Making a list of those that only have one whistle would not be very long.
So just how long a time, or short was it before you started buying the rest of your whistles? Do you see an end in sight?
i purchased my first whistle from whistle and drum online, but couldn’t wait for it to show up and went to my local music shop and was surprised to find that they had a feadog. So of course i purchased it, and two weeks later my clarke original showed up, but i found out that i liked the feadog more. Since then it’s been about a new whistle every two months, and they keep getting more and more expensive. My last purchase was a Burke DASBT which i think is by far my favorite whistle to date.
(Oh and i ordered a Busman whistle two months ago in cocobolo which should be ready in the next month. If it’s better than my burke i’m going to be the happiest man alive
)
When I bought my first Generation D long, long ago (ahem) I decided to buy one for my friend as well about a week later. When I came back to the music shop I saw the rack of all the keys Gen makes and had to have a C to compliment my D.
And then I needed an Clarke…and then I needed a Waltons…and then I needed an Oak…and then I needed lots more cheapies…and then I needed some high end whistles…
I bought my first whistle many year ago. an original Clarke, unpainted. I didn’t know it was a whistle: I thought it was just a recorder made of metal!
I tried to play it using the same fingering of a recorder, and of course it was not working. So I decided that it was a bad recoderd, which I would not be afraid to destroy, and I brought it with me in “dangerous” places, like my backpack when I am climbing or hiking on a mountain. Many years later some friends of mine brought me another tin whistle, hand made in the USA. “Damn, I thought, another bad recorder!”.
Then two months ago I found a website called ‘chiffandfipple’… ![]()
First, second and third whistles all came in the same package from The Whistle Shop. I had WhOA before I even knew there was such a thing! ![]()
Judy
I got a b flat Gen in 96 and it put me off whistles for life. It sat in the bottom of my guitar amp, unplayed, until i sold it in November 2004 for £3 on eBay.
Then in December 2004 i picked up a cheap wooden whistle from eBay for £1.99, made in an Afgan refugee camp that with a little work is an incredibly beautiful and easy playing whistle that catapulted me into really loving playing whistle. Once i got the whistle bug though it was only a couple of weeks before i bought another, and another and another.
I’m sure you know the story of WhOA. ![]()
Anyway’s, latest orders are a yew wood Weston, which Simon is looking for some nice yew wood for. And i’m just about to buy a Blackwood Bleazey as well.
I also have a big list of whistles i’d like in the future.
WhOA is me. But it’s far cheaper and a lot more fun than stamp collecting (not that i know anything about stamp collecting). ![]()
my first whistle was a clarke sweettone. i played that for about three months til i got the hang of it. then i attempted to play the whistle with the church folk group but was horribly out of tune. then i bought a tunable susato D which has an awesome sound in my church. then before christmas, i bought a tunable dixon C and a clare 2 piece. then i bought a cheap bamboo low D…and then…and then…my last purchase was a hall crystal D about 9 months ago. i’m not allowed to buy any more whistles, flutes, or musical instruments in general, without written permission from my wife. just this last week, her electric keyboard started having problems. if this turns into a serious problem, we’ll have to get her a new keyboard. if we’re ordering that, we might as well tack on a couple of whistles in different keys. they’re practically free when postage doesn’t have to be taken into consideration.
I don’t recall why or how, but I started reading Chiff and Fipple and this forum one day - so I had to buy a whistle.
My first was a Freeman Tweaked Clarke Sweetone. Then about three months later came a Freeman tweaked Shaw.
Then I was newly divorced and hid for a while and bought and played whistles (lots of Aires - hehe). Then I sold a bunch.
Now there are two whistle makers that I prefer above the others by a large degree. I buy one new (or used if I find a good deal) whistle every few months perhaps. I buy them to fill out keys I don’t yet have from the two makers I prefer.
When I retire I’ll start buying simple system flutes. haha!
I actually played a Clarke Original for about two years because that was all the local music store carried. When I got really into it I bought a second and third one to stash in my car and my then girlfriend’s house. I had no idea that so many whistles existed and never thought to use the internet to expand my horizons. I had no idea that so many people in the world played the whistle and I had certainly never met anyone else who played in my city. I was about two or three years into my whistling before I knew that there were other options… I guess I was happy enough with my little Clarke so I never went looking for anything else. Since then I’ve been a victim of WhOA and have no desire to rehabilitate ![]()
I got an Oak in 1982 and used it for 15 years before getting another whistle. I got a few as gifts and then opted for a Sindt. Since I half hole the C natural anyway, it has no flaws that concern me. I still have the Oak and play it occasionally.
Angelo
I have only the one whistle! A clarke sweetone in D. I really only got it because it was cool for only £2.99, and in black it looked a bit like a mini clarinet! Little did I know how much time I would spend on a seemingly impulse purchase. Although I haven’t got one, I must say some of the high end whistles look amazing.
<Loud guffawing, belly laughs and bent-double hyena howls fading slowly into weak snickering with an occassional loud nose snort>
Now that you mention it. I suppose that is a ridicules
question. But if it brings laughter
that is a good and healthy thing to share. ![]()
I started out purchasing a handful of Generations, way back in the late 70’s … a Bb, a C, a D, an Eb, a high G, and very shortly added two Camacs: a low G and a low A. I still have all but the D (can’t figure out what happened to it). I now have an obscene number … at least given my financial status. ![]()
One year ago in July: My daughter buys me an Irish whistle starter kit by Waltons.
A few weeks later: Cat and family in torment from buzzy Walton’s sound.
I look for a new whistle and think, “Those Clarke originals look different!”
I happily play Clarke original.
About six months later: Lungs collapse from playing Clarke.
After weeks of serious whistle review reading: I order a Burke brass session.
About a month ago: Someone GIVES me a Syn C/D set!
I am happy!
I bought my first whistle in about 1983. It was a Feadan. It is no longer made but it looks exactly like a Clare one piece. I tried playing for a week or so and quit. In 2003 I picked it up again and began to learn. I soon fell into the trap of thinking my whistle was the reason I could not play well and began to buy other whistles 3 to 6 at a time. I still buy whistles regularly but not because I am looking for the magic whistle but because I like a few different voices in my choir. I have more than 30 and that will probably go up next weekend.
Ron
I am new to the forum - it is a great resource.
I have owned a Clarke or two that I bought locally but did not play seriously until lately (2 months). Once a started buying whistles I couldn’t stop. The current inventory includes:
Lon Dubh in rosewood D
Silkstone alluminum D
Burke alluminum C
Burke narrow bore alluminum D
Busman C in satinwood (on order)
Dixon C
Dixon D
Dixon F
Dixon Trad
I think I will take a long break after I get the Busman as I plan to only play High D’s and C whistles for a while. I could see myself with Burke narrow bore C or Bb in the future though. I am definitely trying to shake this case of WHoa (what does that mean, anyway? - “whistle over acquisition” or something?). I also play mandolin and in that world the disease is called MAS for “Mandolin Acqusition Syndrome.”
I bought my first whistle, a Walton, in St Augustine FL at a Celtic store in mid-June, 2001 after a week of hitting Irish bars in the area, and joined this forum shortly thereafter. I probably bought my first batch in mid-July 2001 so it woud be about a month.
My first hi-end, and my first low D came about 6 mos after, having seen them at a closeout price from an online store.
Back in 2001, people were still talking about buying Gens by the gross in search of the perfect whistle. Jerry Freeman was yet to be invented.
I am definitely trying to shake this case of WHoa (what does that mean, anyway? - “whistle over acquisition” or something?).
Whistle Obsessive Acquistion disorder … and it’s sounds like you have a wonderful case of this disease. Welcome to the Chiff, Patrick! ![]()
Judy
Many years ago as a child our school music teacher told my Mom, that I had no music talent and he had requested, that I don’t paticipate with the class, when he came to teach us the recorder. The teacher took my recorder away. At 67 years of age, I have discovered that it just aint true. Two years ago I bought a Clark Original. For two years I blew my lungs out. Now, I have two tweaked Sweetones C, D, and a Shaw Bb and a loud Susato D. Yep, I can hear the music and play it. Getting more whistles? You bet.