Lemeur whistles

tegea · Post by **tegea** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 2:52 am

Do some of you guys now those whistles ?
http://www.webreizh.net/jplemeur/

They look beautiful, but how do they play ?
How in your opinion do they compare to Burke aluminium whisltes DASBT or DAN ?

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 4:10 am

The clips sound promising enough.

Flogging Jason · Post by **Flogging Jason** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 6:16 am

On Tony Higgin's (did I get that right?) website there is a clip of him reviewing one of their whistles. He was impressed with it.

Feadoggie · Post by **Feadoggie** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 6:23 am

Search, and you will find...

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=46812

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=52370

Feadoggie · Post by **Feadoggie** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 6:29 am

On Tony Higgin's (did I get that right?) website there is a clip of him reviewing one of their whistles.

Might that be Tony Hinnigan? There is a reference to that clip in one of the posts above. Although I respect the opinions of Tony Higgins as well.

Look here http://www.tonyhinnigan.com/whistles.php

Feadoggie

hoopy mike · Post by **hoopy mike** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 6:39 am

Feadoggie wrote:
On Tony Higgin's (did I get that right?) website there is a clip of him reviewing one of their whistles.
Might that be Tony Hinnigan?

Isn't Tony Henry's brother?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Higgins

Stay hoopy,
Mike

Feadoggie · Post by **Feadoggie** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 7:17 am

Hoopy Mike wrote:Isn't Tony Henry's brother?

Uh, no!

Tony Higgins is a stalwart member and longtime contributor to these boards. Look here. http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewforum.php?f=7

Henry, isn't my brother either!

Dennis Higgins aka: Feadoggie

anniemcu · Post by **anniemcu** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 8:20 am

Feadoggie wrote:
Hoopy Mike wrote:Isn't Tony Henry's brother?
Uh, no!

Tony Higgins is a stalwart member and longtime contributor to these boards. Look here. http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewforum.php?f=7

Henry, isn't my brother either!

Dennis Higgins aka: Feadoggie

Oy! Keep yer 'ead!

hydromel89 · Post by **hydromel89** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 12:03 pm

I have a Lemeur high D...

Previously, I used to play a Burke almost exclusively.
But honestly, the Lemeur has a nice tone, is easier to play thant the Burke (IMHO), is really comfortable to play, quite loud, quite cheap compared to lots of other brands, fits really nice in the hands and in the mouth...

Since then, I didn't touch my Burke at all...

Pascal.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 12:13 pm

hydromel89 wrote:I have a Lemeur high D...

..quite cheap compared to lots of other brands...

Since then, I didn't touch my Burke at all...

Pascal.

Come on now, here's the list prices :

Eb, D and C Tin Whistles = 121 euros

not exactly 'cheap'.

I can agree on the last bit though

jemtheflute · Post by **jemtheflute** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 12:47 pm

This guy had a stall at the Lorient Festival Interceltique this year - I tried several of his whistles in various sizes. I have his price-list leaflet on my desk too. My opinion of them was that they were decidedly average - nicely made, but nothing special playing wise - in fact, although his prices are significantly less than those of most makers making similar designs, I wouldn't have paid them for what the instruments offer. I don't reliably remember in detail what my criticisms were from two months ago so I'm not going to try unfairly to give what would possibly be inaccurate details/criticisms, but I do remember my general impression quite clearly. It was a "No".

The man himself was pleasant and helpful enough, but he presumably clocked the obvious failure of the whistles to give me what I was trying to get from them and he probably got a vibe of my dissatisfaction from my polite but not entirely veiled reactions.

I would not wish and don't intend to bad-mouth a careful and skilled craftsman, but I'm quite sure his whistles aren't for me. That said, I think I'm well enough known here now for disliking all-aluminium whistles in general and for not liking even Overtons - so it may well be that Lemeur whistles would represent a bargain for someone who likes those kinds of thing and can make them play as they wish. Subjective opinion caveat! As always, use the opinions available as a guide, but the bottom line is there's no substitute for trying the things yourself.

tegea · Post by **tegea** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 5:29 am

Thanks for the informations.
There seems to be very different opinions here, from people who love them to people who don't like them.
Jemtheflute, I suppose you also dislike the aluminiums Burkes, aren't you ?

The only purely objective con that I see is the clogging issue in the above mentionned links. But perhaps it is the case on most of the all aluminium whistles ?

As I hear it in the recordings, the sound is a bit complex with some breathiness, and therefore quite different from the DASBT Burke sound.
Does the bell note have a good stability, can we push it to obtain a powerful and round note without any risk of jumping in the second octave ? And how is the Cnat ? It is quite often weaker than the other notes on many other whistles.

jemtheflute · Post by **jemtheflute** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:19 am

Tegea, I haven't, so far as I know, played a Burke of any kind - maybe a soprano D quite a few years ago, but not sure - so I can't offer any comparison. I think when I visited Lemeur's stall at Lorient I tried a soprano C and a low D and Eb - my recollection is that all were relatively weak on the bell note and the E fingering and couldn't be pushed for a good, round sound, let alone a "hard D". Nor did they make the clean. clear, "round" sound that I prefer in a whistle. I don't now remember which C natural fingering worked best or how it sounded relative to other notes, nor how they responded in the higher reaches (I tried them up into the 3rd 8ve, of course, but can't recall how they responded) - after all, I only spent 10-15 minutes trying them in an outdoor tent stall on a noisy street 2 months ago....... though my exploration of how they played was fairly thorough and my reactions were as explained above.

To reiterate, I wasn't impressed from a playing point of view, but felt his prices were significantly less than the usual prices of other brands of very similar instrument (e.g. Overton, Chieftain). I wouldn't buy those for my own use at any price and I wouldn't buy his - because they don't offer what I seek/like in a whistle, low or high. For someone who likes that kind of whistle, Lemeur's may well represent very good value for money. The only way to find out properly is to try them for yourself.

hydromel89 · Post by **hydromel89** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 10:16 am

tegea wrote:Thanks for the informations.
The only purely objective con that I see is the clogging issue in the above mentionned links. But perhaps it is the case on most of the all aluminium whistles ?

...

Does the bell note have a good stability, can we push it to obtain a powerful and round note without any risk of jumping in the second octave ? And how is the Cnat ? It is quite often weaker than the other notes on many other whistles.

1. Clogging might be an issue, but it never kept me from playing. I felt like being on the edge sometimes tough.

2. As far as I can compare, the bell note breaks sooner than on my Burke, but later than on my Dixon Trad.

3. Unless my ears are not trained enough yet, 0XX000 seems to be working just fine for me.

Pascal.

hydromel89 · Post by **hydromel89** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 10:19 am

Peter Laban wrote:
hydromel89 wrote:I have a Lemeur high D...

..quite cheap compared to lots of other brands...

Since then, I didn't touch my Burke at all...

Pascal.
Come on now, here's the list prices :

Eb, D and C Tin Whistles = 121 euros
not exactly 'cheap'.

Tha's true Peter... I should have added "cheap compared to similar makers/brands" as Jem mentionned.

Pascal.