Lir whistles

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Hauke
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Re: Lir whistles

Post by Hauke »

Narzog, do you play aluminium Alba? Is the mouthpiece really made from aluminum? Poison alert... :o
The Burke looks nice, but of course pretty expensive. If I would play whistle as my main instrument, I would buy one.
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Narzog
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Re: Lir whistles

Post by Narzog »

Hauke wrote: Sat Feb 19, 2022 3:28 pm Narzog, do you play aluminium Alba? Is the mouthpiece really made from aluminum? Poison alert... :o
The Burke looks nice, but of course pretty expensive. If I would play whistle as my main instrument, I would buy one.
Hauke
Yes its aluminum. But brass contains lead, and some people are allergic to nickel. And ABS is technically more toxic than other safer plastics and usually isnt FDA approved, but is what's usually used for every injection molded mouthpiece I know if. Delrin is probobly technically the 'safest' but I've also read that only white and blue acetal are fda approved, and not the black, which is what most whistle makers use. So that ones still technically a toss up. So to me it just comes down to, is it safe enough. Because at this point it seems like being alive is toxic.

This thread has some good takes on the matter.
viewtopic.php?t=4728
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Hauke
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Re: Lir whistles

Post by Hauke »

Hi Narzog.
Seems you're also someone who wants to dig deeper to know more. The information you have is very interesting. Another source tells this:
Delrin is polyoxymethylene and sets free formaldehyde by cutting it or pressure (teeth). That also doesn't sound nice.
Yep, life is toxic. The cleaner in dishwashers, our food if not organic, microplastic and so on. The only thing we can do is to reduce it. From a certain amount of poison, the body can no longer resist it.
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Hauke
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Re: Lir whistles

Post by Hauke »

Okay.
This is recorded today with my Lír whistle.
Wrote it about two weeks ago.

https://soundcloud.com/global-player/ro ... al_sharing
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Re: Lir whistles

Post by Narzog »

Sounds nice. Maybe the Lir will grow on you. It's tone and tuning definitely seem good to me. So as you get used to its breath curve it will probobly stop feeling unbalanced.
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Hauke
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Re: Lir whistles

Post by Hauke »

Thanks, Narzog.
I'll go on trying it out.
:thumbsup:
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Hauke
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Re: Lir whistles

Post by Hauke »

Narzog wrote: Sun Feb 20, 2022 9:56 pm Sounds nice. Maybe the Lir will grow on you. It's tone and tuning definitely seem good to me. So as you get used to its breath curve it will probobly stop feeling unbalanced.
So here is the review. Got the Killarney D Whistle today. The brass version. More balanced than the Lír. The first octave works with the same pressure of blowing. The d and e don't overblow as quick as the Lír. It's not a huge difference, but my wife as "never-whistled-before-musician" realized it at once. As well as the balance of volume.
So to compare both (in my opinion)...
Intonation is nearly similiar, the Killarney a bit better. The sound (tone) of the Lír is warmer and clearer in my ears. Maybe a chance to get closer for the nickel version of the Killarney. Killarney is definitely better balanced. It looks nice, however the surface of the mouthpiece part seems perfectly polished, better than the other part. The silver of the Lír makes it look like a little treasure when good polished, a treasure you don't want to put your hands on.

So for about 85€ I'd prefer the Killarney. Maybe more the nickel version I didn't try.
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Re: Lir whistles

Post by Narzog »

Glad you like it. You could sell off the Lir if you end up only playing the Killarney. But if you enjoy the different tones you can never have too many whistles in your stash.
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Re: Lir whistles

Post by Mr.Gumby »

The sound (tone) of the Lír is warmer and clearer in my ears. Maybe a chance to get closer for the nickel version of the Killarney.
While taking into account the subjectivity of this sort terminology, it is interesting you feel nickel will give a 'warmer' tone.
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Hauke
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Re: Lir whistles

Post by Hauke »

Mr.Gumby wrote: Fri Feb 25, 2022 5:28 am
The sound (tone) of the Lír is warmer and clearer in my ears. Maybe a chance to get closer for the nickel version of the Killarney.
While taking into account the subjectivity of this sort terminology, it is interesting you feel nickel will give a 'warmer' tone.
I was told so by someone who owns both. Brass and nickel. Actually I wanted to order the nickel whistle but made a mistake.
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Re: Lir whistles

Post by Mr.Gumby »

I was told so by someone
I see.

There's an awful lot of hearsay posted to the forums. It's not helpful. A lot of misconceptions are being repeated by some posters without any first hand experience of the subject at hand. It devalues the information available here. Posting first hand, personal experiences only would be a good start.
Last edited by Mr.Gumby on Fri Feb 25, 2022 7:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Hauke
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Re: Lir whistles

Post by Hauke »

Mr.Gumby wrote: Fri Feb 25, 2022 6:23 am
I was told so by someone
I see.

There's an awful lot of hearsay posted to the forums. It's not helpful.
You're right, of course. It's a woman who played and compared directly in the store in Ireland. I believe her.
But, of course, I should buy the nickel whistle, too to say something about it exactly.
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Re: Lir whistles

Post by Mr.Gumby »

I was going a bit meta discussion there. That post was about hearsay and the tendency of some to post unfounded 'I read somewhere..' posts on subjects they have no insight in or experience with, while presenting their posts as factual.

Don't take that as an encouragement to buy more whistles. Buying more whisltes is a mere distraction, Beginners will be better off learning to play the ones they have to a level that uses a fair degree of the instrument's potential. Learn to blow them properly to get a good tone and learn the technique to a decent level. First things first.
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Hauke
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Re: Lir whistles

Post by Hauke »

Mr.Gumby wrote: Fri Feb 25, 2022 8:17 am I was going a bit meta discussion there. That post was about hearsay and the tendency of some to post unfounded 'I read somewhere..' posts on subjects they have no insight in or experience with, while presenting their posts as factual.

Don't take that as an encouragement to buy more whistles. Buying more whisltes is a mere distraction, Beginners will be better off learning to play the ones they have to a level of going some way towards using a good chunk of the instrument's potential. Learn to blow them properly to get a good tone and learn the technique to a decent level. First things first.
Well. I tried to tell about my opinion. What I feel about the quality. About the tone. About the experience with the company. I didn't say that my experience is fact for everyone.
We all make our own decisions. Mostly without facts. We read reviews. We ask people in our communities. That's what I did. I play the whistle since about 30 years. Not as main instrument, but yes, I think I know how to whistle and modulate a tone. But only on my cheap ones. So I found a whistle group in Germany. And got recommendations. The whistles I have now are what I was looking for. Much better than cheap ones, but not high end.
Individually for me the Killarney is the best choice. For someone else maybe the Lír, the Dixon, the 'whatever'.

I'm glad I found this forum and wish I get some more time soon to discover the other threads.


Btw... Got a Dixon flute today. Guess I have to send it back. Too hard to play for me. Not patient enough to learn to close all the holes by stretching the fingers.
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Re: Lir whistles

Post by Mr.Gumby »

I play the whistle since about 30 years. Not as main instrument, but yes, I think I know how to whistle and modulate a tone.
OK, I had only the recording you posted to go by. But I will stick to my point.
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