Had a prolonged break from whistle playing due to a number of reasons (won’t bore you with them) having sold/given away all my instruments I recently looked at the websites of a several whistle makers with a view to purchasing a Low D only to find:
Dixon - Massively reduced range, and it seems the delightful brass trad is no more.
MK - A plethora of new keys/colours and a strange multi keyed monstrosity.
Kerry - All plastic heads from now on.
Howard (a personal favourite) Multiple heads, acoustic gels, keys, finishes.
BUT ..having a look on Chiff, no reviews, tours, discussions about these changes
Thanks Richard, I was still playing and viewing the site during the Optima tour, it seems the plastic tops are available in every key now (two bore sizes for G) and the all metal Busker range are being phased out.
Missed the Chameleon thread, I’ll have a read now.
It may be worth having a look at Howard, some interesting innovations are now available.
In case anybody’s interested, you shouldn’t be getting replies from ‘Juggy’, although who knows what alias he’ll turn up I next?
He is Dean Haigh, a long-time banned person on C&F. If you see anything that looks similar please do feel free to flag it up to me and I’ll deal with it.
Post COVID, I think a lot of markets are getting very competitive as income levels for a lot of reasons are dropping (monopolies, job losses, private equity firms destroying thousands of businesses, continual shifts in global politics, minimum wage rates rising, tax rates, the USA turning into a crazy high risk investment zone, etc.). I was surprised to see Dixon drop brass for the soprano D, one of the most popular keys. Brass is popular for high D because it helps balance the tone, which in some cases people don’t want extra bright, as with aluminum. Kerry shifting to plastic heads reduces condensation and warmup time and reduces prices while delivering the quality mouthpiece. I don’t follow MK much but they seem to be doing fine apart from that keyed version of a Saturn space rocket at a price NASA could consider. Howard looks to be very successful with those three head options, and the sound samples are impressive. Quite a few whistle makers now out of business. Some are on hold. A time for strategies, no doubt for continuing.
