Hey there,
Just wondering who else is in the boat. I’ve been waiting over a year and a half, with the delivery date having been pushed later and later 5 times now. A bit discouraging, but after playing a few of his whistles, worth the wait I think. I’m just doing a regular hi-D and low F. Anyone know what the problem might be? I’ve asked a couple of times… but I’m guessing busy with flutes.
Cheers!
Rob
I am waiting for a reply on low D whistles from him. Basically I gave up and went with a different maker, Bleazey in UK. Ordered last Friday, shipped yesterday.
I got a Grinter high D a while back and the wait was only 3 months…maybe he’s got more flutes and recorders he’s working on right now.
They are nice sounding and looking whistles!
-Brett
I got a D from him last year after about a 4 or 5 month wait. Liked it o much I ordered a couple of lower whistles. That was about a year ago, with I believe a six-month delivery estimated. I don’t really mind the wait, but communication is spotty. I usually have to email more than once to get a response (I wait at least a week before trying again), and it’s often Helen saying that Michael is out of the country.
NorCal, the Bleazey may be a fine instrument (I have a boxwood that I love, a blackwood that I’m tepid on, and a boxwood flute that I’m totally in love with), but it’s an entirely different instrument from the Grinter. The Bleazey has a big sound and needs to be played with a lot of gusto; the Grinter can be played with a certain amount of assertiveness, but also can be played very delicately.
I ordered a low F well over a year ago and received it about 6 months later. That was a bit longer than I’d been expecting but not much. Communication was, as a others say, a bit spotty, but in my case nothing to complain about. From the apologies I did recieve, he was always friendly and polite, I got the impression of an operation not properly geared up for the amount of mail it receives.
Don’t lose patience and go for an inferior instrument. These might well be the best wooden whistles in the world; if not they’re mighty close. Michael makes flutes and recorders and probably makes a lot more money on them. He seems to be going through the kind of quick rise in profile that has sent Pat Olwell’s waiting list for keyed flutes out to about 10 years now if you are lucky. I’m not saying you’ll have a ten year wait, but if you remove yourself from his list now, you might have a vey long wait when you decide later that you made a mistake.
That said, I don’t have a ready explanation of why you would have to wait quite so long. The problem might lie in the fact that you ordered two whistles. Michael makes particular keys in batches and he would not make up a batch until he has a full load. Low Fs are always in high demand; perhaps high Ds are not, although I find this a bit hard to believe. Remember though: with low wooden whistles Michael has no competition apart from Le Coant; with high whistles there are Abells, Busmans, Roses, Thin Weasels …
My almost entirely unconsidered opinion is that you might be right. I generally don’t go for wooden whistles because (a) I don’t trust myself with them, (b) they seem to throw into sharp relieve the oxomoronical nature of a $300 penny or TIN whistle, and (c) because I haven’t played one that seemed to suit me and worth the bother (that goes for Abells, O’Riordans, Roses, and Thin Weasels). Surprisingly, I liked the Sweet Pros quite abit and they felt not as fragile and touchy as the others.
But, oh, a couple of times I got to play a stryped cat’s Grinter hi D, and it was gorgeous. It probably swept me off my feet and off my rocker by the fact that it played so much like an Overton, but with a mysterious and elusive quality to its tone that was gentler but still forceful. That must be the wood, I figure. Very yummy whistle I tought.
I wonder if there’s any connection between this view and a claim I heard recently that Grinters are like wooden Overtons. Nah, just a coincidence. 
I have an Overton low F and a Grinter low F. They are alike in some respects but there are differences that make it worthwhile owning both. And that wood does seem to add something all its own.
Must be one of those odd coincidences… makes you believe in the supernatural, really.
The Grinter Low F I got–a 2003 sister-ship of Wombat’s, in a quite reddish cocobolo–is as good a low F as I could ever wish.
(except I still prurchased the Strathoflute 
but it plays in another league)
However, several players knowing Grinter former F’s told me this batch was much improved (as compared to… Kevin Crawford’s first Grinters…*): faster, with lower wind requirements, some back-pressure. This may explain Wombat’s analogy (use with caution…) with an Overton-style.
Also, there’s no Yvon Le Coant in this tone (nor low Eb 
) so I could choose; when I got this breton Low D, I sold an absolutely superb dark cocobolo Grinter D. And I took the alto G from YLC, too. The tuning is more accurate, the worksmanship and finish far superior.
Maybe, if I had firmly decided to have only one Low D, I might have kept the Grinter for being more… what, “universal”, “versatile”? No, I guess I would probably have ordered one with lower wind requirements, in the same spirit as the F.
All this talk of Grinters made me look to my own red lancewood Grinters just now, and lo and behold, the Low F is barely playable due to a crack in the wood where such cracks are wont to develop, i.e., in the head joint where the wood meets the brass ferrule that sits atop the tuning slide. I’m like Bloomfield in this regard, preferring metal to wood mainly for its durability and lesser need for maintenance. To be clear, I got this whistle along with a sister soprano D second-hand several years ago, and the crack is new, and the D is still wonderful. I also had Michael maybe a year ago or so make me a companion lancewood Bflat that seems fine.
Red lancewood (extremely beautiful) is less stable than some others, but is generally ok if you make it past the first few years, I’m told. I live in a New York apartment with radiator heat in cold winters and wood can be a challenge unless it’s blackwood I’ve found. Any less dense woods with those especially curly or wavy wide grains pose more of a problem, and are at the same time so beautiful. I’ve tried to keep them oiled (almond), but alas. I’m going to attempt a crazy glue fix.
Just when I thought from this thread the Grinter market would heat up; there goes that sale!
Bloomfield, you may not get to try this one afterall…
If the music stops, it may very well be because my fingers are stuck together…
Regards,
PhilO
Oh man, I’m sorry to hear about the grinter. 
Cracked Grinter Lancewood F?!? Damn Phil, that hurts me just thinking about it 
Serious bummer dude, you have my sympathy.
Loren
P.S. I’m about to send you a PM