Goodmorning to everyone!
My name is Asterios and I live in Greece.
I want to learn to play whistle and I found a fine site about whistles:
The Whistle Shop
www.thewhistleshop.com
The problem is that this store is a U.S. anf if I order from them I have to pay import taxes! I’m looking for a similiar shop in Europe, so I don’t have to pay taxes (Greece is a member of European community).
If you know a good shop somewhere in Europe, please inform me!
Thank you!
Asterios - Greece
Goodmorning Asterios
What you need is http://www.bigwhistle.co.uk/
Martin
Yesterday someone mentioned www.ossian.ie and they had very reasonable prices. Custy’s in Ennis will probably send you whistles too .
Welcome, Asterios!
Custom duties are an issue, and we often end up twisting the rules when ordering from the US…
Now, there are some shops in Europe, and even the Euro zone, but I couldn’t vouch for any. Just for the sake of an answer to your direct question, here’s one in UK:
http://www.bigwhistle.co.uk/index.asp
You might as well consider buying direct from the European makers: they’re aplenty! As far as I know, most accept direct trade, esp. to countries they don’t have a importer/wholesaler in:
From Alba, Dixon, Howard, Kerry/Chieftain, Overton, Rose, Silkstone, to, er… Zaphod Beeblebrox maybe not, but you have already quite a choice.
Also Burke seems to have an European correspondent/stockist in Ireland.
An additional advantage from buying direct is that the makers will stand up to their reputation, will solve a problem if you’re not satisfied, while a mail-order shop may be more reluctant to restock what they just sold…
The Main Website (here, up and left of the page) will lead to the appropriate contacts and links.
I recently ordered a Burke Brass Pro C from Mick O’Brien in Dublin and it arrived the same week. You can pay online at Michael Burke’s website and still have no customs charges to pay. Mick’s a great fellow, really friendly and helpful and can be contacted at mikobriennospam@eircom.net
removing the nospam of course.
Don’t forget www.shannaquay.com in Ireland.
Also www.hobgoblin.com in UK.
Custy’s
Wow! what a choice–taters famine. Takes you eons to load the “catalog”, find out they have one whistle: Ian Lambe Low D, period 
Although, they do have a Plain Bouzouki too. Great find for a Greek. And it should harmonize well with my Plains (aka Lakota) Flute… 
Now–sarcasm aside–since two of the board recommended the store, there may be better reasons than the obvious, what?
Paul, est-ce que tu sais faire tourner ton truc dans l’autre sens? C’est-à-dire anti-horaire?
Custy’s is a small shop run by musicians who are firmly rooted in the middle of it all. I don’t know what exactly they list on their website, but in the shop itself they stock almost any available CD, they stock most worthwhile books, they have a good few instruments, they are nice people who are not in the business of grossly overcharging you or selling you substandard instruments. There’s any amount of reasons to support them.
Ben, oui… mais j’ai beau être plutôt anti-horaires, y paraît qu’un trigonométrique triskell–tricky spell–ça porte malheur
Ah bon, je savais pas. Mais là on a l’impression que les pieds sont sur le point de trébucher, tu trouves pas?
Why not?
C’est quoi ces histoires là de parler français? Je comprend RIEN de RIEN de ce que vous dites!
(ça doit être l’accent français)
non, rien de rien,
non, je ne regrette rien …
Well, mainly because we have more than one whistle (about 30 different ones actually) and I’m a really nice guy!
OK, well the bit about the whistles is true, anyway!
Steve
Glad to see you back on board, Steve!
The Director of Consumer Affairs launched a government sponsored consumer awareness campaign on tv two days ago. Basically the Irish government is trying to make consumers aware that they are charged prices two, three as high in some shops in comparison to other shops. Consumers should shop around to get a decent price was the message they were sending out.
There’s a problem of grossly inflated prices in Ireland and it definitely applies to whistle merchants as much as it does to supermarkets. Shop around, you have a choice.
On Monday, this week I ordered a Dixon High D from
BigWhistle
and its just arrived some 48 hours later!!http://www.bigwhistle.co.uk/
Comment ça se passe que le français est devenu la langue franc?
Salut!
Aaron