Hi all,
Here’s the tour list for the Ringed Gidgee high D whistle that will be going on a tour through Europe and also a quick pic of the instrument. The list is :
1 jemtheflute
2 Jetboy
3 Borderpiper
4 scoutcow
5 arnie
6 tegea
7 squirrel
8 Guidus
9 breqwas
10 Markus
11 Henke
The whistle has been posted to jemtheflute today, so Jem you should have it in a bit over a week or so. I’ll look forward to hearing what you all think of it, cheers Brad.
Another hadnsome piece of timber! Nice work Brad. Can’t wait to hear the commentaries.
Feadoggie
A great piece of work Brad. I can’t wait to try it.
Here’s an updated tourlist for the Gidgee whistle:
1 jemtheflute
2 Jetboy
3 Borderpiper
4 scoutcow
5 arnie
6 Berti66
7 tegea
8 squirrel
9 Guidus
10 breqwas
11 Markus
12 Henke
Thanks, Brad
.
Anderson European Tour Whistle (High D in Ringed Gidgee) – Review.
Visually this whistle is very nice – well proportioned, slim, with the head being slightly longer than ⅓ of the total length. The Gidgee timber is very attractive – a mottled dark brown with reddish brown that appears to have a textured surface but is smooth to the touch, the tiny worm-track like grain markings looking like miniature wave-made sand-ripples which can only be felt with a finger-nail. I don’t suppose it is other than a coincidence, but I suspect that texture would make one’s hold more secure in sweaty conditions than on other highly polished woods as a fringe benefit. The beak cut-away is only slightly curved but angled fairly acutely, so the whistle sits quite comfortably in the mouth at a good playing angle. The silver ferrule collars and beak are mirror-finished. The fipple plug is of acetal and the tuning slide tubes, both male and female, are of brass.
The window and airway are both quite narrow (as indeed is the bore) and the window is also quite short and the labium ramp quite steep. The general finish is slightly let down by visible tool marks and irregularities on the beak cut-away and the window and ramp are not as tidy as they could be -
– chisel/blade working marks are visible and I wonder why Brad has not finished these surfaces and lines off with a very fine engineering needle file – these work as well on hardwood as they do on metal in my experience - and then super-fine grade abrasive paper of some kind to get a smooth finish (which would probably enhance clarity of tone production). The head is stamped with Brad’s distinctive “A” brand – a nice design in itself, but the branding process has produced a general declivity in the profile of the head which I think detracts slightly from its lines –
The top edge of the wind-way cover is quite sharply finished and one friend who tried the whistle at a session complained that it was uncomfortable against the inside of his upper lip and refused to play it further. I had not found it a problem myself but close examination does show the edge is rather sharp as can be seen in one of the pictures above - my friend had a point and I’d suggest Brad should round that particular edge off more (carefully) in future.
The whistle is supplied in a hardwood (mahogany or similar?) box with felt-lined routed cut-aways for the two joints and a good clasp. The lid is branded with Brad’s “A” logo. The box is sturdy and also attractive to the eye, though the finish is on the moderate side and it would be nicer if more highly sanded and polished (but that would of course make it more expensive to make). It is also perhaps less than ideally practical if one carries a good number of instruments around as I do, being somewhat bulky in proportion to its contents.
One point that puzzles me slightly about this general Abell/Schulz derived design of whistle, including the Oz whistle which I have for review simultaneously: why the metal beak/wind-way cover and acetal plug? I’d prefer an all-wood construction and would have thought it might be easier to manufacture.
Enough of the cosmetic/presentational aspects, what about the musical? Well, I do like this whistle a good deal. It is very sweet-voiced with excellent intonation, fairly even in tone-colour and response across its range and between octaves though it does seem to take a while to warm up, pending which it sounds a bit muffled. There is no breathiness at all, but the tone has a slight softness to it, is not as clear and bright as is possible. I mean no criticism by that comment, but am just trying to describe what I hear and feel in playing this whistle – those particular qualities make it perhaps more whistle like in character than some high end wooden instruments, and certainly make it very suitable for playing slow airs, though perhaps not ones that emphasise the bottom two notes. The narrow bore lets it play right up to 3rd octave G quite easily and sweetly without becoming shrill (and A is attainable) but as one would expect, limits the volume and response on the lowest notes, though one can push the low D moderately without it breaking up the octave unintentionally or sounding wolfy. It is easy to do a scale of slurred octaves in either direction with complete control. Given the fairly narrow wind-way there is moderate backpressure – just enough to aid control but not so much as to prevent a fairly open voice from the whistle supported by an open air-column from the diaphragm.
Verdict: a decent instrument overall, but with some aspects that could be improved musically and cosmetically. Musically I’d suggest a very slightly larger window and shallower labium ramp with maybe a shade deeper wind-way might improve the low response and slightly open out and clarify the voice without sacrificing the high register, resulting in breathiness or losing the particular tone-character. This whistle should record very well, and would be a fairly satisfying instrument for unaccompanied use in non-performance situations, but it is too quiet (or so I found when I played it in a session) for general session or acoustic ensemble performance uses unless one is playing predominantly in the upper 2nd and lower 3rd octaves.
Here are some downloadable video demo clips:
Scales & Arpeggios
Reels - George White’s Fancy & The Congress
Slip Jig - An Phis Fliuch
Hornpipe - O’Carolan’s Concerto
Air - Breuddwyd Dafydd Rhys
Brad hasn’t supplied pricing information with the whistle, but judging by Wanderer’s review of the American Tour Whistle (with which I substantially concur regarding the present example) he is asking cAU$230 – equivalent to a bit less than cGB£110 or cU$ 205 or c€140. I think that is quite a moderate price for a hand-made whistle and a reasonable market pitch, price against playing qualities. That said, and as Brad intimated he suspected would be the case in a pm before I received it, this isn’t really “my kind of whistle”. If I had to score it out of 10 against my desiderata for an ideal whistle, I’d maybe give it 7.
I shall endeavour to post the whistle on to the next tour listee as soon as I get home from holiday – probably early next week.
Two Aussie wanderers (Oz Whistle review forthcoming shortly!)
Edited to include a point I’d omitted previously, regarding the sharp upper edge of the mouthpiece - see above.
Hi jemtheflute, thanks for your review. I’m in the european tour list and I look forward to get the whistle, it seems really nice.
Thanks also for the video clips, it’s always a pleasure to hear such a good playing.
Since I had the two whistles with me simultaneously and prepared the reviews in tandem, those who like to compare different whistles may be interested in my Oz Tour Whistle review. I deliberately recorded the same musical items on both whistles for my demo clips.
Euro-tour whistle posted today (1st Class recorded delivery) to Jetboy.
Enjoy!
How is it going with the tour?
Who has the whistle at the moment?
Scoutcow, i think Jetboy still has the whistle at the moment, though i have contacted a couple of people to try and locate its where abouts so i hope to have more definant news shortly .
I am getting curious by now…
berti
I’ve got the whistle, sorry guys. I’ve been homeless since march and it got sent to my folks. Had it a few weeks and it’s been tried out by loads of folk. It’s all packaged up and it’ll be in post to the next person tomorrow.
David
I received the whistle just about an hour ago
It’s a great looking whistle, it’s a really special wood, it looks good, although I don’t think I’d buy a whistle myself in this wood.
I’ve played it for a while, also together with my Oz whistle in blackwood.
It plays great. Sounds really nice and is really responsive. I’m kind of a wet blower and had small clogging problems, but that was no problem at all for me.
It’s a whistle I really like and I’m even thinking about buying an Anderson, but the thing I’d like to have changed is the volume. It’s great for practice at home when you don’t really want to disturb the neighbours, but it’s not loud enough for playing with other instruments. I also like to play a bit more ‘aggressive’, but other than that I really like this whistle.
Hi everybody,
got the whistle yesterday, and was already surprised by the magnificent looks and craftship.
Looks:
It’s beautifully finished, like you can see on the photos posted earlier and the holes are nicely shaped, round and not too big. The wood looks really beautiful and has kept its characteristics. The mouthpiece and endring are really nicely finished and look very professional. The box is very, very nicely made, with a soft inside to keep the whistle protected. What I’m going to say now is very personal, and not as much as critics to the craftmanship: I prefer pouches, because a onw-whistle-box doen’t come in handy while carrying a couple of whistles with you. So I wouldn’t carry the box with me if I was going out playing.
Sound:
The wood gives a very particular, warm, sweet and pure sound. It’s a sound I love more and more in a whistle.I haven’t played wood before, but its sound is very different from metal, warmer. The whistle is not very loud, but not quiet either. It’s softer than my Impempe, but louder than my Sindt. The high A and B are quite loud.
The whistle is very responsive and perfect for good ornamentation. I half-hole the C, so there’s never a pitch problem in that. I haven’t got anything to measure the pitch with, but I think the E in the first octave is a bit on the high side.
The bellnote is loud enough and needs just enough air to give some backpressure. Both octave have enough backpressure (I hate underblowing) and you don’t have to blow harder in the second octave. It also easily goes into the second octave.
While playing the whistle tends to clog a bit at the start and after 10 minutes playing. It’s easily solved however by forcing some air through the whistle.
I was lucky to have some wind just now, so I could try the whistle outside. It didn’t stand the wind very well. If some wind blows in, only wind, but no tone, comes out. So my guess is that it’s an outside player when it’s not windy, but otherwise, keep it inside (better for the wood as well).
One other thing, the two pieces fit nicely, but are a bit on the loose side if you want to adjust the tone a bit more.
If I had the money right now, I would buy one. It’s a whistle I’d want to have and use a lot. Maybe later, not for now, unfortunately!
One thing: what I said about the backpressure isn’t correct. The whistle has almost no backpressure at all, very slightly only in the 2nd octave. So if you’re looking for an aggressive whistle like Scout does, this is not your whistle. It is a very easy blower though and if you like sweet and easy blowing, this whistle is certainly meant for you.
Sorry about the mistake, couldn’t fix it in time.
the whistle arrived safely at my place yesterday.
just to let you know.
berti
Tegea, the whistle has been mailed out to you today!
So NOW is the moment to go camp in front of your mailbox…
berti
I’m getting jealous now. How do you get on this tour list?
PM Brad. Dunno if he’s taking more names at this juncture - you’ll have to ask him.
Can people see the pictures in my review above? For some reason when I looked at it they’re showing as dead links, yet my picture file host has them live OK and accessible. Of course, in the new forum format I can’t get into that old post to check on the links or edit them back in.
If they continue not to show, here’s a link to the host file they’re in - unlabelled, I’m afraid - you’ll have to work out for yourselves what is what.
Work it out for myself??!?! You know I’m incapable of that!
