Copeland was great sounding, but took too much air compared to my old Generations.

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If you want to buy any of Cillian’s whistles he has them for sale at Shanna Quay:

Low Whistles:
http://www.shannaquay.com/item.jhtml?UCIDs=962997|1030746&PRID=872458

Not Low Whistles:
http://www.shannaquay.com/item.jhtml?UCIDs=962997|1030746&PRID=882359

I’m not involved with these guys at all… just so you know.

PD.

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Actually the harder-blowing whistles give you more control when to breathe because they require less air (but more pressure). And in my experience backpressure makes it easier to control pitch, rather than harder, once you blow at a required minimum level of pressure.

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Any whistle that takes a lot of air and forces you to breathe more often, controls you.

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I think you’re talking about 2 different things. Bloom is talking about how much resistance they have, and Lorenzo is talking about how much air they take. I think it’s possible to have whistles with high or low resistance that take little air, or that take a lot of air. “Hissy” whistles take a lot of air, also Clarkes and Shaws.

I don’t think i have any whistle that has high resistance, and i’ve been doing fine without it. :slight_smile: Not that my experience should be a measure for anybody, of course. IMHE, the high resistance only starts kiking in in the second octave.

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Yes, I know what Pat means. People have different styles of playing too. Some tongue a lot, others never do. It all affects air requirements. I look for a clear responsive sound, and easy blowing. Volume may get sacrificed sometimes at the expense of other personal requirements. Getting up to speed, and thinking in phrases (like Pat mentioned), and breathing on the off beat, and blowing through the end of the strains…it all add up to a certain perspective on air.

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I used to like the low air volume requirement whistles such as the Generation before I stopped smoking.

Now I much prefer the untweaked Clarke original the most as I can get the air I need for breathing (without seeing the “stars”) without having to exhale through the nose as well as through the fipple as I now have to do with the Generations.

The Clarke sounds more “expressive” to me and the notes can be “blown into tune” with other instruments much easier than the low air requirement whistles as well.

Choice is good!

However, I no longer like the Susato or my Burke Session Pro brass because of the funkiness of the rolls in the top hand octave which seem to need a very precise pressure to keep from dropping the octave and the shrillness that results when I do get it right.

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Best to start smoking again so you can enjoy the Generations. :smiley: I always imagined UPs were developed for smokers. :wink:

djm