I thought I would take a few moments to pass on my very positive dealings with Daniel McGinley of Domnahl na Gruen Whistlecraft in Scotland.
I have been playing the high whistle for a couple of years and very recently decided to take the plunge into the world of low whistles. After a bit of homework I ended up making an E-Bay purchase at a very reasonable price from Domnahl na Gruen. As I have relatively small hands I traded e-mails with Daniel first, and found his advice extremely helpful. The whistle arrived and I was instantly thrilled with it, although I did have problems with some fingering and particularly hitting the bell note. I percevered hoping the problems would go with practice, and continued to recieve helpful advise from Daniel. Six weeks on and my problems still persisted. Completely unprompted, Daniel then sent me an alternative whistle to try. Amazing, all problems instantly eliminated ! The replacement whistle is fantastic, and all supplied at no extra cost. All I have to do is return the previous whistle.
Daniel is handmaking these wonderful whistles himself, and I thought his excellent product and service needed an airing, highly recommended. Search Domnahl na Gruen Whistlecraft for his website

Clive

Hi Clive,

I'm awaiting a Low D from Daniel also, untill now every mail I sent him , he's allways very helpfull. I think he must be just a unique person.
Aaaaah.... the waiting takes long...

cheers,
rudi

I am sure the whistle will arrve promptly, I am still thrilled with mine. Your comments about Daniel are correct, he loves whistles and his service is second to none. Good luck

Clive

Hi Clive,

I received Daniels whistle today, very nice whistle; tough it jumps rather quick in the high octave.
It also has a large windway as compared with my Alba low D.

rudi

I don't remember if it was this thread or another that sent me to e-bay to find the Domnahl na Gruen whistles for sale, but a couple of weeks ago I did just that and it arrived today. It's terrific. I do have one question: when I narrow or widen the windway by moving the outer collar, how is that supposed to effect the sound? Should it make it louder or softer? I'm still getting used to it, but I really like the sound. Thanks for the reference.

Peace.

Finally someone says something about Daniel!!! He's a great guy, very helpfull and polite.

I'm anxiously waiting for my whistle...that should arrive todayyyyyyyyy!
I'll post a more detailed idea when I try the big one

Cheers!

Hopefully this thread is still alive enough for me to offer my appreciation to Daniel (Domnahl) . I've been playing one of his adjustable low C's for the past week and it's just lovely. My neighbors have asked me to play more!

Michael

i have 2 of his whistles his new model is the best one by far . and he is a top guy indeed

A friend is letting me borrow his low D made by Daniel. If anyone can advise on setting up the adjustable fipple and tips for getting the best sound out of it is appreciated. The windway looks very short to my eye, and I have to blow very gently to sound the lower octave. It doesn't feel like I can push it much at all to try and get volume - very soft. I'm sure a lot of it is I am not used to it, but advice appreciated.

Deisman

I've been curious about these whistles too. Especially for the price. There was another thread where a couple of people said they had trouble getting a good sound out of it or didn't care for the sound of it but the soundclip on his site sounds good to me.

My question would be............if someone can get the sound that made that sound clip out of this whistle, can anyone with proper technique and practice?

Steve

I guess it depends what you mean by "this" whistle. The sound clip is great, his whistles look very nice and are competitively priced, but as with any hand-crafted instrument, I suspect that each whistle will have its own characteristics. That's part of the appeal.

(I've not had the privilege of playing one of these yet.)

Even with the mass-produced cheapies there seems to be a massive variation in the tone achieved by different experienced players, so maybe it's possible to make any whistle sound good, it's just whether the learning curve is too long and shallow.

There are clearly "good techniques" that work on particular whistles and "bad techniques" that won't work on any whistle, but maybe there are a few plain old "techniques" that work with particular whistles.

My Domnahl low D also can't be blown too hard in the lowest notes, but the high register is easy and sweet. When I first got it, I was troubled, bcause it was hard not to overblow it into the second octave. But Daniel was very responsive. you can adjust this a little by moving the fipple cover, thought there's a tradeoff--the stronger the low, the less strong the high. he gave me a DIY fix, but I didn't fully understand and didn't want to ruin the whistle. He offered to send a replacement, which was nice of him. But ultimately I decided I like the very quiet blow. It's very different from say my Overton or Howard, but for nice quiet playing and breath control quite lovely. I wouldn't want it to be my only low D and probably couldn't be played in a loud environment, but for practicing in my wife's closet late in the evening so as not to bother the neighbors (or my wife), it's good. And he is very nice and responsive, in my experience.

With you on that one hoopy,

Each and every whistle is its own thing.

With experience, a player will find his/her expression in it.

Every expression is its own thing.

Some will find it .. some will not.