Just to be clear again. I’m not actually looking to buy anything else now (that O’Riordan set cost me an arm and a leg). And I love my whistles. I don’t expect that I’ll be getting any more any time soon. I don’t need any more (doesn’t not mean I won’t get more later). I was just wondering what the best in the business is right now.
As for Low D whistles, I completely agree. It seems that only the more serious makers bother with it and tend to be (as a group) better quality than the high D cohort (at least in my limited experience - currently I own a Becker (yes, I misspelled it in my post above, sorry), Susato, Syn and MK Pro. I have not felt the need to get anything more than those; the Becker is great for low-volume practice, the Susato has a great clean tone, the MK has an gorgeous complex tone and the Syn always makes me feel like I’m playing an exotic flute. The MK Pro and Syn whistles have great C-nats with just OXXOOO). I wouldn’t mind trying one of the tuneable options from Kerrywhistles or Reyburn.
Ah, I meant to mention this before. The only whistle that I have ever bought because of favourable mentions on the web is Cillian O’Briain’s “improved whistle.” Yes, all your fault.
A very light player, nice clear traditional sound. In fact, when I first played it, it already felt very familiar; as if it was an instrument that I’d been playing for decades. And in a sense it is. It plays very much like my old (pre-1980s) Generation whistles, to the extent that sometimes I forget which one I’m playing. Though it must be said that there is more clarity in the sound of the O’Briain and it feels “smoother” to play all round.
A good buy? Yes, and I pretty much immediately ordered a second one; there was a sale at “The Big Whistle” that brought the price down to approximately the cost of ordering direct. One lives by my desk and is my main D practice whistle and the other lives mostly in a bag to be played outside the house.
I am generally hesitant recommending whistles on the forum. It is so hard to tell what people expect from their instrument and what they are at.
I have also had bad experiences giving recommendations. I showed whistles I had on different, separate occasions to two very wellknown , very fine whistleplayers that I knew well and helped them make contact with the makers of the respective instruments when they liked what I showed them. In both cases the maker made changes to their design without notice and the whistles received were not as expected and a disappointment. It caused real life hassle and I was put in the middle of situations where I really didn’t want to be and I deeply regretted getting involved in any of it and I want to avoid getting into such a situation ever again.
I have no qualms mentioning I like COB’s whistles. They suit me well and I have found his output in the past decade or more remarkably consistent. But from that point on it is for anybody to make up their own mind.
I guess that’s the thing about making whistles by hand - usually a labour of love by people who are not necessarily trained instrument makers or sometimes not even trained musicians; each instrument will be unique. But I suppose that is partly why I asked; I’m interested in knowing where the state of the art is at the moment. I ordered my 4 oz whistles on 3 different occasions and each time the quality was the same.
With my Syn whistles, I ordered a D/C set early on and then some years later the full lowA to high F set and was impressed by the quality (of workmanship and sound and tuning) having improved remarkably). Same with Becker PVC whistles.
There are two other makers (whom I will not mention here) where the reverse was true: great whistles originally and disappointments later once they became more well known and there were larger orders.
I guess that’s the thing about making whistles by hand - usually a labour of love by people who are not necessarily trained instrument makers or sometimes not even trained musicians; each instrument will be uniquei
I was talking about substantial changes to the design/voicing.
A slight variance from one instrument to the next can be expected. My advice here is always to try the whistle you are going to buy and if you can test drive several by the same maker, pick one that suits best.
However, design changes aside, I think a maker who can not deliver a high degree of consistency in their output has no business charging the prices you would expect to pay a skilled craftsman for their instruments.
I would also avoid makers who are poor players like the plague.
With my Syn whistles, I ordered a D/C set early on and then some years later the full lowA to high F set and was impressed by the quality (of workmanship and sound and tuning) having improved remarkably)
The early ones were pretty rough. I had one, sold it because I didn’t like it and later heard Earle sent the man who bought it a new head to go with tubes he ordered to make a full set because he (Earle) thought the original one I was sent wasn’t up to scratch.
My experiences with whistle makers have been mixed, to say the least. And made me wary. I keep an eye out, out of interest, but am not tempted to buy anything: as I said nothing I can buy is going to make me sound any better
My experiences with whistle makers have been mixed, to say the least. And made me wary. I keep an eye out, out of interest, but am not tempted to buy anything: as I said nothing I can buy is going to make me sound any better
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Clearly Mr Gumby you are a very accomplished player so no need to look for a whistle to make you sound better. Mediocre players like yours truely , in the knowledge that we don’t sound that good, are always looking for another whistle because we “secretly ” think there might be a whistle out there that makes us sound better.
By the way why don’t the quotes I use come out in the message with a yellow cream background like everyone else’s?.
Some whistles are definitely easier to play and will make a less good player sound better than they did without it. Which wont all of a sudden make them a player of legendary caliber. But for playing basic things in tune, no horrible squeaks, etc, some whistles help. Like in my case, I got my Burke A pretty early on in my whistle life. and it was extremely noticeable, that everything I played just sounded better. It was much easier to play in tune. And now all my whistles have this tuning style. The question is how good does a player need to be to stop benefiting from an easier to play instrument. My playing is constantly improving but I see no reason to go to something that’s harder to play in tune.
I actually quite like a whistle that takes no effort at all to blow, that is agile, nimble and highly responsive. That, to me, sums up a whistle that is ‘easy to play’.
Ofcourse that is also the sort of whistle that will immediately let you know your breathcontrol is not up to scratch or your fingering isn’t clean.
what’s neat in the whistle world is how peoples top priorities in a whistle vary. To me my #1 is ease of playing in tune. I didnt grow up playing Gen and Feadogs, so to me makers who try to sharpen the second octave to give a more conical effect are significantly easier to play in tune. But I guess a large part of it is just muscle memory. If I played the gen style for years they would probably be the ones that feel right. But a lot of good makers seem to do this so I wonder if its technically easier to play, even if its not actually needed.
My #2 is a strong low end. I hate when whistles have a weak low end that’s super quiet, creating a larger volume gap between the low and high ends. So that kills any hopes of me liking easy blowing whistles. I will agree though that softer blowing are easier to play, and definitely seem to be more popular, likely for that reason.
His prices are super reasonable and the quality is outstanding! He is also such a nice person and is a true pleasure ordering custom whistles from him. He keeps you updated on the progress. His turn around time is quick too.
When I mean quality I really mean quality of every aspect of the instrument. Intonation, tone, playability, strength and looks.
I would just like to say that I have been making wooden whistles (alongside flutes) for about the last year or so.
I’m confident based on responses so far here in Co. Sligo (& further afield) that they are regarded as top quality.
Here’s a link to my website- https://www.thompsonflutes.com/whistles
