Does anyone play on a B whistle (B, not Bb)?
With five sharps, I’m sure there are few, if any trad tunes in B.
I have a Sindt B although I am not sure sharps and key signatures ever came into it. I sometimes pair up with pipers with B sets or fiddlers tuned down.
This sort of thing (although that was nearly twenty years ago by now):
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I have a couple (Phil Hardy Busker and Susato - sadly no Sindt!) but only for playing along with low pitched pipes and fiddle, as Mr. Gumby says.
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I bought a B tube for my Sindt Bb head, the one head works on both tubes.
Previously, I had a Burke B, but lost it at a tionol over a decade ago. It was also a very nice whistle.
I bought it specifically to play along with sets of Uilleann pipes in the key of B.
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I made one with a small pipe-cutter some years back, with instructions from someone here on the Chiff. It was so I could play along with a Mick O’Brien recording.
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I have a Susato B that gets occasional use. A few flat set sessions at festivals etc., but mostly playing with singers (one local singer likes E major). Not the most used whistle, but comes in handy every so often.
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I made a B from a Generation Bb, a great-playing whistle for around $10 at the time.
Ditto a C# from a Generation C.
It’s easy, doing the steps in this order:
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chop the top of the tube until the upper hand (the notes that on a D whistle would be crossfingered C natural, B, A, and G) are in tune to the new key.
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you’ll find that the bell-note (bottom D on a D whistle) is flat of the upper-hand notes, chop the bottom of the tube until the bell-note is in tune to the new key.
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you’ll find that the note emitting from Hole 6 (E on a D whistle) is flat. Carve Hole 6 out until E is in tune.
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lastly the note emitting from Hole 5 (F# on a D whistle) is flat. Carve out Hole 5.
My reason for making whistles in every key (including stretching a Generation Bb to make an A whistle) is that I was doing gigs requiring every key.
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The common theme here is the setting where the B pipes are involved. There are plenty more examples of that, ofcourse.
Here are two, Ronan Browne, playing a Generation whistle bought at the local newsagent and trimmed back just before the gig.
And Bríd O Donohue using the B for her duets with Seamus O Rochain. For years she used a Susato but has moved to a Burke since.
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The first Burke whistle I bought was a B in aluminium. Not for me the duets with pipers - I have a bag of whistles in a multiplicity of keys to allow me to accompany singers.
m.d.
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