My Sindt D is absolutely my favorite whistle. Wouldn’t part with it for anything in the world.
But lets say I’m at a session, and folks seem to really strain to hear me, especially when I’m changing tunes. Sessions are sometime in noisy places, and that’s what I’m up against right now. So I want to buy another whistle, and I’d like it to be just like my Sindt but louder. I’m not looking for a crazy loud, deafening, session weapon. I still want to blend in with the group, but maybe something no louder than a Burke session, but with tonal and playing characteristics of a Sindt. Let’s not worry about the cost too much.
nothing wrong with the Sindt, sounds like you need a quieter session (I know beggars can’t be choosers).
If you’re leading off a set on the whistle you could try the singer’s trick and discretely ‘ssssshhhhhhh’, with a smile, before you start, or get a friendly plant to do it for you. Once people get used to the idea then it’s natural enough (Pavlovian) for them to listen harder at those points and play accordingly. Just don’t trade in your favourite whistle for something bland and piercing if it’s not you that’s causing the problem
PS. if you always sit in the same place in the room at a particular session, try moving, you might be surprised.
PPS… in answer to your question, people tell me that my Cillian O’Briain improved speaks mroe audiably across the session than my Sindt (it’s also the one people say sounds the nicest, so I use that).
Hi Mark. No, no. My Sindt ain’t going anywhere. I’m looking to buy a second whistle for difficult environments. And it’s not my session mates that’s the problem, but our new venue is a little noisy and most of the patrons wouldn’t be watching us directly, so I don’t know that the smile trick would work. A rowdy bunch to be sure. I’ll look onto the O’Brian whistle. Thanks for the thoughtful response.
I know that feeling, sometimes it’s just not conducive to playing good music. We’ve a nice session in a small pub back room but the student crowd is unpredictable and some nights you’ve just no chance.
I do sometimes resort to wandering over and saying ‘excuse me lads would you mind shutting the f..k up?’ (with a big smile of course). Seems to work sometimes.
I had a Sindt when I first started playing the whistle in 2002. I really liked it back then but eventually it ended up in the whistle drawer. I ended up trading it for a new sweet delrin thinking that I could always order another Sindt. I finally got around to ordering another one, waited the 6 months and when I unwrapped it and played it a little I thought “what happened to my beloved Sindt?” Maybe a difference in manufacturing? It sounded week and oh that cnat is terrible. I contacted Mr. Sindt and I told him that I thought I must have gotten a bad one. He didn’t seem concerned at all and said that I could send it back.
I had been wanting a Reyburn narrow bore for years and finally ordered one before the new price increase in January. WOW, now that’s a whistle!!! Everything I’d always hoped for in a Sindt and a lot more. It has a little more complexity than a Sindt in the lower register, way better tuning, better balance with the delrin head and Reynoldo is a pleasure to deal with. Also, it is the loudest narrow bore I have ever played. It has more back pressure than a Sindt so it needs a bit more push but the result is that you get a more dynamic whistle that can be driven to it’s limits without squeaking. I tried both of the tunings that Reynoldo offers and I would recommend the equal temperament. The C# on the Itrad tuning is just too flat for my taste and has to be driven harder to even make it sound like a C#. Even with the price increase I think that a Reyburn is well worth the price.
If you want a whistle with a little complexity and no back pressure with a good volume I would also recommend a Sweet delrin.
If you have an interest in Reyburns, there is a nice used D/C set at the Irish Whistle Shop. I sold/traded (don’t remember which) the set to Eric a while back when I got a Sindt. I preferred the slightly quieter sound of the Sindt (I mostly play at home) to the somewhat more strident sound of the Reyburn. The the latter is a delight to play and should be great for a session.
I had the same problem when playing my Sindt through
a mic at pub gigs. It was hard to hear myself in the
monitors amidst the other instruments in the band.
Now I use a Burke composite for pub stuff and keep the
Sindt for pretty stuff and quieter gigs.
Part of what makes the Sindts so hard to hear over
other sounds is its complexity. It has lots of components
(overtones) all over the frequency spectrum. Sounds that
are the same frequency will mask each other, so if
something is masking part of your Sindt’s spectrum, it will
seem that much quieter. A purer whistle has fewer
overtones in its spectrum and so it is less susceptible to
this masking. So loudness often comes at the expense of
complexity, which means loud whistles sound less sweet.
i do have the Reyburn set up for sale. great whistles; they were my main whistles for a long time until i got into wood whistles. i spend most of my time on the flute now, but i think Steve’s on the money… i’ve owned Sindts as well as the Reyburn and it is very similar, like half way between a Sindt and a Burke, with some of the best parts of both.
this particular set is a medium bore set, which Steve told me was pretty rare, Mr. Reyburn doesn’t make them anymore. so it’s louder than a narrow bore, but not as over the top as a session bore.
Yeah, that makes sense. Maybe I’m needing a more focused whistle, rather than a louder one.
Would a narrow bore Reyburn or narrow bore Burke be enough to cut through? Like I said in the OP, I don’t really want to be louder, just loud enough (or clear enough) so the others can hear what I’m playing. Or should I be looking at the session bores?
It’s really hard to say what would work in your situation and playing environment - different mix of instruments in different rooms, etc. I own/play a Sindt D as well as Burke NB and SB whistles. The Sindt is a really nice whistle. So is the Burke NB. I can hear myself better in some situations with the Burke NB when I can’t easily hear the Sindt but I have old, tired ears too. The SB Burke is a little bit louder than the NB but not greatly so, IMO. Again, I think you have to try it to see if it works for you and the rest of the ears in your session. For years I carried a bag of six D whistles out with me. I only did that because in some situations one whistle worked better with a particular environment than another. (Then I got old and persnickety and now I just play what I like.)
Ronaldo has a new whistle model since some months, louder that his narrow bore but gentler than his loud model, but still on the loud side. My session whistle…
Another vote for Reyburn. I own a Sindt, many Burkes and cheapos. I use the Reyburn when I am playing the melody line with trumpet, fiddle and other instruments in non-Irish music as well. The Sindt (I have the sliver model) is a beautiful, chiffy whistle but not loud and it seems to not like high humidity and cool (often here in the Bay Area). Burkes are louder, but not close to Reyburns in volume.
The Reyburn not only can be loud, but has a nice complex tone that I like. Definately not bland at all. The Sindt is lovely, but I prefer the Reyburn in a session.
What happens the rest of the time? Is it palinful?