COMMERCIAL: New Reyburn high whistles

I have recently completed a re-design of my high D and C whistles. The new design has changed the way the air moves thru the fipple and offers a whole, round, full-bodied tone of character and richness. I have also changed the hole patterns to accommodate this new fipple design and repositioned the purturbations. The result is an instrument that plays with a more focused sound, due to less breathiness which obscures some of the subtle tones, and plays sweeter in the upper end. Due to the tighter voicing of the new design, there is also an improved balance between the octaves and one can simply flow up the scale as sweetly as a mother’s love.

I continue to use Delrin for the Head, which has that wonderful woody sound, as you all know, and I still like the warm tone of brass for the body.

I am happy to let you know that our beloved L.E. McCullough has put his STAMP OF APPROVAL on the new high D (he has not yet played the C). You can read his endorsement on my site at www.reyburnwhistles.com. Kevin Carr, the amazing fiddler, piper, whistler, concertina player
extraordinaire, has also added his comments to the ENDORSEMENTS page. Kevin is also the person playing the new sound samples on the SOUND CLIPS page so I invite you to read what he has to say about the new whistles and have a listen to the clips.

My wait list is fairly short at this time so come and get em.

Ronaldo

:laughing: Too bad it’s too late for Mother’s Day! :laughing:

Yeah, but nothing tickles the fancy of a mother like a loving father and FATHER"S DAY is just around the corner!!!

Daddy wants nice whistle!

Nice whistles Ronaldo. I seen one of your previous wood headjoints while making something for Zoob. That maple has a great finish.

Ronaldo,

Can you tell us more about those “alternate scale” whistles you make? More specifically, which notes does each scale play?

Cheers,
Jens

Jens at this time I am offering the following alternative scales:

Low D in natural minor-- D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C, D
This instrument uses a Maple head with a brass body.

Low E in harmonic minor-- E, F#, G, A, B, C, D#, E
This instrument uses a Maple head with a cpvc body.

Alto G in harmonic minor-- G, A, Bb, C, D, Eb, Gb, G
The tonic on this instrument is with three holes closed so you have three notes below the tonic available. This instrument uses a Maple head and cpvc body.

Alto A in Hungarian minor-- A, B, C, D#, E, F, G#, A
The tonic on this instrument is with three holes closed so there are three notes below the tonic available. This instrument uses a Maple head with a cpvc body. This is the one to use when your lady wants to belly dance.

Alto B in an Oriental minor called “Insempe”-- B, C#, D, F#, G, B
This scale is very free floating and it sounds to me like the tonic is B but I’m not sure. This instrument uses a Maple head and a cpvc body and has only four holes and the lowest note is F#.

Soprano C in natural minor-- C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C
This instrument uses a Delrin head and brass body.

Of course these are not for Celtic music but are very useful for other types of music.

Ronaldo

Here’s a link to information on a lot of various musical mode http://www.xs4all.nl/~huygensf/doc/modename.html

For example, Ronaldo mentioned Hungarian Minor, which is also Gypsy Minor key. The list will indicate the name of the key in various countries and shows a spacing sequence.

Hungarian Minor: 2 1 3 1 1 3 1

So, if a whistle had Hungarian minor with D as the bell note, The notes would follow as D, E, F, G#, A, Bb, C#, D

Sometimes a modal whistle will split the scale to make certain songs easy to play. For Example: Bb, C#, D, E, F, G#, A, Bb

I’ve made Ahava Rabba mode whistles which have a sequence of
1 3 1 2 1 2 2, some songs in Jewish music strictly follow this modal sequence. For example you could play Hava Nagila or Rezele with no cross fingering if the whistle follows this modal sequence.

Another Example would be Miserlou, a popular mediteranean song is Maqam Hijaz which is used in Arabic music is: 1 3 1 2 1 2 1 1 – This is also a fun scale to jam with.

So if the bell note is C and first sequence says ‘1’, the note is a ‘C#’, the next one shows a ‘3’ and that make the next note three half-tones higher or an ‘E’ and so forth giving: C, C#, E, F, G, G#, Bb, B, C
Note, that not all modal scales have the same number of notes as the conventional ‘Do-Re-mi…’ scale.

BTW - While at that website, check out the blues scales and the “Bebop” scale.

Ronaldo,
Congratulations on your new whistle designs, they sound wonderful and I’m savin up to get on your list. Its a real feather in your cap to have L.E. McCullough endorseing them, BRAVO!!!
Keep up the good work.

constance