Chiff & Fipple: John Sindt Interviewed

John Sindt: The CChiff Chiff & Fipple Interview

John Sindt is a bit of a mystery man. A couple of years ago, I started to hear from subscribers about a whistle maker in New York state whose whistles were impressive. No one had heard of this man, really. About the same time I acquired a Sindt in D (and later an Eb. See my review of the Sindt whistles at www.chiffandfipple.com/sindt.html) the word came that Mary Bergin had taken to them and was playing them consistently. This was big news. Big because Mary is a traditionalist who almost exclusively played Generations and who, although she had been tempted by the works of the great whistle makers, had largely stuck to Generations. So, Mary's conversion to the Sindt whistle was notable, to say the least.

PHOTO by kind permission of photographer Marilyn Stern

So, John Sindt has fairly quickly found himself among the top whistlemakers in the world.

I've wanted to learn more about John the Whistlemaker. So, John and I recently sat down for an interview at a very chic sidewalk cafe in Paris.

Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration. We weren't in Paris and it wasn't a cafe and we really didn't sit down.

Dale Wisely: Well, John, give us your basic demographics.

John Sindt: I was born in Englewood, NJ in 1940 and grew up in Blauvelt, New York, about 20 miles north of New York City. I attended Blauvelt Public School in a three-room schoolhouse for grades 1 - 8. I then went to Nyack High School. I'm married to Ann Esmay and thankfully she has not only supported my interest in the music but has taken over the business end of this whistle endeavor.

Yes, I've corresponded with Ann and she represents you well! Tell us about your work history.

I started as an apprentice tool and die maker at a place called Orapoint Precision then went on to various job shops doing all kinds of machine work. During this time I also had a partnership dealing with buying and selling horses, hunters-jumpers. This also included training and showing them.

I started work at Lamont Geological Observatory in 1963 as machinist and have worked there ever since except for a brief stint as a farrier.

Lamont has gone through two name changes since : Lamont Doherty Geological Observatory and finally to the present Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory it is part of Columbia University. I am now Supervisor of the Machine Shop Instrument Lab where equipment for the various sciences at Lamont are constructed. These include: Oceanography, Seismology, Paleoclimatalogy, GeoPhysics and Bore Hole technologies.

How about your history of involvement in music?

I played sax as a High School student. After a trip to Scotland and Ireland in the mid-80s I got interested in celtic dance and took a class in ceili dancing. This gradually grew into a keen interest as Irish set dancing was reintroduced to US. and this generated an interest in the music itself.

I bought my first whistle at the Feis at Marion Shrine in New York about 1988 and then
bought Bill Och's book and tape on learning the whistle. I taught myself for a while and then join a group lesson taught by Maureen Glenn. since then I have taken lessons from Bill Och and gone to various workshops with Mary Bergen, Joanie Madden, and day workshops at various Ceoltas Conventions.

My idea was to make as consistent a whistle as possible while staying with the original design and sound and concept of a cheap penny whistle.

John Sindt

Well, with that background, you were ideally equipped to start making the instruments..

Around 1990 I started experimenting with cheap whistles to see if I could make them any better. This was done almost exclusively on the mouthpiece and entailed experimenting with things like the angle of lip, size of blow hole, etc. I was aiming for a consistent design that always produced a desired sound. I remembered Maureen Glenn saying she would go through boxes trying to find a good one. . when you found a good one you really took good care of it. Some folks also thought that the old ones were better than the ones made today but finding older whistles to look at was not so easy. I bought a Copeland early on and a Chris Abell. Both fine whistles, of course. These both gave me ideas to pursue.

My idea was to make as consistent a whistle as possible while staying with
the original design and sound and concept of a cheap penny whistle. I also had
in mind the cost of the whistle. If it took all day to make then that would
be a very expensive whistle. So a simple design was also important to me.
I finished my current design four years ago.

You have a fine reputation for the way you (and Ann) deal with your customers. Could you say a little about your philosophy there?

I like to trust people and treat people as I would like to be treated.

A couple of people have noted that the C-natural fingering on the Sindt is problematic. I've noted that the tuning sounds best on my D whistle with a 234 or 2345 fingering. What do you think?

I prefer the half-hole method. Maureen, Joanie and Mary all taught this
and felt that it was more accurate. But if I were to use another method I prefer the lower two fingers of the left hand. [hence G and A covered]. And blow a little softer.

Are you keeping up with the number of whistles you make? Do you know how many you have sold so far?

I've sold about 300 whistles. I'm 3 or 4 months backed up. And this
depends to a large extent on how busy I get in my 'regular' job.

To my knowledge, you make whistles in Eb, D, and C. Any plans to make other keys? Any interests in doing low whistles some day?

I just finished developing a Bb and an A. But it's hard to get to
producing them because of the backlog in the other keys. But I will start to
get a few of them out shortly.

You are selling directly to customers who contact you. Do you plan to use any vendors or retailers?

Not in the near future. It's hard keeping up with what I have now.
Maybe when I retire and can devote more time to them.

Are you having fun doing this?

Yes, I enjoy making them and I love playing them. Playing tradition
music on the whistle has become a very important part of my life. Being able
to make these whistles and provide them to others is very rewarding.

Thanks, John.

John's whistles:

E $90, Eb $90, D $90, C# $95, C $95, B $100, Bb $100, (Low) A $100.

Contact

John Sindt
16 Second Ave
Nyack, NY 10960
845-358-4943

NEW Email as of Feb 2005: sindtwhistle@aol.com

John Sindt photo by Marilyn Stern

AgEsmay@aol.com

Dale Wisely is the Undisputed King of Internet Tinwhistle Journalism and Commentary. His website, Chiff & Fipple: The PostStructural Tinwhistle Internet Experience (www.chiffandfipple.com) is the most-visited tinwhistle website.

NOTE: This interview is published for the interest of tinwhistle enthusiasts. It is not an advertisement. No exchange of money or goods occurred between Dale and John and no agreement was made in advance about the content of the interview.