Weltmeister Wooden Whistle in D

A Chiff & Fipple review by Frank Claudy

Yet another whistle has become available from Jim
Coogan's on-line accordion store, The Box Office http://members.aol.com/jimattheboxofc/whistle.htm  Jim, an Irish-American diatonic box player whose daughter, Mary is part of Cherish the Ladies,  is now an authorized dealer for Weltmeister's accordions, and with that title comes these enameled wooden whistles, made for them by Adler-Heinrich in a rainbow of available colors - black, dark green, burgundy, purple, gold and [gasp!] pink.

I have had one of the handsome dark (Black Forest?) green ones for the past month, putting it through its paces.  Bottom line:  for players of some experience, who like lots of chiff in their lower octave and crave the opportunity for some controllable polytonal effects, this is the best bargain on the planet, only 41.20 shipping included, which also gets you a cunning cloth case and a cleaning rod.  I would not recommend it as a starter instrument.  Those with WHOA - you know who you are - will simply have to get one.  Now for those interested in details......

These instruments are very well-made, of either pear or boxwood (I'm pretty sure mine was pear).  The cylindrical bore is just milled to .1" wall thickness, and down to .08 at the mouthpiece, with no sign of incipient cracks.  It is a two-piece, with a snug, but not binding joint that allows .3" of play with preservation of the seal.  The low G is at 440 for me with the slide open to .12 when the instrument is cold.  The mouthpiece is made like a recorder, with an beatifully fitted (cedar?) fipple.  The windchamber is the same length as my O'Riordan - .35", also with a matching windway gap of .15.  The edge is straight and very sharp, with a more gradual plane to the top of the mouthpiece than my O'Riordan ebonite.  It is very tolerant of moisture;  I have only had to clear it once mid-tune.  In fact, when it is a little wet, the desirable tone I describe below actually gets better!

The holes are large, up to .3" in diameter, spaced similarly to the O'Riordan, but there is a difference in their relative size: on the Weltmeister the top hole is larger than the next one down, the obverse of the O'Riordan.  This difference, and perhaps a slightly shorter terminal bore after the bottom hole, may account for this whistle's chief peculiarity.  c natural must be played:

O
X
X
X
X
O

It is a very pretty note played this way; all other cross-fingerings produce an quarter tone sharper c.  Well, this took a lot of adjustment on my part, but I am getting more comfortable with it, and find there are some tunes - e.g. with a lot of E to Cnatural intervals - where it is an advantage.  This hole arrangement also allows a very acceptable cross-fingered Bb:

X
O
X
X
X
O

is right on-pitch, but you can also get away with covering the 6th hole and still get an unmuffled, close-to-pitch note.  (trying the same trick on the O'Riordan, I get a more muffled sound with either fingering.  Half-holing works better.)

Here's what I really like about this whistle:  it has a ton of 'edge' in the lower octave tone, and will tolerate a lot of air pressure without breaking up.  In fact, you *need* to push fairly hard on the first octave to bring it sharp enough to be in relative pitch with the second octave.  If I am diligent with this, I can stay within 10 cents of pitch from the low D to the high A.  High B is almost 20 cents sharp no matter what I do, *but* it is not as harsh in the top notes as the old brown plastic Susatos.  Because my Irish music heroes all played Clarkes or Generations, a little relative sharpness in the upper notes sounds normal to me.  The O'Riordan, by contrast, which I can keep centered on the tuner through two octaves, sounds a bit flat in the upper reaches.  So it is whatever you're used to.  If you press hard on the first octave, the difference is negligible, and sounds musical on both G and D tunes.  [That last sentence might seem strange, but I have a host of whistles that sound great in one sharp, awful in two, or the converse.]

I can't find 'chiff' in any of my dictionaries, but always took it to be the 'fuzz' or upper partials in the notes.  In this arena, the Weltmeister can really strut its stuff.  It is bright without being overly harsh, and with patience will allow you to get some multi-octave sounds that remind me of past Clarke masters like Jim Donoghue and Willie Clancy.  High B sustains are dicey -  this is not the whistle to reach for if you are about to launch into a soulful rendition of the Wounded Huzzar - but backing off slightly and playing with  the break to the first octave can again yield some lovely effects.

The large holes and thinned bore combine with the brightness to allow ornaments to really pop on this whistle.  There is enough resistance in the windway to allow for double-tongueing without losing a note from low E to high A.

I just discovered you can also get a decent passing-note G sharp if you finger an A and close the three lowest holes.  Half-holing is also fairly easy to accomplish with minimal squeaking, again on account of the generous finger holes.

This instrument gets better as it is played in.  Mine seemed to improve with light bore oil treatment.  The bore is nicely machined, but not lacquered, and appears thirsty.  I am finding that the paint chips fairly readily, which would show less on a lighter color like gold.

In conclusion, a Weltmeister should probably not be the only whistle in your stable, but it will make a unique tonal addition for both solo play, and should blend nicely with other instruments because of the complexity of its sound.

--Frank Claudy


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