Ok, I have posted several times about the Burke WBB D whistle that I purchased via Ebay, but I’ve never yet really set down my thoughts about it and I’ve yet to post a recording of it.
The whistle is a wide bore brass model made in 2/2000.
It has a bit more resistance than my other Burkes, and you can drive it harder. It’s still got that characteristic Burke purity of sound, although this one also has some bite to the sound and just a bit of chiff popping in here and there. The sound isn’t quite as sweet as the other Burkes, and has more “character.” The tone is addictive…it’s hard to put this whistle down.
The volume level in both octaves is just about identical with my Burke AlPro session D; if anything, perhaps just a touch softer rather than louder.
There are a couple of potential “bummers” about this whistle. First and foremost, until I discovered the secret of using waxed dental floss to clean and wax the windway, this whistle was a monster of a clogger. I couldn’t play more than ten seconds without the windway clogging up! Fortunately, since using the waxed dental floss, I’ve had no more difficulty with clogging at all on this whistle.
The other potential downside is that this whistle isn’t quite as easy to play or to control as my other Burkes…but that is the flip side of a whistle with more bite and that can take more push. It’s not particularly hard to play, mind you, but it’s not as effortless as, say, my Burke narrow bore brass.
I have played this whistle in session and it is a great session whistle. You can blend in when you want, and you can also pop out above the session when you want.
Here’s what it sounds like on the Roving Pitchfork:
http://flutesite.com/samples/burkewbb.mp3
As always, the problems with the tune as the fault of the player and not the fault of the whistle.
Comments of any nature are welcomed and appreciated.
–James