A friend gave me an older Feadog that they found on a trip to Michigan. It’s the best sounding one I’ve aquired. The label reads: Feadog Made In Ireland by McCullough Pigott Mfg. Ltd. and also has the 2 striped sticker applied at the bottom of the whistle. I figure it’s either a Mark I or Mark II, but would like to know for sure.
Sounds like you have found a Mark I Feadog. Congratulations.
The Feadog on the top is a Mark I, below it is a Mark II. The Mark I’s have the sticker wrapped around the bottom of the tube. Of course some Mark I’s may have lost that sticker over the years. The Mark I’s are my favorite inexpensive whistles.
Feadoggie
My favourite too! Been playing the same MK1 since around 1980.
Just recently spent a load of money on a Sindt. The Sindt is amazing! But there’s a special something to the tone of that old Feadog.
I have another Feadog MK1 that’s just been sitting in a drawer unplayed for decades. It’s like new, hasn’t had the head packed like the one I play has.
Also my favourite Freeman is the Freeman Feadog I had a chance to try. It played amazingly like the old one I play all the time.
Is there any QUANTITATIVE difference between the two? I.e., different mouthpiece specifications / tone hole size / placement / etc? I can see an obvious difference in stickers and font, but other than that, what makes the Mk I any better (or the Mk II any worse!)?
Thanks!
Is there any QUANTITATIVE difference between the two?
Yes, the mouthpieces are slightly different. On top of the blade, the edges that rise from the blade are little different. The distance from the pointy tip of blade to the other end also appear different. The width of the head is clearly larger on the MK1. I don’t have any measuring equipment anymore, but holding them side by side, it is easy to see the differences in the mouthpieces around the blade.
Yes, the molded mouthpieces are substantially different, as has been noted. There are also small differences in the tubes resulting is slightly different tuning, IMO.
The sticker on the lower end of the Mk I tube just serves as a quick clue to it’s identity. The Mark II’s used different type of stickers over their production. The one I showed in the photo was the type that immediately followed the Mark I here in the US. It is the only layout that could be confused with a Mark I, in my experience. They came in similar packaging too.
That’s always so hard to say. How different is a 1956 Les Paul standard to say a 1968 Les Paul Gold Top standard re-issue?
As a package the Mark I just has a character to it that the Mark II does not share. The sound is a bit unique, probably not everyone’s cup of tea. The Mark II is not a bad whistle. It is rather pleasant. It is just not quite the same as its predecessor. The Mark II may be the “better” whistle objectively. The maker likely saw it as an improvement.
I have said here in the past that my preference for the Mark I may largely be a “comfy old pair of shoes” type of thing, possible just nostalgia. I have this one Feadog Mark I whistle that I bought in the 80’s and I played that whistle and that whistle alone for many years. So I just happen to like that sound, that tuning,that volume, that type of dynamics, etc. I am not at all interested in getting the RTTA running on it or analyzing the frequency, fourier or formant either. I just like 'em.
They used to sell Feadogs at Toys R Us, of all places. And I had young kids at that time. When I traveled on business in the US, I could always find one of these at a Toys R Us, sometimes at a Zany Brainy or the like. So I accumulated a few Feadogs, and whatever other brands I could find. One day I bought another one and it seemed different somehow. That was my first Mark II. Took me a while to figure out it was actually a different whistle from the earlier ones I owned.
So don’t break your neck trying to find one. They do show up on eBay frequently if you are curious. There were two I noticed last week. They go for low prices usually. It’s not a collector’s oddity or anything like that. I have enough of them. I happened to buy a small lot of NOS Feadog Mk I’s a while back. So I am set for life. That first original one does not seem to be wearing out either, just the usual wear on the tube around the holes from playing it.
Feadoggie
Thanks for both replies to my question!
Actually, I had a Mk I for many years and sold it recently on Ebay with a bunch of other whistles and recorders. It wasn’t my first whistle, but was pretty close to. Wasn’t really my cup of tea, else I would have kept it. I guess it’s like any other kind of whistle – if you find The One that sings sweetly for you, hang on to it, even if it is just a cheap whistle.
My first was an old unmarked pressed steel with wood block. Possibly a Cooperman, or something very like it. Probably got it at a jumble sale. Nice sound, smooth and not harsh even up high. Wouldn’t trade that one for anything.
Cheers
Yeah, the Feadog was far from being my “first” whistle. But I did make a lot of progress with that one whistle, as well as another just like it that lived in the glove box of my car(s). The Mark I is just a charming little whistle IMO. I had had plenty of Gens, Clarkes and such but they never quite got me going like the Feadog. Some whistles just speak to you. That Feadog Mk I whistle worked well for me for quite a while.
Then I bought a Water Weasel. Oh boy, what a difference that made. Complete game changer.
Many hundreds of whistles later I have found there are very few whistles in which I have not found some interesting quality. But a small number of them have been true standouts.
Feadoggie
Is this a Feadog?
Mouthpiece looks the same but the sticker is different:
I bought 2 of the original Mark I type around 1980 and didn’t see any more Feadogs for years.When I found some (in a catalog) I bought 2 Ds and 2 Cs.They were what we now refer to as Mark II.
Didn’t like 'em.At all.Not just in comparison to the original,but just as a whistle.Dull sounding,just didn’t sound good to me. Gave 'em plenty of air time,too. Later I would pull 'em out and play around with them every so often but my opinion never changed. Putting the heads on other tubes didn’t help,either.Sold and gave them away over the years.
And speaking of tubes,ages ago I took the tubes from those hideous 1st generation Oaks and slapped my original Feadog heads on them. Those heavier barrels made me like that mouthpiece even more than I did already.That’s where they’ve stayed. Well,actually the best one of the two liberated itself from my pocket one day in 1995. 
A Mk1 Feadog still sits next to my computer to this day, bought in Sheffield in the early 80s, and it occasionally gets the first play-through of tunes that come in via my various sources of abc.
In that handy position it actually gets far more playing time than my Harper D ‘performing’ whistle, as these days I very rarely play whistle when out of the house.
It is, quite simply, the best low-cost plastic headed whistle I’ve ever owned, and I’d be sorry if I lost it.
Soodlum/Waltons, I believe.
Thank you, is it worth a bid?
Nah. That price is too high for me for a single Soodlum. You may think otherwise. It’s your money. They are neither great nor terrible whistles IMO. I have had some stinkers from Soodlum/Waltons over the years though.
I recently bought a box of NOS Soodlums for under $3 apiece including shipping. So that’s my current benchmark - but I am a pensioner. I’m ripping the heads off them and fitting my own heads to the Soodlum nickel bodies.
This one might amuse me. And it would be on topic.
Really, many of us buy every whistle we come across. We keep the ones we like. We re-sell, give away or trash the ones we do not like. You have to buy a few sometimes to develop a taste for what may suit you. Whistles are cheaper and less damaging than most habits, good or bad. You’ll only get into the really serious money if you decide you want to make your own whistles. (Unless your brother-in-law owns a machine shop that offers you free machine time.)
Feadoggie
They’re cheaper new.
You do know that the internet has a “search function” too? 
Edit: x-post
As the sticker varies from newer Walton’s (one’s I’ve seen anyway) I thought it was an older model that may have a different (possibly superior) head design etc (like the MK1/MK2 Feadog for example)
I do indeed, it’s a positive boon. I used the Internet (note the capital) and came across this which may interest you?
A Mark I is also one of my favorite untweaked whistles.
Sometimes they come up on Ebay.
This looks like one.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111562745356?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
I have a fondness for these whistles too and have picked up 4 of them. I notice one is labelled as made by “McCullough Pigott Mfg Ltd” and the others “Feadog Teo”
I really like these whistles. Probably second to my Freeman tweaked whistle but I am no expert.
Yes HappyWhistling I have the same kinds
My dark green MK1 (left) which like yours has plenty of teeth-marks, was bought around 1980.
At some point in the 1980s I bought the lighter-green MK1 (centre).
Later still I got a 3rd Feadog, which I suppose would be called MK2 (right).
That MK1a 
has been my High D for 45 years. As you see the other ones have hardly been played.