The Oak Pennywhistle: semi-revealed.

Whistle
1

I’ve been in correspondence with the people at musicsales.com, attempting to resolve the various Oak questions, and they’ve been very polite if only partially forthcoming. Steven Wilson, the director of Sales and Marketing came up with an e-mail in response to my queries, which I will excerpt from.

I noted that there have been some recently purchased Oaks with nearly-impossible-to-remove heads, the reply was:

We did have a recent batch of whistles where a small quantity were not up to
standard and some unfortunately did ship into the market.

And, of course, I discussed the odor/taste problems that some people have had with the Oaks, which they apparently have not heard about. I asked whether or not the Oak was moving or the formula changing, etc, and if this could be responsible, which, apparently, it cannot be, as the reply was:

Your comments about the odor and taste associated with the mouthpiece is a
new one for us. We have not heard of this complaint until now. The
mouthpieces are still manufactured and produced here in the US in the same
facility they have always been made- and that’s what makes the Oak sound
unique.

The last bit is also, for fans of the Oak, a good bit of news (assuming they get Quality Control back up, which they assure me they have every intention of doing, with the caveat that there may be the occassional slip, given the quantity being shipped).

For those of you who have received faulty whistles, which would be the two odor complaints and the person(s) who cracked the whistle head, I have this good news:

Any consumer complaints we ever receive in our office are handled to the
cutomer’s satisfaction, down to the replacement of the whistle at no charge.

I encourage you to contact them at:

257 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10010

Tel: 212-254-2100
Fax: 212-254-2013
e-mail: info@musicsales.com


And finally, the burning question… are Oak Whistles moving overseas? Will the be made by Feadog? Will the Oak and the Feadog merge into one whistle, the Feadoak, inferior to both its predecessors? Well… the mouthpiece question above pretty much gives that a ‘no’ answer, doesn’t it? As for the bodies… apparently there are some things whistler was not meant to know:

Although it is not our policy to state where our products are manufactured,
it is our intention, however, to assure intrested parties like yourself that
we do intend to maintain the high reputation of the Oak name.

I get the definite impression, however, that there is going to be no change in the design of the whistle, regardless of where, precisely, the bodies are fabricated.


Yours in whistlery,

–Chris

2

Chris, thank you for your diligent work on this matter. I will contact the Oak people about the apparent anaesthetic qualities of the mouthpieces. I had thought this was ebbing, but yesterday my mouth tingled for like two hours after playing the thing.

OTOH, I got fed up with the buzzing and octave breaks last week and adjusted the sticky-tack and, Bingo! The thing plays like a dream. It plays as well as the Clare now, with a brightness and harshness that are just wonderful for some pieces.

Charlie


[ This Message was edited by: chas on 2002-06-07 07:36 ]

3

Chris, thanks for pursuing the Oak issues and letting us know what you found out. It’s nice to know there are real people who care backing their instruments.
Debra

4

Kudos to Chas and to the folks at Oak/Music Sales. I just sent an email to them detailing my problems with my Oak, and I just got back a response (within the hour) apologizing and telling me that they are shipping me a new whistle tomorrow.

A class act. I just hope my lips wont be numb from the new whistle :slight_smile:

DAZED

5

Did anyone see the movie: All The President’s Men - about Watergate. In it, the Editor of the Washington Post, uses the phase ‘non-denial denial.’ It’s meant to suggest that someone has tried to say imply ‘no’, without actually saying no. They fudge the issue, skirt-around it, and generally don’t really say what they seem to be saying.

My view, after reading the quote about where the Oak is made, a few times, and assuming it was unedited, is that the comment about maintaining the high reputation of the Oak name does NOT suggest that no changes will be made to the manufacturing process. All it does say, is that the NAME will be maintained - and that they intend to keep it high in people’s opinion. In fact, I think you can read more into what was NOT said, than you can into what was. For example, why doesn’t he just say: ‘although we can’t say where it will be made - we will not be altering the manufacturing process’ (or…we maintain strict manufacturing criteria…or similar). But no, he simply says that he hopes the good name will continue.

Smells a bit fishy, to me.

Steve







[ This Message was edited by: StevePower on 2002-06-06 16:28 ]

6

I think a person needs to be careful about making any sort of assumptions based on what was partially said or what was left unsaid. Personally, I’m not sure it matters where the whistles Oaks are made or who actually makes them so long as the products are decent and are priced competitively.

Having said that, I believe there are two things here that do indicate Music Sales Inc. (or whatever their name is) does actually care about their product:

  1. They did stated that they “intend to maintain the high reputation of the Oak name.”
  2. They seem to be responding to customer complaints in a professional way.

Now, if only we could Generation to follow their example :wink:

7

Well, I’m making inferences, but, it -was- explicitly stated, in response to my query about mouthpieces and whether a formula change might have caused the problem, or a new plant, or whatever, that the mouthpieces were made exactly the same way at the same (U.S., but not otherwise specified) location. Whistle bodies were not mentioned. In response to my query about whether the move-manufacturing-to-ireland rumours were true, it was said that they don’t talk about that.

My conclusion, reading between the lines, is that they are using the same manufacturing process in the same places as always, and that those manufacturies are a contracted plastics company, a contracted metal fabrication plant, and a contracted assembly plant, and that since nothing is under patent (except maybe the moutpiece design, but hasn’t oak been around more than 7 years?) they don’t want you to know exactly who these people are or you could just go and order you own set of exactly the same whistles, made exactly the same way, and market them under a different name (‘Ash: Just like Oak but Cheaper and Hotter!’ or whatever).

That, however, is entirely speculative; maybe the bodies or the assembly will be done in a different location, but I don’t think it really matters. It’s the -design- that is not changing, and that’s what matters most to me since that’s what makes the sound!

Oh, and all excerpts are taken whole. If it’s really desired, I suppose I can print the whole e-mail.

–Chris



(PS: My e-mail was not interlaced with his e-mail in the usual e-mail reply way; it was like a letter in response to a letter, so it’s only my perception that certain paragraphs are in response to certain questions; they could also be viewed as simple statements, I guess.)

(PPS: It’s also not apparent that I had specifically mentioned the consistency and reliability of Oaks in my e-mail; that unlike certain other whistles, you didn’t need to search for a ‘good one’ that had made it through the manufacturing process, so as a response to me in particular, the high standard includes consistency.)



[ This Message was edited by: ChrisA on 2002-06-06 17:13 ]

8

Gary (and others) may not have seen my previous posting, where I said that a representative of Keynote - who make the Feadóg in Dublin, Ireland - had disclosed to me (on the telephone) that they would be making a new version Oak for Music Sales, and that the current model was no longer in production, yet still available. They also added that this new model would not be sold in Ireland. That information was in my mind when I made my comment, above. It’s not speculation - it’s actual knowledge.

Which leads me to think that the new Oak body is likely to be close to the current nickel Feadóg in design (hence it not being available in Ireland - conflict of interest). The last bit, is of course, speculation!

Steve

[ This Message was edited by: StevePower on 2002-06-06 18:20 ]

9

I am with Steve P on this one: If they emphasize that they want to keep the reputation, everything else seems up for grabs, including mouthpiece design.