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Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 7:43 am
by gallant_murray
anniemcu wrote:gallant_murray wrote:I vote chieftain. It's not the whistle in Chiff and Fipple unsolved mysteries, the one he played for Riverdance.
That one looks to have the narrow head like Overton and Kerry pro.
Actually, it looks pretty darned close to the one in the ebay piccies.
To me, the one Davy plays in the picture looks to have the flattened sides on the head. The whistle on ebay does not; it looks just like my old style Chieftain I bought in 2000. I wonder if someone could get in touch with Mr. Spillane and ask him to confirm or deny the claim that he made that whistle. At this point, I'm very doubtful.
Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 7:48 am
by amar
Chieftain, I'd say.
Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 7:52 am
by gallant_murray
The other thing is, if it actually is the same whistle Spillane played for Riverdance (and I doubt that because of the picture unless he played more than one which is possible), then it is an instrument that was once owned and played by a famous musician. why is it on ebay for 99 pence? Makes no sense to me.
Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 8:01 am
by sponge
Hi gallant_murray
Davyspillanedotcom is under construction but I am in contact with the seller who is very helpful, so we may have a answer to the mystery,
or it could be another Roswell incident
sponge
Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 8:28 am
by gallant_murray
Davy's email is there. I think I'll ask him about it.
Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 2:09 pm
by sponge
Found this clip on youtube from 1996 Davy plays whistle and Uilleann pipes with Mary Black and Emmylou Harris at 1 minute 16 seconds you get a good shot of the whistle which looks like an Bernhard Overton.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br55Mjve33Q
sponge
Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 8:08 am
by gallant_murray
I emailed Davy this note:
> Dear Mr. Spillane,
> I recently saw a low D whistle on ebay. It is all
> aluminum (it does not have a plastic head). The
> seller claims this whistle was made by you and
played
> by you for Riverdance. Can you confirm or deny the
> seller's claim. Thankyou for any information you
can
> give about this whistle.
(I also added the link to the item.)
And recieved this reply:
I ONLY MAKE / HAVE MADE ALL METAL LOW D WHISTLES FOR
MYSELF--NOT FOR SALE
Interesting. I seriously doubt the authenticity of the ebay whistle.
Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 9:37 am
by sponge
Nice work gallant_murray,
I would say thats as conclusive as you can get, unfortunate for the ebay seller as it seems he was sold it with misleading information from where ever he bought it in ireland, I did recieve an e-mail from the seller and as far as he can remember it was bought directly from Davy Spillane, he cannot locate the invoice and said that he was also issued with an autograph of Davys as well, I suppose a bit like an Overton certificate,
I shall pass on the message from davy as I dont think he has had any luck in contacting him.
sponge
Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 10:07 am
by anniemcu
No surprise there.
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 8:02 pm
by walrii
The seller on Ebay now has the following disclaimer in the ad:
"Dear Ebay User's,
It is very important that you read this information!!!
Over the last few day's there has been some discussion & some very welcome research carried out by people who know alot more about this item than I do. It has been brought to my attention that this item was NOT directly made or handmade by Davy Spillane himself. He has only ever made instruments of this kind for himself and not for sale!"
So he's practicing truth in advertising, if a bit after the fact.
As for whether a real Davy Spillane exists, Fox Mulder said it best: The Truth is Out There.