Hi, I just got an “authentic black Irish” feadog D in the mail, and the thing sounds just terrible. I can’t get a clear note in the high octave, and even the low range is messy. I expected more, from all I’ve heard from this brand. I’ve checked the head for spare bits of plastic/anything obvious (although I haven’t yet removed it from the tube), but the tubing is considerably smaller gauge than my old brass generation, which, while not the best sound at least is clear. It was a few bucks cheaper than the “origional” feadog, I’m wondering 1) if there is any hope in improving the sound of this whistle, 2) if the problem lies in this make/model because it’s cheap or if I just got a lemon, 3) is the feadog generally a smaller gauge tube than the generation or is this, again, just a cheap whistle thing?
In it’s current form, a Feadog whistle is a Feadog whistle… and precious few of them are “lemons” - I don’t care what anyone else says. They do require a good amount of breath control to sound they way someone might expect or prefer, and typically they sound a little more “raw” than some people care for… they are also typically bad-mouthed and decribed as “cheap and unplayable” by new/novice whistlers the world over. My own opinion concerning anyone who has one of these “lemons” is that if it is discouraging them from playing the whistle, then they should put their lemon away somewhere and play a different whistle for a year or two, then go back to their “lemon” and see if they still find it unplayable. Admittedly, the Feadog can be a miserable thing for the beginning whistler. I found the MK I and MKII versions to be a little more forgiving, and some here prefer those whistles over later versions… but yours is a later version, and it is what it is… a whistle that requires good breath control.
Tubing is the same… Feadog, Oak, Soodlum’s/Walton’s (small bore), Generation… I personally prefer the hole pattern on the Feadog to that of the Generation.
Right, it is actually the same gauge. Guess it was an optical illusion being black next to brass (all us girls know black makes you look thinner). I’m not a novice player, I’v been playing for years, I’m just recently getting serious about it again. I’ve suddenly become fairly obsessed and been collecting whistles right and left. @hoopy mike: give me your address, I’ll send it to you if you think you can make it sing. I was hoping to get feedback on this particular model, the “authentic black Irish”. I don’t know if it’s any different than your average feadog. If it’s known to be generally cheesy, I won’t worry too much about it. Otherwise I’ll try stuffing the mouthpiece with poster putty and see how that does me. Guess it will wind up being my guinea pig for the world of tweaking whistles. Just wondering if there’s anything else particular to be done about a rough second octave.
i have the black feadog… i love it. had it for at least a couple of years, and have had no problems with it at all. plays virtually identical to my regular brass feadog…
try a little poster putty… post a video of you playing something that goes into the second octave, and let us have a listen… who knows what we will learn?
i too have a black one and it is fine
i felt they painted it black because some don’t like the smell of brass- vinegar or the tarnished look of used brass
i did fill the cavity with beeswax
as i do on all open cavity whistles
i play the cillian o’brian improved 1st
the plated pro 2nd
and the black 3rd
it is my least favorite because i don’t condone use of paint outside of art use, by my definition
Injection molded plastic shrinks when it cools after casting. If there were a solid area under the windway, that solid part of the whistlehead would shrink enough to distort the entire piece.
The solution would be to make a two-part whistlehead, which would involve expensive additional tooling and more complicated assembly. It would take it out of the price range they’re aiming for.
