This is about as bright as it gets. I did a custom white balance, so provided your screen is calibrated, this is pretty close to what it looks like. In most light, it’s just too dark. It looks almost black from certain angles. If I’d wanted that, I’d have gotten the black. I wanted circus green. Everyone has their own tastes. Imagine thinking you were getting this lovely dark green and instead you got a circus green. It’s all expectations, and really, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t all that important. I just think they should fix their photos.
As far as it being like a Chieftain V3, the differences to me, are surprisingly small. The tone is stronger on the MK in places (probably the difference in breathyness), the note transitions feel a little snappier (going from low D to B has a crispness that wasn’t there on the Chieftain), and the MK is in tune, whereas the Chieftain had a flat C# and a sharp top end, being very noticeable on the top end B. My Chieftain has been out for a few weeks, so I can’t play them side by side, but overall, I expected the difference to be huge, but they are not, in my opinion. It feels to me like someone took the Chieftain V3 design and tweaked it, producing a whistle with a slightly stronger tone and better overall handling.
The MK does get a bit loud and harsh at the top end (more noticeable indoors… outdoors it isn’t an issue). I’ve been playing a Shearwater D, and the difference between these two is night and day. The Shearwater is very mellow, almost muffled sounding. The upper octave sounds a bit flat if you’re blowing the bottom octave really strongly, but the upper octave notes are quite pleasant and not harsh at all. I can play these two whistles side by side, and I could play all the way up to high B on the Shearwater sitting right next to my wife and felt fine, whereas playing the MK up there made me very tense, thinking she was going to kick me out of the house at any moment. That’s probably the only criticism I have of the MK at this point. The top end hurts my ears indoors and makes me want to shorten the upper notes to make them end sooner. This was the case with my Chieftain as well, but also because the notes were sharp. The Shearwater has a much weaker bottom end, and the bell note is not very strong, and sounds a little gritty. I’ll eventually make a video playing them all side by side once my Chieftain comes back.
The only other difference I’ve noticed is that the MK tends to break into an odd half tone upper note in the second octave E and F#. It happens if I tongue too hard or if I do a cran a bit wrong (still trying to figure this one out). The note that comes out is in between the second and third octave. The Chieftain never did this, but the Shearwater also has this characteristic.
Also, I tend to use my bottom finger covering the last hole to stabilize the whistle. The MK does not find this acceptable. If I play the upper B while having the last hole covered, it sounds nasty and sometimes kicks it down an octave. I’ve watched Michael McGoldrick and a few other players placing their finger in between the E and D holes, but I’m having trouble with the mechanics of moving my finger quickly enough when I go from something like a Cnat to a middle D. It’s going to take some practice.
Sorry to ramble so much, these are just my first impressions after playing for a couple of days.
And I have also wondered whether or not the tone sounds different to others VS. how it sounds to me as I play. The MK sounds the most different when I have something reflecting the sound back at me, so maybe the Chieftain and the MK sound more different from a distance, but I don’t know anyone else who plays, so I can’t test this out.
- Mod.]
(btw, my fav shade of green has a little less blue in it