Anybody out there have a Burke high D composite (preferably session bore) to sell? I’d be interested in knowing when it was made and what you thought of it. I was afraid they might break easily. . Isn’t bakelite more brittle than PVC?
I’ve dropped mine a couple of times..it hasn’t broken. Stepped on it once, too..and I’m not exactly a light guy.
It’s not pure bakelite, but rather wood fiber and bakelite resin composite material. They’re quite sturdy.
I’d sell you mine if I didn’t love it so much 
It really is the perfect whistle for me. I’ve had mine about 5 months now, and haven’t yet thought “you know, this whistle would be better if…”
I have a few Burke composite whistles (none for sale). As Wanderer said, they are fairly sturdy but they are not invincible. What whistle is? They are light as a feather. You don’t want to close a car door on one. And you don’t want to have someone step on the finger tube. I guess it depends on who is doing the stepping and where the stepping is done. That, of course, would be too much violence for many whistles to withstand. They are not completly impervious to some liquids either. I wouldn’t advise using one as a straw in your favorite beverage. And you don’t want to know how I may have observed these things.
But if they are not abused, a composite Burke whistle can last a long time. My first composite Burke was made in late 2000 and it is still as good as new, well except that they have been re-designed and improved a bit since then.
Composite Burkes have an interesting tone that makes them a worthwile voice to have in the whistle bag.
Feadoggie
Have you checked out Doc Jones’s Irish Whistle Store?
I think he has some composite whistles in stock
pastorkeith
I had one (low G) that was broken in shipment. It had tire tracks on the tube, so it had been run over by a truck.
I recently replaced my preferred performance whistle with a composite session Hi D. I love Burkes in general but have always had a soft spot for the composites. Several of my other Burkes are composites as well.
Doc
A person I know has a composite and it sounds great, but she left it in the trunk of her car in July for a few days and it softened. The joint is distorted, but it still plays fine. Anyway, watch the heat!
I played a Burke Composite B whistle not too long ago, (thought it may have been a Bb) and anyways, I thought it had good volume, featherweight, over all not a half-bad whistle. I wish I could have played it a bit more though. I’m still a sucker for the brass and nickel plated cheapies however…
I have one. I’m hard on whistles. Mine has a tiny nick at the end. No harm. It probably isn’t as sturdy as PVC, but it’s sturdier than any metal cheapie with plastic fipple. I’d give it a high rating on sturdiness, and a very high rating overall for tone, in-tune-ness, volume, playability, etc.
I too love my composite Burkes (an Ab and a low E). Here’s the two ways I’ve found that they can be more delicate than metal whistles…
1-with temperature changes they can swell up so that they are hard to twist, so I’m careful to keep twisting them regularly so this swelling doesn’t get too strong.
2-and, when you twist the head, be very careful to never twist by grasping near the fipple end–because I did break one that way. Instead, now I always apply the twisting pressure by grasping right near the bottom of the headjoint, not near the top.