… so if you had to choose, would you take an Overton/Goldie or a Burke?
Both makers seem to make excellent instruments.
MK?
http://mkwhistles.com/mkshop/
Have you read through the Pipers Grip site reviews?
http://pipersgrip.50webs.com/Instrument%20Reviews.html
I’d definitely go for the Goldie. But thats just me..
Have them both, like them both. Different instruments entirely. Although Colin will work with you to customize the instrument quite a lot it still won’t play the same as the Burke. Neither will Burke make his instrument play the same as the Goldie.
What are YOU looking for? These will just be personal opinions based on each persons style and need. You may have a very different opinion. And you are leaving out some really good instruments. Why do you only ask about these two?
ecohawk
I would go for the Goldie but that’s because I prefer the slightly airy “cosmic drainpipe” sound rather than the pure tone of the Burke. But there are other reasons too. The Burke will require a lot more breath. Pancelticpiper reckons of all the Low Ds he’s played the Burke requires the most air . . . the MK Pro the least. But a friend of mine who had both Goldie (one like mine) and an MK Pro felt there wasn’t much difference between them in air requirements and back pressure. With a Goldie, direct from Colin, you have the choice of easy blower, medium back pressure and high back pressure, in decreasing amounts of air needed. But as back pressure increases, you might save on breath but you need far more pressure to get a note . . . and the windway gets narrower, making the possibility of clogging increase.
I have an easy blowing Goldie which does have back pressure but Colin has made the whistle more air efficient in the last five years so that it doesn’t require as much breath as it used to. I started on an Kerry Optima which is supposed to have minimal air requirements but I found my Goldie doesn’t require any more. The other choice is tuneable or non-tuneable. Obviously the former is more expensive but I was with a well-known professional whistle player the other day who uses Goldie and he said that, while he plays tuneables because he has to, he loves the sound of the non-tuneable which is what I have. I love it.
Hope this helps. Good luck on your decision.
Oh, obviously if you are in the US, then the Burke has the advantage of being made there. I live in the UK so the choice favoured Goldie anyway.
P.S. Have you ruled out the MK Pro. Another great whistle I believe with its own particular sound.
It is all in what sound you prefer. As Mikethebook says, the Burke has a very pure tone, while the Goldie is more complex. I have owned Burke, Overton, Copeland, Reviol, Kerry, MK, Howard, Reyburn and a couple of less expensive whistles. I have played a particularly good Swayne and a couple of lesser quality whistles by him. At this point my preference is the Reyburn. I would love to have the best of the Swayne whistles. They were the most variable in sound from whistle to whistle of any I have tried, other than the original Overtons. 35 years ago, Overtons were a real crap-shoot, from great to unplayable. I had a good player, but had tape on three holes to bring it into tune. There can be some difference in the sound of one to another from any one maker. Burke and Copeland seem to be the most consistant. Goldies are made variable per the customers request. Go for the tone you prefer. Your taste may change and you may find another better suited later on.
I’ve owned MKs, Burkes, and a number of Overtons, and I recently had a Goldie on loan.
They’re all top-notch professional Low Ds.
But they have quite different playing characteristics… quite surprising just how different they are. Each has certain things it does better than the others. No Low D is perfect.
Each whistle has its proponents and its detractors.
Were I stuck on a desert island with just one whistle, I would be OK with any of the three.
Each whistle has been reviewed on this forum many, many times. I won’t repeat the reviews I’ve written in the past but you can find them, I would think, fairly easily.
Bottom line is, there’s no substitute for you to get them in your own hands and play them at length. After a few weeks of playing them all you’ll have a clear idea of which you prefer.
(I ended up staying with the MK. As Ted says, so much is about the timbre/tone. I just love the timbre of the MK and many of its playing characteristics also. )