any thoughts on the differences between metal and wood O’Riordan whistles…preferences?
I only have metal and never tried his wood; but hard to imagine anything better than the metal…
Philo
I’ve got both. Both share the classic O’Riordan richness and purity. Both play easily and have upper octaves that are louder than Sindts and quieter that Copelands. The metal ones feel more like traditional whistles and the wood ones feel warmer somehow. The wood ones are thicker than the metal ones, and I think that makes the metal ones more comfortable for the fingers. Another thing he does is the traditional mouthpiece. It is made to fit a Generation (or similar) tube. These feel like traditional inexpensive whistles but play much more reliably, more richly, etc. He charges $45 for this!!! This explains his 3-year waiting list.
Jessie
Yep… I can put my Sindt C, D & Eb bodies on my O’Riordan Head! Yummy…
I have a metal high D and wood D/C O’Riordan. (Hey, I waited 2yrs, 8mos.) The mouthpieces are interchangeable (the outside diameters are different) and sound identical. The tubes change the sound noticeably. The metal sounds a bit more “traditional,” which is a stretch. I don’t think these whistles sound traditional, but the wood sounds less tin-whistly than the metal. There’s no breathiness at all, and almost no chiff (see recent thread for definition). I wouldn’t call them recorderish-sounding (I don’t want to get flamed), but they lean in that direction. The metal is louder than the wood. The metal has a glossy black enamel-like finish and is slippery (in my sweaty hands). The wood tubes are amazingly thick-walled (not a complaint). The whistles are all attractive and solid looking. If you listen to Joanie Madden cd’s, you’ll get an accurate idea of what the metal sounds like.
Tony