Rich has good advice if you are that close. Mike knows of our WhoA addiction but a the same time he cares about every instrument he sends out. And at times he feels pressured to mass produce them just to fill the orders, but it is something Mike will not do, for all us itchy pants who are having anxiety attacks.
I waited 7months for Brass Pro D and ten months for a Low G.
I’m sorry to say that Mike has become somewhat notorious for this over the last year or two. Virtually every time I’ve ordered whistles from him (4 times I believe) I’ve had the same problem - the whistles are usually waaaay overdue. Over the last few months we’ve seen similar reports, as well as reports of Mike being slow to return e-mail, so don’t take this delay personally.
Actually, more often than not you’ll find many whistle makers underestimate delivery times for some reason - drives me nuts, but what can you do?
Right now in fact I’m waiting for a wooden whistle from another maker. The whistle is a month overdue and I’ve had no recent communication from the maker letting me know when I might expect to see it. Although I don’t like this, I’ve just come to expect it - sad but true.
The good news for you is, as others have mentioned, the wait for your Burke will likely be worth your patience, unless of course you really needed something soon…
Be patient. Mike is a very busy man, he makes whistles on the side of his regular job.
I exchanged e-mails with him about a week ago.
He is probably trying to finish whistles for the Irish fest in Milwaukee going on this coming weekend. Actually, I am supposed to see him there.
So don’t worry, you will get your whistle and it is well worth a month’s wait.
I’m waiting for a couple of whistles from Mike (however, I sent the order in on Monday, so I’m not expecting it in the very near future.) However, I did e-mail him ahead of time to see if he had what I wanted in stock.
Out of curiosity, if the wait time can be in the category of months; why do they put an “Express Mail” option???
I just exchanged email with Michael, and got a response in 2 hours. No complaints here! Of course I just ordered my A whistle, and would hate to wait.
However, if you’re looking for a Burke Pro D wide-bore brass, take a gander at the website for Song of the Sea. Last time I was there (and last time I looked at the site) they had them in stock for immediate shipment.
It worries me a bit, though, if a manufacturer is more interested in stocking up for a festival rather than fulfilling orders on hand. I have nothing but a previous post to suggest this would be the case, but still, is this standard practice?
… It worries me a bit, though, if a manufacturer is more interested in stocking up for a festival rather than fulfilling orders on hand. …
Ty, I would expect a “manufacturer” to fill my order before producing extra stock. However, I would expect an artisan to prepare for a scheduled show before completing individual commissions. Mike falls more in the artisan category than in the manufacturer. Michael Burke Pennywhistle Company has only one part-time employee, Mike himself, who is also general manager, shipper, designer, salesman, customer support, repair, machine operator, and floor sweep.
Mike makes fine whistles, I bought my Regular D narrow bore composite used and then wore it out. Mike offered to refurbish it for free, all I had to do was cover the shipping.
I sent it in and got it back, fixed and in good working order a month later. While most manufacturers don’t extend their warranties to second hand sales, Mike was glad to support his craft.
There have been several occasions where I’ve been waiting for a whistle order that’s up to 6 months overdue, only to hear that someone just returned from a festival with the exact same model/key - no waiting. IMO, That’s poor customer service and a lousy way to treat your most patient and loyal customers.
The whistle makers I know who do this generally have long waiting lists and are consistently long overdue on scheduled deliveries.
From a business and customer satisfaction perpective it makes little sense for them to continue to sell whistles at festivals, when year after year they can’t meet their non-festival commitments on time. Hey, if you can’t service the customers you already have, you shouldn’t be courting and serving new customers.
This is why, after spending $500-$1000+ with some of these makers, and waiting over a year for whistles in some cases - only to see someone else get the same whistle instantly at a festival while I’m still waiting, I’ve finally gotten to the point where I refuse to buy any more whistles from these particular makers.
There are simply too many good whistle makers out there now to put up with lousy customer service. There isn’t a single brand of whistle I can’t live without, so I’m spending my whistle money only where I get both good whistles and good service.
Loren
[ This Message was edited by: Loren on 2001-08-17 10:24 ]
I have 3 of Mike’s whistles and the service has always been great. Delivery was within a few weeks and answers to email have been prompt. I am sure it depends on the number of orders and the key. My WBB high D took maybe 3 weeks, but the composite B less than a week.
May be I should clarify something: in a previous post when I said that mike “was probably finishing whistles for the Milwuakee fest” this was entirely my own speculation. I can’t back that up. May be this is not true at all. One thing though, he does contact his customers to see if they will be at such and such fest so that he can deliver the whistle himself. This is my particular case and he has done the same thing last year. So before a fest he will try to finish a whistle already ordered.
So he DOES care about his customers.
Besides, he does not have a stand where he can sell his whistles, he carries them along and you go to him when you see him,which implies you already know him
Whoa boy. . .between the post I replied to, and my own rambling, poor Michael is getting undeserved heat!
As Otter pointed out, these are suppositions, ramblings and NOT intended (at least from MY point) to be about any manufacturer/artisan/whistlesmith! I am very very happy with my Burke Pro D, or I wouldn’t have ordered the second one! In addition, my two contacts with Michael have had prompt, courteous, helpful responses.
That being stated, I still think that if you have samples of your wares for a festival, that is enough. If you’re up-to-date on your shipments and can spend time making stock, that’s great! If someone wants one, and there is a waiting list, let 'em get in line with the rest of us. This goes for jewelers, potters, whistlesmiths, or rosebush growers.
I’m sure that’s the way the vast majority of artisans/manufacturer’s work, and as far as I can tell, no one is saying otherwise about Mr Burke.
…Quote
On 2001-08-17 09:39, LeeMarsh wrote:
Mike makes fine whistles, I bought my Regular D narrow bore composite used and then wore it out.
… end quote
Okay, this is new to me. How do you wear out a whistle? Does the fipple blade go blunt or is it simply tarnished??
I wore out the tuning slide to the point where it no longer had a good seal. On the composites, the slide uses a friction seal (not o-rings like on the Pro models). Over time friction wore away at the inside of the slide barrel until the shaft would wobble a little in the barrel. Friction would no longer hold the shaft securely in the barrel of the slide. The result was, that as I was playing, the slide would slowly close,and I’d go sharper and sharper. Mike fixed it.
I was thinking about getting a composite, but since he had them in stock, I went for the Aluminum D and the Aluminum A.
I’ve got enough Brass whistles, and Dale made a reference about Mike’s Aluminums being the most advanced whistle design on the planet… Can anyone elaborate on this?? Dale???
My comments were purposely non-specific in regards to particular whistle makers that do what I mentioned. Unfortunately I have had these experiences with several makers, but I see no need to name them here.
I was simply making the point that, based on my personal experience purchasing some 60 or so whistles over the last 2 years, this sort of thing does happen - I was not pointing my finger at a particular whistle maker.
In november 2000 I ordered a whistle from Mike Burke, with an estimated waiting period of about one month. The months since then have seen many promised delivery dates come and go, and I am still waiting…
As I understand it, Mike has been up to his neck for the past year or so. Whether because of too many promised whistle deliveries, or because of something else, I don’t know, but I do know that his customers better have patience…
Hi Everyone,
I try to stay out of these discussions for several reasons.
1.This forum is for whistlers and their ideas and concerns, not for self promotion or commercial interest.
2.The free exchange of ideas is an important part of the forum and that also includes criticisms at times, whether justified or not.
3.As uncomfortable and unpleasant as it is, sometimes one can learn more by listening and thinking about what people say, even if they don’t get it perfectly right every time.
Nevertheless, I have noticed a lot of discussion on my poor delivery promises and wanted to set some things straight.
I am human and make mistakes. I want so much to please people that I constantly overbook my schedule, not allowing for things to happen that might affect my ability to deliver.
A lot has happened in the last year that
has blown all my plans and schedules to dust.
I have shared some of this with some of you that have offered prayer and support. I am grateful for that support and prayer. Suffice it to say that my family always comes first and we have had our share of troubles that have come in unexpected blows that just kept coming and coming. It has had it’s toll on my
physical stamina and I have had many days when i simply couldn’t come home from a regular day of work and go into my shop and work several more hours that night.I also
sometimes forget to do things, like in the case of Kiri’s order. I felt really bad about
her case, which seemed to add together a combination of misunderstanding what she wanted at first, increased pressure to work 10-12 hour days at my regular job in the past month, then my email computer going down for several days, and then another family crisis. I dropped the ball in her case and several more actually.
I am shipping a lot of whistles. For the month of August, I have already shipped over 150 whistles. I wonder if you know how many whistles the other makers ship in a month? Some only make 100-200 per year, I think. We will make over a thousand this year.
I simply won’t ship a whistle until I am satisfied with it’s quality
In the case of some models like the low G and low A, I had to redesign the low G twice and the low A three times. It is costly and time consuming to throw away parts, but our commitment to quality cannot be compromised.
If I wanted to skip the last quality check that I personally do, I could ship a lot more product. This has cost me financially with lost orders and also I have taken some heat for delays. I honestly don’t know when these problems will occur, so I can’t tell in advance that I will have a production delay.
I reworked low Ds twice before shipping, low Fs twice also, and we are now reworking some brass Bbs that didn’t make the cut. I have thrown away thousands of dollars worth of parts and delayed shipments months rather than to ship anything I didn’t think was right. In spite of this, I sometimes make a mistake and send out a whistle that has a problem. I can count them on one hand, though.
The whistles I take to fests don’t affect the delivery times of whistles that are ordered. Technically, they do,if you make the case that if I didn’t attend fests, I could get out more whistles, but even whistle makers like to go to Irish Fests occasionally.
The whistles I take to fests are taken finished but unchecked and unsigned.
I finish the ones I sell there in my hotel room in the morning before the fest starts or after it is over in the middle of the night.
In the case of Dublin Fest, I sit and work 12-14 hours a day for the the three days, finishing the whistles as I go. I never take whistles to the fest that are for customers.
What does happen is that I have customer to ship to that I don’t get shipped before I go to a Fest. That happened this last weekend with regard to some low A Al Pro and low G Al Pro shipments that will ship this week. I left these whistles at home with the order sheets and after I final check and sign them, they will go out this week. I could have shipped them last week, but it would have meant not doing my job properly, and those whistles not being my best.
Perhaps I should explain the steps of producing my whistles here.
A.Parts are machined using CNC to precise tolerances
B.Parts are polished and assembled by an employee
C.Whistles are tuned and voiced by my apprentice
D.I final voice and check and sign every
instrument before shipping.(This is the
step that slows down shipment)
In spite of all this, I know that this is business, and each and every customer deserves to be served quickly and efficiently. When I think of all that has gone on, I don’t believe it all myself. I don’t blame people for their incredulity and their getting frustrated with my failures to meet my deadlines.
Some have indicated that they have had delays from other makers too. I feel compassion for those men. I know some of them, and they care just as deeply as I do for quality and for their customers.
I wish that I could make everyone happy and be on time every time, but it is not likely that will happen in the near future. Many of you are getting your orders, though, and hopefully, I won’t botch up orders like Kiri’s very often in the future. I must remain optimistic and hopeful I will do a better job. That hope what keeps me going.
Thanks to those of you who are not only customers, but who are also good friends, for your prayers and patience. You are the reason I am in the business.
All the best
Mike
Thanks, Mike, for the detailed reply! Family does come first, and the full time job a solid second. Not having details (nor particularly wanting them!) on your personal life, I can only give you my best wishes and hope that all goes well.
