Dave Shaw was a pipe maker, whistle maker and professional musician based in County Durham. He specialised in Northumbrian pipes, but in about 1984 or 5 started to make Shaw Whistles commercially.
He passed away in September 2024.
I first bumped into Dave in 1984 at Whitby Folk Festival. My own business was in its infancy at the time, and I had a set of Northumbrian pipes needing attention. Not only did he fix them, but he - with a gentle warning on what not to touch - gave me enough training and information so I could help others.
About a year after that meeting, he came to me with a prototype Shaw Whistle in High D – would I be interested in distributing it for him. I agreed, and so began a long business friendship.
He then developed whistles a range of keys which led to the Low Whistle in D. This was a lighter blowing whistle than the Overton, and its small holes, built with inset chimneys for tuning, was a revolutionary whistle design which took its influence from metal flutes and instruments from an earlier period.
I have a lovely review of it from Jo Freya, of Blowzabella, which is included here. Dave was nothing if not ingenious. With his friend Terry, he designed a series of press tools with which to make the Shaw Whistles. The process started with a roll of Nickel Silver, from which was stamped the bodies. The rolling process was on an extraordinary rolling “horse”; soldering was done using a blowtorch and old copper soldering iron; and the block was usually cedar and had an integral routed windway. He voiced every whistle produced. Simply remarkable. He made thousands of these.
He was also a fine player of Northumbrian Pipes and melodeon, both of which he used in his two successful local bands, The Moorcock and Flying Toad, as well as in Red Shift which performed for a few years on the UK festival scene. As a musician he could play it straight, but was also a fine improviser. Gina le Faux, the fiddle player in Red Shift, said that they had so much fun riffing before, after and during gigs. It made the music so alive.
He was also a fine session musician. I used to meet him to pick up instruments and share conversation and tunes at the regular session in Greenside. The humour and musicality of those sessions was very special. Tunes would seamlessly morph into a story and vice versa. He was well-known in Newcastleton, Girvan, and Bangor and in Ireland.
It was a real privilege to have known Dave for so many years. I miss his dry humour and his understanding of the way things worked.