I can’t remember when the last Hoover Whistles update was. A lot or newcomers probably don’t even know what it is, so here’s who, what, where, how, when, and why:
My website is below. I am Mack. I have WhOA and another condition I call WhIM Whistle Improvement Malady. I’ve made whistles for fun most of my life, but Irish 6 hole end blown fipple flutes AKA pennywhistle AKA tinwhistle for about 12 years. My goal has been from the beginning to make easy playing, sweet sounding, non-sessions whistles at a low cost from available materials. Quiet has been my signature sound. That has expanded somewhat to include more robust instruments that can be played in sessions. I still do the quiet ones,too.
I’ve never promoted my whistles aggressively and am not inclined to do that now. I simply want to make it known that I still am in the game.
That was my commercial;the next isn’t. I have a collection of Celtic CD’s I’d like to share at modest prices to contribute to my purchase of a better camera. Contact me if interested in any or all.
Tommy is right! Mack’s whistles have one of the highest “giggle factors” in the whistle world. If you’ve played one of Mack’s whistles, you know what I mean.
Heheheh, so he can show his workmanship online it’s a good investment! I didn’t know, but I’ll check your whistles, I got curious by the “giggle” factor
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the whitecap on a Gen body is one of my favorite practice whistles for not killing my ears on the high notes.
Two of my three absolute favorite whistles are Hoovers, and there are several others in my permanent (non-give-away-able) whistle bag. If you can get him to make you a ski pole low G, it’s worth any price (though fortunately there is very little correlation between what it’s worth and what it costs). Nobody does Low G like Mack.
I feel the same way about a Whitecap on an Acorn tube. Very sweet, a true LADY of an instrument. My Hoover PCV D is similar. Mack is a master of the art of making whistles that can go into the tonal heights without popping eyeballs (back pressure) or rupturing eardrums.
I’ve played a wide variety of Mack’s whistles, and own several.
He makes outstanding whistles for the price.
Put very plainly, these play like Burkes (or even sweeter) but have a two-digit price tag. Although Mack’s whistles have a reputation for quietness, I have a seven-hole session whistle that he made me which will hold its own in even a large session. Here’s a recording of it (several years old but still an ok recording I think).
Also I have a lovely low G wooden whistle that he make me from a piece of beech with a red oak mouthpiece, which is one of my most treasured whistles. It’s from a very old board and had a rusty nail, which left a distinctive mark around the F-sharp hole…altogether a lovely whistle and a real work of art with a beautiful, haunting sound.
I was just looking for a recording of it and realized I never did a review of it because my job went nutzo right about then. I shall have to fix that…look for a review and piccies and stuff soon.
This is intended as friendly feedback on your website. If it reads otherwise, I apologize.
As a rank beginner, I’m afraid your whistle ordering page was too overwhelming for me and I ordered a low F from another vendor despite being aware of your excellent reputation. Reading this thread makes me realize I could have sent an email and been sorted into the “right” whistle in no time. But that is the catch-22 of beginners; we’re the ones most in need of guidance and also the most reluctant to ask.
My biggest question was: if the black mouth piece costs more, it must be better some how. But why no set prices for blacktops with bodies?
It seems to me you should add a few paragraphs to your ordering page to map the different kinds of customers you are serving to particular products. Your intro page is actually quite good. Sadly, intros on websites are a lot like intros or prefaces to books–people skip them.
The next time I’m in need of a whistle, I’ll stop by and be a bit braver.
Thanks,
Joe
p.s. A couple of other confusing things.
You are marketing yourself to those looking for quiet whistles, but you provide no information on how your various options serve that goal.
You seem to be providing mixed messages about whether you offer wooden whistles.
My whitecap has a Feadog body, but beyond that minor quibble, I agree completely.
This afternoon I was working on the second half of Smash the Windows, which has a lot going on in the upper end of the upper octave. As I’m working on getting the tune memorized and the fingering glitches eliminated, my Hoover is the best practice whistle for working the kinks out, particularly when the tune lingers way up in the high notes like this one does. As my fingers get things straight, I don’t have to worry about having enough breath, or drilling my eardrums with piercingly pitched mistakes. My (quiet) whitecap stays sweet and pure up to the top notes.
In the end I’ll move the tune onto the Blackbird, and work out breath control and sweetness on the high notes on that partucular whistle., But it’s nice not to have to worry about that stuff at top piercing volume while my fingers are still fumbling around.
Greetings, All. I have two of Mack’s brass D whistles, a narrow bore and a wide bore. They are finely crafted instruments that will be with me til’ the end . Thanks, Mack.
Dennis
“My biggest question was: if the black mouth piece costs more, it must be better some how. But why no set prices for blacktops with bodies?”
My smallest answer is they are more work so they cost more.
Better is a function of their use.
I haven’t listed barrels, because I’ll custom make a Blacktop for any key whether I supply the barrel or not. I couldn’t begin to make a list. Now that would really be overwhelming!
Mack
it’s a good investment! I didn’t know, but I’ll check your whistles, I got curious by the “giggle” factor 
. Thanks, Mack.