I managed to read about 3 pages of the debate on the value of Chiff & Fipple to whistle makers and whistle players as a whole. I have decided not to respond directly to any individual perspectives but to share mine.
I build elfsong whistles and own the West Coast Whistle Co. We are a relatively small company on the West Coast of Canada. My sales are split pretty much evenly between direct contact, (Word of mouth, people who have seen the whistles, students and music stores) and acts of faith, ie: internet buyers.
Of the internet buyers almost all of them and I would say at least 90% have mentioned Chiff and Fipple as a sourse of information to them.
I have used Chiff and Fipple as a resourse to keep abreast of what other whistle makers are doing, what people are buying and most importantly what people are WANTING! I am in awe of the work that has gone into the site, the committment involved in such a task and the obvious love the individuals who frequent the board have for their whistles.
Do they influence other makers and players? I don’t know.
I am glad that you pay attention to the resources at C&F. I visited your website, after seeing it in the C&F newsletter, and was impressed with the beauty of your instruments.
I suppose we all take what we can use from C&F, and throw out what we can’t.
Can you tell us a little more about the details around what I assume is the tuning slide on your whistles? They do look very nice, and I very well may be ordering one in the none too distant future. Anyone played one or more, and care to comment on playability?
Yep. A day back will do. I never speak in haste so it will be a while before I do a review. Oddly here in the Scottish Borders most people hate G or F high whistles. Too squeaky and shrill so it will be interesting to see what their comments are. So far so good. It’s the mouth piece I like. Doesn’t feel like 15 layers of skin have peeled of my lips after a 3 hour session.The ferrets and one of the cats seem to like it as well.
Info on the tuning slide: The mouthpiece is able to be moved up or down to fine tune the whistle. If the mouthpiece is all the way on the whistle is slightly sharp, pull it off a bit it is concert and out more it is slightly flat.
For those of you who are interested in 3rd party info on the whistles, there are some entries in my guest book as well as threads on this message board. I have just started a new high F, F# & G line, I have sent out 5 sets of whistles to be reviewed and will be posting those and other reviews up on the site so keep a look out. There is also info on this thread:
Sandy just sent me a prototype F/G ‘Sassy Brass’ set for review, which I’ll be doing soon. I’ll also be receiving a D/C set, so look for comments on those as well.
A quick note: I used the G at a bluegrass session where 75% of the songs are done in G, and everyone raved about the sound coming out of this beautiful little instrument. It seemed to fit well with the ‘high lonesome’ bluegrass sound and although not a loud whistle, held its own on solo breaks in terms of volume. This is a super little whistle…and the F sounds even better with a fuller tone and more volume. Can’t wait to get the D/C set. More to come in the complete reviews.
Hello! Are the D whistles in tune on the Cnat 0XX000 fingering? Great question. Up until now, to get a perfectly tuned C nat fingering was either 0XXX00 Or 0XX0XX but as I have been finetuning the High F fingering I have learned how to change that and will be making all my new D’s so that they can be played 0XX000. If you decide to order a whistle, make sure you mention it so that I don’t send you one of the old (And still very good!) bottoms.
“mate”? Have you gone down under? Can I call you Bruce? >
Bruce is ok…just don’t call me sheila.
Those are some mighty fine looking whistles, though…aren’t they? Oh to be so talented!
I’m updating my file with the personnel pool I work for so I can pick up a shift now and then on the weekends. I have to say, it was seeing these whistles that convinced me to do it.
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“mate”? Have you gone down under? Can I call you Bruce?
As a Sydneysider AND a Londoner, that’s London, not Australian - so Kim’s gone across the pond, not downunder! (The Aussie would be “mate, yer telling me!” - a subtle difference, but there all the same. Virtually all Aussie slang originated in London, hence the similarity).
