These whistles are a set: one headjoint, three bodies + one lower foot joint. Obviously tunable. In black anodized metal. In perfect condition, very little use at all. $1550 + shipping.
The footjoint is detachable and fits equally well on either of the additional bodies (the E and Eb bodies). The whistle set was made for me (by Pat O’Riordan) in 2005 or 2006. These particular whistles are truly gorgeous sounding, however the low D/E/Eb is really too big for me; I cannot play them easily (I’m small, 5’2"). Hence, this is the reason why I am selling them.
Before you give up on these, I’ve a suggestion. I have small hands, too. I came up with a super modified pipers grip that might work for you. I’ve posted about it in the Session: https://thesession.org/discussions/39739
Check out the links to the pictures, where you can see my right hand on the bottom three holes. Maybe this will work for you as well? It certainly is working for me, though I need more practice to get the speed. I literally just got the whistle this week.
Thanks for the tip. I’d actually stumbled upon a similar fix too… and my hands are STILL too small to play these beautiful low whistles comfortably. I can almost reach them with my finger tips. It’s the sharp bend that they inflict on my wrist that really kills it for me. A few minutes of playing and I’m in pain again.
Wow, I can’t believe it…someone with even smaller hands than me! I get a lot of surprised looks when I hold up my hands to compare. Both my daughters had larger hands than me by the time they were about 8 or 9 years old. How sad is that?
With the modified grip, doesn’t your wrist remain pretty straight? Even though my picture doesn’t show it because I’m holding it up, when I actually play, I don’t have that much of a bend on my wrist. But, then again, each person’s body is a bit different. I tend to get more numbness than pain when I play too long, so I have to be careful.
Interesting commentary…I actually don’t have particularly small hands. What I do have is a particularly strong sensitivity to pain. So my idea of fun is NOT to try hard to play instruments that are not well suited to my body. I have a whole slew of wonderful whistles which I love to play and do so for hours, completely pain free.
So why in the world would I keep trying and trying to play instruments that stress me out? Sure, the low whistles have a gorgeous low sound. Then again, so does my alto flute.
So once again I say, I hope someone who can easily play low whistles gets interested in these, because they are rather rare and exceedingly good instruments from one of the best makers in the world. I own quite a few O’Riordans and prize them all.
My mistake…I’m very sorry. I just assumed smaller hands was causing the issue with the wrist as well. I wish I could buy these from you, as they are beautiful, but I’m going to have to make sure I can play these properly before I consider professional instruments. Good luck!
No harm done, and I appreciated your comments. You’ll see there’s another thread I’ve started about playing Celtic tunes on the Indian flute, the bansuri, and the same issue comes up there too. I’m a big believer in finding instruments that fit your body and having even more fun, as a result.