Burke Aluminium Narrow Bore short review

Whistle
1

I’m very happy to say I have just received a new Burke Aluminium narrow bore whistle, so I thought I’d put some initial thoughts on it.

Look and form:
Definitely, the whistle is a sight to behold. The first high end whistle I bought was a first generation Burke brass session whistle, and my, how the desighn has changed. No doubt the aluminium has it’s shiney goodness, but the large knot where the fipple and shaft meet takes some getting used to. Definitely a unique and pleasing appearance. The delrin tip is also very nice, but it would be great if it was a little longer. I’ve noticed that my lip sometimes touched the cold metal, which gives an illusion that air is leaking from the area where delrin meets aluminium. I am also a big fan of the o-ring tuning slide. The whistle also comes with a belt-haning case, which is just darned convenient. I have some comments about the narrow bore, but those will be in the next section, entitled…

Sound and playability:
I’ve alyways loved the way my Burkes sound. The low notes are smokey, and the upper octave is sweet, both have a nice hint of chiff. The narrow bore is impressive in that it doesn’t blow my eardrums out, even when I hit the real high notes. My cats don’t run when I play this whistle. However, the switch to a narrower bore takes some getting used to. I find that my fingers, used to a wider whistle, stutter more readily, and my quick ornamentation is a little slower, but that’s nothing a little practise won’t solve. This whistle takes a surprisingly small amount of air, while retaining a clear sound, and I’ve had negligible trouble with condensation in the airway. However, it is very easy to pop it into the next octave, which alsoo takes some getting used to. The holes are comfortably spaced and small enough to know where your fingers are without being so big that you miss covering them all the way, and the rounded edges of the holes maximize the comfort: in other words, perfect. While this whistle can take some getting used to, the sound and fun of playing it will eat up that practise time in a day or two.

Value:
I was surprised to see that Michaels whistles had gone up in price from ~$80 to $130 which in my eyes puts it out of the mid-range pricing, but I didn’t even hesitate to spend it. Mr. Burkes whistles have improved more than enough to justify the expense.

There is too much, lemme sum up:
Mike Burke has continued to make whistles that are a delight to play, and has the love for the craft that drives him to innovate and make his innovations work. I’ve never regretted buying a Burke whistle, and this whistle is my best purchase yet. If you can pony up the dough, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend it.

2

This was my first high-end whistle (after a Feadog, a Clarke original, and a Dixon), and it was a revelation, knowing that all those squawks and squeeks and out-of-tune notes and dizziness from hyperventilating weren’t entirely my fault as a raw beginner.

It’s still the easiest one to play, even now that I’ve gone through over 15 high Ds. I’ve grown to enjoy a variety of sounds from different whistes, but the Burke narrow bore is still probably my over-all favorite for the kind of music I play, and it gets the most compliments from friends who know no more about ITM than I do.

I don’'t have a problem with the length of the Delrin part of the beak, probably because I put it just barely between my lips. Part of the reason is probably the small air requirement that you mentioned. When I was getting started on it, I had a problem of not getting my lungs emptied out, so I developed a habit of occasionally blowing extra air out around the windway opening. For some reason, that no longer seems to be a problem, but maybe I’m just no longer conscious of dealing with it.

By the way, KCJiang has one for sale for a good price [u]right here on C&F[/u].

3

I expect/hope to find a new narrow bore brass D in my mailbox today. That makes it a good day.

4

I own a D Brass narrow bore and always play the C nat like oxx ooo Maybe a bit soft, but certainly not off.

But now someone mentioned that it should be played oxx xox , but this seems a bit sharp to me. How do you all play the C nat?

5

After quite a bit of experimentation, and somewhat influenced by a comment that Wanderer made in his Copeland review, I find that the C nat is much more subject to extreme fluctuations due to changes in breath pressure than any of the other notes.

Most of the time, in the context of a tune, I find that OXXXOX works best. It’s absolutely necessary when coming from OXXXXX. However, if I’m careful not to overblow, I can get a good C with OXXOOO when coming from B. Still, if I’m playing normally, OXXOOO will almost always go sharp.

So, I generally use OXXXOX. I mostly halfhole only when coming from B and a bit of a slide wouldn’t be out of place, because I’m still not very good at simply hitting an accurate halfholed C. I imagine that’s just because I don’t practice it much.

If I ever had to reduce my high D whistles to just 3 or 4, I think I’d be strongly tempted to pick a group that has the same C nat fingering. I hate getting a tune nice and smooth on one whistle, and then going to one that requires a change. I’m getting too old to be that flexible. :imp:

6

Yeah, I know what you mean, Mike. I feel the same. And since I broke my right hand a couple of years ago, oxx xox is a bit tricky for me.
I think I read in another thread that the Burke session has a good oxx ooo
C nat. If I had known that before I would probably have chosen the Session.