Lir SILVER Tin Whistle Review and Comparison
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- čas přidán 17. 01. 2022
- The folks at Lír Whistles reached out before the holidays to discuss the recent global shipping concerns - and also to let me know that they had a package heading my way, and among the things would be a silver D whistle. I've never played a silver whistle before and I was very curious as to whether or not there would be a difference.
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That is gorgeous and so well-played! I definitely want to check that out. Thank you!
That's a fine sounding Lír. Off to check it out. Love a Lír. Great review, thanks Sean 🤙🏽
That is a beautiful sounding whistle, so pretty ! I love the silver !
Your not crazy I can hear the difference!! I’m happy you make a video on their silver whistles. Your doing amazing work with your videos. Your beginner series help me Tremendously get my Bearings of the tin whistle. Keep up the awesome work!!!
Thanks for the kind words!
I purchased a LIR SILVER HIGH D whidtle about half a year ago and LOVE her. It has NOT tarnished at all. When I first received it I did use a light (VERY LIGHT) coat of mineral oil (the edible kind that can be obtained in pharmacies - originally purchased to lightly coat wooden spoons) to prevent the silver from oxidizing. I used it outside and inside the tube section of the whistle. I repeated the process from time to time and did not have ANY tarnishing.
Good review matey. I do like the sound of these Lir whistles. To my ear, the silver one has a slightly “brighter” tone. Make of that what you will 😊👍
And for those that missed it, here's the week old (as of this post) interview with the Lir rep regarding the issues they were having last year getting theur whistles out and how that has since been corrected.
czcams.com/video/Jdb484Z2LP0/video.html
If somebody doesn't like a product because they don't like the product that's one thing, but during these pandemic times I don't think a otherwise good company should get a bad rap over a domino effect of events they had little to no control over.
Good job bud 👌
I'm amazed you had any contact with them. I tried to contact them months ago regarding their A whistles on multiple platforms and never heard anything. Also saw somebody say they'd been waiting weeks for their whistle they ordered and hadn't heard from them. Ended up giving up and buying my dream whistle, an A. Karavaev Nightingale A whistle. Very disappointing.
Yep talked to a nice fellow from Mayo, seems like they've sorted out the shipping issues. Hopefully the communication issues as well. I'm curious about your Karavaev - not familiar with that maker but I'll look them up for sure now, cheers!
I have multiple Karavaevs. I love them!
@@whistletutor I'm amazed you've never heard of him! His whistles look and sound incredible. My favourite folk metal band Eluveitie use them
@@foofy14 Nah I don't really keep up with whistle makers that much unless they cross my path. I'm playing the same whistle for 15 years at this point :)
just ordered one
Nice! I’ve got a solid sterling silver Gary Humphrey session whistle with C thumb hole that I love. A jewler’s cloth can be used to wipe away tarnish but maybe be careful on a silver plated whistle. I’d just let it tarnish and call it patina. :) I don’t think it impacts tone as the mouthpiece and bore shape are the only real contributors to this. But I like silver so that’s why I bought it. I’m still trying to find some solid 14k gold tubing so I can get a whistle made of that because pretty.
Gary's the only other one I've seen making silver whistles and I've yet to try one of his. I'd be curious!
@@whistletutor treat yourself! It’s jewelry you can play. You deserve it!
It’s funny I just got this whistle in the mail today. I like it but it almost has too much of that sharpness to my ear
Not seeing them on their site. Available yet?
I just got a silver plated Lir D whistle. It seems that the tuning slide and the mouthpiece are almost stuck, so I'm afraid to push it as it may develop some kind of crack. Have you got any tips?
Hi ! What is the name of the tune at the begining ?
What’s the value of the Silver (new) one?
Gary Humphrey makes an excellent silver D whistle as well.
So I hear! I've played just about everything else he's made but I've yet to try one of those haha
I'm new to the whistle world and have been using your vidoes (which are excellent!) to research before purchasing one. I've looked at the Lir website and it seems that all they sell are these silver whistles. What whistle are you comparing it to in this video? Have they ceased production of nickel whistles? Thanks for any info 👍
Yes they're now all brass whistles that have been silver plated as I understand it
@@whistletutor thanks!
I noticed on another site there seem to be some confusion. The silver-plated whistles are NOT a special order. It's how they make their whistles now.
If you go to their website and look under any key of whistle it's in the descriptions under body materials.
Ahh you may be right about that, though I also received 2 other whistles that are *not* silver plated so I'm not sure.
@@whistletutor Well, if they were doing something different with the earlier ones(?).
I was just going by the current product description on their website.
Body (tube) they say is "silverplated" brass and the head is listed as "chrome plated" brass.
btw. The only reason for the quote marks is that these are the terms written on their website.
I think it is only right to inform you that an order of December 6, 2021 of a tin whistle Lìr, arrived today January 25 and I point out that the company Lìr Sound was timely in shipping and that the disservices do not depend on them but on other factors and then, not least, the Christmas period that is not conducive to the receipt of goods from abroad. With this I want to reiterate the absolute seriousness of Lìr Sound and I am sure to turn again to them for the purchase of other whistles for the high quality, the one just arrived, I assure you that it works very well, has a wonderful voice and is very responsive.
Nice, glad you're enjoying it!
Do Lir make any low models? Also, how practical is it to take a low ,say D, to the 3rd octave, an is there any advantage.? There's ba clip 9f the Lonesome Boatman somewhere in which there 's a high passage which has a depth of tone you wouldn't get on a soprano.
They do! They've recently started making a low D which I did a review on a few months back. It's nice!
@@whistletutor Thanks,will look that up.
I don’t polish my silver flute, I like the finish 🤷🏻♂️
Im so confused as to what he means the standard d whistle vs the silver lir whistle. On the lir website it says that all their whistles are silver coated with a brass interior. So where did the "standard" one come from?
Prior to this they weren't silver coated - so "standard" would be what they had before.
@@whistletutor ah I see thank you :)
I like it.... 🤗
Shockingly I just received a call from Ireland from Sean FROM LIR.
Not sure how he got my number, unless it was on the email form on their wbsite I sent them a few days ago over this issue, but that really doesn't matter.
The bottom line is he confirmed everything I said and that was in the previously linked video; that ANY of the finished components of the Lir whistles are NOT made ANYWHERE outside of Ireland.
No, Lir employees in Ireland do not mine the copper or the zinc to melt it together to form the alloy brass and roll (or whatever) the tubing.
Nor do they have a laboratory and factory where they mix the appropriate chemicals to make and mold the bulk plastic/Delrin head blocks.
That these are sourced from outside of Ireland is made clear in the video. But try as you might all day long nothing about those materials says a playable whistle or anything you can get any kind of sound out of.
But each of these rough "templates" are the bases from which the Lir employees then apply their skills to individually TURN them into affordable, quality whistles.
Then there is the silver plating thing, which is another aspect of the process.
But in no way is it a matter of the whistles, or any part of them, just being "assembled" in Ireland from from parts made elsewhere.
Now, maybe somebody else can contact them tell them they are full of blarney and WHY, but I'm certainly not going to, because I fully believe them.
I received a D whistle this week. Very poor quality. The delrin is uneven and frankly, it looks like it has teeth marks on it! The silver plating is uneven and there are scratches all over the place. It looks like they sent someone else's whistle after 6 months in the backpack. I am so disappointed. I won't play it because it is really dirty especially the head. The rings are black too. I've contacted them today to see about a refund. I've read on other websites they do not refund shipping, which they should considering what they let go out the door.
Oh drag! Hope they sort you out!
I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and say that in the description instead of saying that you've "never played a D whistle before" that you meant to say you've never played a "silver-plated" D whistle before. LOL 😉
Ooo good catch, thank you! Updated :)
The trouble here is that there is a sample size of two. It's not really surprising that two whistles will sound a bit different. I make this kind of comment when people say that two Generation whistles not sounding exactly the same means that there are some sort of major quality control issues. Another reviewer looked at KIillarney whistles and declared (on a sample of one of each whistle) conclusive proof of the difference between bare brass and nickel-plated tubes.
I agree that there is a difference between the whistles, it can be heard on the recording, though of course the real live sound can only be known by playing and hearing the instruments in person. I trust your personal assessment of how the two whistles sound and play ... but why isn't the narrative about "quality control" or "it's pot luck what sound your whistle will have"?
I'm not saying that you should do this, and both whistles clearly make a very similar and acceptable sound, but it is interesting to me how the narratives around different brands of whistles are framed.
I completely agree about something mass produced like a Generation. Those were (are?) famously variable in their quality, tone, and playability, though I doubt there would be a measurable difference between two identically fashioned whistles from a company like Lir/Killarney/Wild/etc. In this case I was comparing the differing materials wrapped around the same design and there is indeed a significant difference. Compare that to, say, a D nickel and a C nickel, both from Lir and there's no difference whatsoever (other than the pitch, obviously.) Now, if there *were* some quality control issues those would indeed be worth mentioning, but I've yet to run across any from my (admittedly small) sample size of now 5 whistles from Lir.
I had a D and a Bb from them and was disappointed with their poor quality control. The mouthpiece or head joint materials were not assembled properly, with there being a misalignment of the delrin with the brass at the front of the mouthpiece. This was enough to put me off the brand completely.
Yep that would do it for me as well - seems like they've sorted out those issues from all accounts I've read/watched.
I'll play devils advocate, the whistle chat rooms claim that Lir is made in China ? That would put me off for a start.
I'm actually not sure where it's manufactured tbh - though I'd say that if that's gonna put you off, I've got some bad news for you about your phone, your computer, your pens, your potato chips, your ;)
Based on your comment and several others like it I've seen the last few days as I've been researching which whistle along those lines (Lir, Killarney, Shearwater excetera) to get, I just now sent an email off to Lir asking them about that;
If their whistle, OR ANY PART OF IT, is made in China, or anywhere else overseas, and only assembled in Ireland.
Hopefully they get back to me about that.
@@whistletutor Absolutely. Personally I dislike the continued infusion of their economy with capital that is only going to be used to build a stronger China in opposition to the West...but I also live in the real world and deal with it as it comes.
But if we're just talking quality of products, Made in China doesn't necessarily mean it's crap. Chinese industry is perfectly capable of producing products in a full range of quality based on the QC specifications and oversight of their customers.
In this case, IF it is true, that customer would be Lir.
And if Lir says, for example, "We need a decent fipple made of this grade of plastic, constructed this way so we get a consistent sound from one fipple to the next.", the Chinese, as well as any Irishman, are perfectly capable of saying, "Okay fine, here it is."
The only thing is, the Chinese might be able to produce them for significantly less that it would make the outsourcing to them worthwhile. I don't know what my limit would be, but personally I'd rather pay a few more dollars to keep it all in Ireland.
@@michaelrs8010 Actually, I don't care too much if some components of their whistles are made in China or in other parts of the world, not least because the Chinese have proven to be able to make high-tech products and high craftsmanship. The most important thing is that the finished product has good quality control and above all that it is delivered within a reasonable time. As far as I'm concerned, I've been waiting for their tin whistle in d since 6 December last year (consider that I live in the EU area). Who knows if I will receive it silver or nickel plated, but this is an insignificant detail, the important thing is that it is delivered to me soon and that it is consistent with good quality standards.
@@giorgiolamborghini813 I almost feel that Lir should pay me as their public relations representative...and I don't even have one of their whistles yet. Maybe that's it, give me a free whistle 😄.
Anyway...
I don't know for sure, but maybe the explanation for the delay with your whistle is in the post I made her a couple of days ago where the real representative for Lir was explaining the issues:
It might be in the backlog of whistle being made due to the material issues as outlined in the video and shipping may be slower as outlined in the video;
A combination of covid restrictions throughout the EU, the UK having left the EU and shipping being really slowed down and tied up at Heathrow.
I really don't know. The only thing I can suggest is to watch that video again and to see if there's anything in it that would offer a reasonable explanation to you.
And Lir, if you happen to read this, a High D would be fine 😁