I’ve owned a few Generation Gs in the past and found them too shrill, but I had one Generation F and found that one whole-step somehow made an enjoyable difference. My GenF is buried in some stuff I have in storage, and in any case I’d like to have a bit of a nicer F on-hand. It’s not so much a key compatibility issue, as much as it’s fun to have a high and tiny 'whistle to mess with.
Anyone have a good recommendation that comes in (ideally well under) US$150? Overall, I’m looking for something a little less “clean” sounding (so not Susatto), looking a little grittier/breathier.
My current gut is to get a iMpepe (Ian Turnbull) from South Africa; shipping is an annoying $12, but $60ish is pretty solid for what appears to be a nice aluminum whistle with a good online reputation and a neat regional option. What do you guys think? Gritty enough tone, or do I need to get a small conical-bore instead?
My hands are too big to play a whistle that small so I can only comment on makers, not whistles themselves. You’ve stated you liked your Gen, why not get a tweaked one from Jerry Freeman? His tweak generally does what you state.
I’d like also to endorse Impempe whistles. Ian sent around a couple of newly designed whistles last year for a tour/test and I was one of those who was on the tour. Of course I managed (with an assist from either the US or UK post offices, who point fingers at each other) to lose it before Benhall got it but that’s another story. That D whistle was not only one of the most beautiful I’ve held but it was a great player with a Busman-like bottom D. Since it was one of those that requires a big push to get past the second octave B, I ordered one from Ian but asked him to sacrifice some of that husky bottom D to get a little balance between octaves which I prefer. Horses for courses! Ian stayed in regular contact with me and four weeks later what shows up at my doorstep in San Francisco but a beautiful and perfectly balanced D whistle from South Africa.
While not intending to hijack your thread, I should also note that Ian sent me a Bb with the same characteristics to try and I loved it so much that I bought it immediately. It is a slightly softer Bb than some, closer to (but louder than) a Mack Hoover than my Burke, but it is the only Bb I have that will allow me to play Ashokan Farewell as it is meant to be played, softly and without having to blast those high notes that change the character of this waltz or often require rearranging the end of these passages to avoid same. It is just slightly quieter but balanced very similarly to my Sindt. For half the price.
In short, Ian will adjust his whistles to your needs. So work directly with him to get what you want .
Though I was thinking, are there any good <$150 conical soprano Fs I should consider? I tend to think of conicals as breathier/wispier (though my main experience with them is Clarke). Any tiny conicals I should look into?
The breathy Clarke sound is due to the design of the head and not the fact that it is a conical whistle. You will be hard pressed to find a conical whistle in high F. I can recall seeing a small number of antique rolled tin whistles over the years in high pitches but there are none currently in manufacture that I can think of. Dave Shaw makes a conical whistle in high E, if I recall correctly. It would not be much larger than a high F whistle. And it would have that Clarke-ish sound.
The Impempe is a very nice whistle. At least the high D is in my experience. I would not describe its tone as "gritty’ though. It’s got quite a crisp tone to it. I like it. The Impempe high F is probably a good candidate for you.
The Gen high F is a darned good whistle in my book and I have not found any need to own another high F personally. But I guess your needs vary from some of us. A high F is rarely called for so I have a couple Gen F’s to cover that key and range. You could buy a couple gens and tweak them to get the sound you want. They’re cheap, they’re available. Jerry Freeman tweaks Gen F’s too.
I play Burkes from low C up to high E. The high E Burke is a really sweet whistle - nothing gritty about it. Mike Burke does make a high F in both brass and aluminum that are a bit beyond your price range. I am sure one of those would be a really sweet whistle too. That’s what I would go for.
Hmmm, I do want to get an iMpepe of some sort, but he doesn’t have Low G (one of the keys I’m missing). I’m almost tempted to get an Eb just for kicks, or for… what’s the one Irish county where they play in Eb vice D for some reason? In any case, I’ll work up some excuse to get one of the iMpepes; I would get Bb on the off chance I ever mess with South African kewla music, but I already have a nice custom head for my Bb Gen.
Getting back to the high F though; is there any brand that makes high F that’s known for having a particularly dirty/gritty (in the favourable way) sound?
Just a little update: I ended up getting a Freeman tweaked High F off eBay, and am extremely pleased with it for the price. He seems to have polished all the interference out of that tiny fipple, so it plays extremely smoothly, passes freely between hamonics on command, and just generally feels great to play.
In my search, I did also end up spending $90ish on a cased 3-body Nick Metcalf set, High F, High G, and High A (!). My fingerings are just small enough to sort of play the High A if I’m quite careful about it. They certainly seem well made (though the head fit isn’t consistent on all bodies, so I need to teflon a bit or something), but they do have a very different feel/sound to them. Not necessarily bad, just very unusual compared to the dozens of other whistle makes I’ve played. Has anyone else had experience with these very wee Metcalfs?
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