I have a Burke whistle with extra left thumb hole. This is uncovered to get Cnat while playing B. Second octave Cnat is on the money too with the same fingering. It works very well especialy when playing B Cnat B for example. I would like to hear from others who have experience of this 7-holer. How long does it take to get used to the new fingering? Would it be best not to convert old tunes but learn new tunes to play only on this whistle?
Now if I had a little finger right hand hole too I could go down to 0-octave Cnat as on the Silkstone 7-holer.
Hi, Brian. I play a number of Burkes, but they are standard configuration. I can remember a long time ago when a board member posted a query such as yours…Some local C&F wag noted that with the addition of the extra holes and a few keys, one could morph the whistle into a passable soprano sax…
Okay, I will confess to the thumb-hole. But what other offenses, for heaven’s sake???
Oh, yeah, hehe. The sheet music. And, uh, right…yeah, okay, the harmony thing too.
At least I’m learning.
Brian, there are some very fine whistlers who use that thumb hole who are as expressive as anyone I know on the whistle. It took me a couple of weeks to get used to it. I highly recommend not relying on it exclusively though–keep at the half-holing and x-fingering and experiment.
Carol
PS The hole goes on the back exactly between the B and A holes.
Carol: I have enjoyed your sheet music, immensely. It is well-wrought, and your arranged harmonies are intelligent and musical. If all this goes against strict traditional mores, sobeit. It is excellent material…(Sorry, Bloomie… I know that is heresy…)
Cheers to all.
Byll
The thumb hole is on the back half way between the top two holes. It occurs to me that we could have an F hole for the other thumb too! A nine hole whistle now. This leaves out left pinky without a role. Hmmm.
I liked the Cnat thumb on my Abell D so much that I ordered it on other Abells, and I’ve added it myself to several of my other whistles, including Water Weasel, Generation, and Sindt.
Colin Goldie will add extra holes to his whistles, and sells a 10 hole model. I’ve made 10-hole alterations to a Generation and Water Weasels C and D.
10 holes take a bit of getting used to, and I don’t recommend them for highly ornamented fast reels, but they’re great for playing in church where mid-tune key changes are needed.
I too have a Burke Cn thumb hole. I make myself learn both. That way I’ll have a real, tonally different musical choice to make every time it comes up. Another tool in the kit. It’s muscle memory, so it takes longer to develop than intellectual memory. Just slowly practice each tune both ways.
I just had Chris Abell make me one with a low Cn RH pinky hole, an Fn RH thumb hole, and a Bb LH thumb hole. Keys of D/G, C/F on one whistle!
It’ll take time, but I’m sure it will be worth the experimentation; even the new vocabulary my old physical memory habits will evoke! Can’t wait!
Tommy Kochel
Current favorite practice tune: “I Buried My Wife and Danced on Top of Her”
Colin Goldie will add extra holes to his whistles, and sells a 10 hole model. I’ve made 10-hole alterations to a Generation and Water Weasels C and D.
10 holes take a bit of getting used to, and I don’t recommend them for highly ornamented fast reels, but they’re great for playing in church where mid-tune key changes are needed.
I can count to nine. Where does the tenth hole go?
I have one of the whistles that Carol had altered in this way (a Generation). It does work, but, in my case, I always had a tendency to remove my thumb on certain notes (due, no doubt, to fingerings from other wind instruments), which will, of course, throw everything off, when using the whistle with a Cnat hole. Other than that odd habit of mine, the Cnat hole is convenient, and eliminates the confusion about which Cnat fingering to use on which whistle.
I can’t believe she did THAT! 
