Irish Whistlemakers?

Butterfly · Post by **Butterfly** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 10:20 am

Hi all,

I used to have a list of all whistlemakers, but since my pc crashed I lost it. My teacher is going to spend her holiday in Ireland this month and she likes to look for an excellent professional whistle there.

Does anyone of you know of any Irish whistlemakers and or websites?

I heard of Cillian O Briain, but couldn't find any website. I think Phil Hardy also lives in Ireland?

Thanks in advance,

dublingirl · Post by **dublingirl** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 11:06 am

Hi there,
Cillian o'Briain has his workshop in Dingle, Co. Kerry. His whistles can be bought from the Shannaquay shop in Adare, Co. Limerick - www.shannaquay.com. I think its also a shop that you can visit.

Desi Seery the flute and whistle maker lives in Bray, Co. Wicklow - I dont know his website address offhand but a search on Google or Yahoo will find it!

I cant think of many other Irish-made whistles except for:
Waltons (can be bought in the Waltons music shops in Dublin and many other places),
Feadog (can be bought in McCullough Pigotts in Dublin and many other places),
Clare whistle - manufactured in Dublin and hard to get hold of.
Doolin whistle - I only ever saw this being sold in Doolin, Co. Clare itself.

If you need any more info on these whistles & contact addresses, feel free to contact me, I'll be back on the site next week after my holidays.

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:06 pm

Phil lives in England, not Ireland.

greenspiderweb · Post by **greenspiderweb** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:25 pm

Cillian doesn't make his own whistles anymore, he stopped making them a year or so back to concentrate on making Uilleann pipes. Though he still may have one or two lying around. Last year someone stopped into his workshop and came home with the last Low D he had stowed away on a shelf.

He still tweaks Feadog's, is it? Which are made better by his work on the fipples, and probably only high ds.

He has no website, but a call ahead probably would be welcome.

stiofan · Post by **stiofan** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:58 pm

Michael Cronnolly makes polymer and cocobolo whistles - see: http://www.irishflutes.net/mef/Whistles.html.

you might consider contacting Shanna Quay and ask if they know of any other Irish makers, though I think we've mentioned most of them already.

by the way, though Phil Hardy lives and works in England, he seems to spend a fair amount of time in Co. Kerry, according to his occasional travel reports.

and although Colin Goldie lives in Germany (close to the Dutch border), I'm sure he travels to Eire from time to time. at one time I seem to recall he had a farm for sale in Donegal (where his mother's side of the family comes from), so that should at least count for partial credit...

and finally, lest we forget the legendary Davy Spillane low whistle, forged deep within the hidden caves of the Burren...

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:14 pm

Ian Lambe used to make low whistles, probably still does. He lives in Ennistymon.

Dee Whistler · Post by **Dee Whistler** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 4:17 pm

Ian Lambe has a little website: http://homepage.tinet.ie/~mirian/ilambe/

I have Ian's Low D and it is a great great whistle!

greenspiderweb · Post by **greenspiderweb** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 8:25 pm

Ian's website says he makes Low D, E, F, G and A whistles. Sure would like to try one of his Low Ds, but I've never seen a used one for sale. Maybe they are that good if no one wants to sell theirs!

Craig Stuntz · Post by **Craig Stuntz** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 8:15 am

dublingirl wrote:Clare whistle - manufactured in Dublin and hard to get hold of.

You can buy them via The Whistle Shop.

Butterfly · Post by **Butterfly** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 1:50 pm

Thanks everyone, this has all been a great help to me. I will pass the info through to my teacher and I'm sure she will find a lovely Irish whistle.