CP: Gold!

Whistle
1

AAARGH!

Even though it’s not speak like a pirate day! I just hafta!

It hadda happen .. I said CP, but I’m not so sure. This was hard on every level I can think of ..

Damnit - a whistle should not cost more than a hamberger!! .. and yet we aspire.

The wood I get costs several hambergers and a couple of coffees, then the metals .. and all the tools and stuff I gotta do to the metals to get them fit for a whistle. (pray low low low to meet god). The time - that is our life .. each precious moment ..

SO! At last - I got a loophole to put something special in those damnably hard casts.

Gold ..
Brass looks as good for 2 days .. but there is nothing like this .. I hated this from my youth .. and yet .. To try it is a hard truth. I learn .. I share.

Be afraid .. be very afraid.
The cost of the metal is more than the cost of the time I spent making it.
In this way is the test of humility.
Be tested - I hope you pass.

If you want this .. well I will take the cost of gold up front and get the cast done .. then it will sit for 6 months+ and when it finally gets to you, it will be worth more simply because of the cursed gold.

The pics show solid gold fittings in 9kt - I recommend this for the wear into the centuries. It doubled the price and has gone 20%+ above since the gold was poured - around $800(AUD).

In today’s market that’s $950(AUD).

In 18kt it’s $1600(AUD).
In 24kt it’s $5000.

If the head and barrel are in 24kt - that’s $35000. My labor remains $200. WHat the gold does is the realm of gold - never actually been there.

Red white and yellow - all at our demand .. for the price.

What is value?

For me it’s when my goat drums his trotters and music goes into my hands.

Thanks for indulging my meme .,. the old doctors noted “TIH” in their ledgers - I’ll leave that to you to research if you care.
At this time it’s all pro-bono for me - if you want this stuff, it’s you not me.
I respect that - I make whistles for players.

I don’t do goldplate - if you need a mask .. make your own. If you are for real .. then OK. Let’s talk.

2

Exquisite work in any material Mitch, yet, alas, a tad out of my reach, and I’m so satisfied with the delrin/sterling silver one you made. Beautiful.

Philo

3

Wait, an idea. That is indeed a piece to be donated to the International Whistle Museum (IWM), for all ages. I will forward the address of the museum, if you’d like; and it is merely coincidence that the Museum and I share the same physical address…

Philo

4

Hmmm, you had any teeth pulled lately Mitch?? :laughing:

VERY NICE… do the satin and silk cushions come with it? Those whistles could almost be censured :smiley:

5

Mitch,

Wow. It’s not just your goat who’s drumming his trotters.

Perhaps you’d craft one of these in Low D, and we could work out some kinda

MORTGAGE ARRANGEMENT??? :sunglasses:

6

Yeah, a low D in solid 24 carat. That’s eight times the metal so a cool 280000 AUD. At less than two to the GBP I could get enough change selling my house to buy a pint. Maybe.

What a wild daydream. Planning on a whistle tour Mitch? Put me first as I thought of it first. :smiley:

Thanks

7

Wow. What fool would pay that kind of money for a whistle? Oh yeah…me :stuck_out_tongue:

In my defense, I didn’t start with that idea. I figured plating would be good (to match my flute) but I agreed when Mitch brought it up that the metal would be subject to wear. I’m glad now that I did. It’s stunning. My precious…


Here is it’s big brother. The end plug is also solid gold as the jeweler didn’t offer plating. If I lose my job, I’ll have to melt down my instruments:

8

“Tension Induced by Hypoxia”. Sounds whistle-y enough.

9

I know someone who had (still has its replacement) a solid gold Boehm system flute. One day when he went to unpack it from its case, he found that it had exploded. Twisted out in a weird, frayed spiral. The entire thing. Something that happens with large, worked pieces of solid gold apparently. Even though it was a couple of decades old, Yamaha replaced it without question. Now there’s customer service for you.

10

It’s beautiful, Mitch. All of it. The metal, the wood, the workmanship. I imagine the sound as well.

I have played my trombones with gold plated mouthpieces (each weighing several ounces… you do the math) and there was a quality about having the gold on my face. Others reported the same sensation I had that, impossibly, the mouthpiece felt “softer”. It made my sound fuller and darker too. Like a 50 gallon drum of molten chocolate.

So…When are you going to start working in platinum? :thumbsup:

11

I forgot to say the most important thing, Mitch. That is beautiful craftsmanship - and I would dearly love to be able to justify owning one. But I dont yet deserve another whistle.

12

Showoff! :wink:

Seriously, that’s great work Mitch. Keep it up.

13

DRooooooooooooooool

I love the black keys, too.

14

Yes they are different from the norm. Maurice uses them on light woods also. I considered gold plated keys but that design quickly deviated from cool to tacky :slight_smile: Black on black works better.

Check out his gallery. He does exceptional keywork.
http://www.reviol.co.nz/HTML/Thumbnails.html

15

That whistle looks gorgeous!!
I’d feel sorry for blowing through that gold fipple, though :stuck_out_tongue:


Congrats for that workmanship!

16

i hope for your own sake you never play Ullian pipes.

17

It arrived today. It is beautiful. I oiled it as instructed and played it a bit. I can tell from the videos at mitch’s site that the sound is even and sweet but in real life, it’s better. It hasn’t been broken in yet but I can tell it has “personality”. Don’t know how else to describe it. Clear, sweet, with a touch of chiff.

It’s calling me right now to play it again but I must wait and let the oil do it’s job :frowning:

18

Errr…isn’t that some pimps telescopic walking stick?
How come you were able to beat ‘Fiddy’ and Yer man that says ‘Fo shizzle, it’s drizzle’ to the punch on the sale celticmodes? :laughing:

19

I think that black (or deep brown) and gold look really good together but now that you mention it, there is a certain “bling” factor to my instruments I hadn’t noticed before.

Next I will be ordering a black Cadillac with gold rims and some b**ches to carry my instruments for me :wink:

P.S. Something else I noticed about the whistle last night that I find fascinating. I’ve had the clark and faedog types and the burke (love it) and the o’brien (love it). There is a great difference in the type of sounds they offer to my ear. I’m not a fan of the overly chiffy whistle, hence my love of the high end models but those models can be too clear and sound like recorders at times.

I love doing fast tunes with the o’brien and slow tunes with the burke but the vambrace seems to be the “all in one”. It takes the best of the o’brien and burke and adds some faedog chiff and some clark “hollowness”. Just incredible sound quality. But what I find the most unusual about it is that it starts in tune and then offers a very wide envelope of dynamics without affecting pitch.

It’s hard to explain. I find when I get a new whistle that I learn where it’s trouble spots are and unconsciously start adjusting pressure on individual notes to compensate. If I have to play a gig, I don’t always choose the best whistle but the one I’m most comfortable with because I’ve learned to make it do what I want. This whistle does what I want with minimal pressure adjustments right now on day 2. Mitch might just be a friggin’ genius.

Disclaimer: I am an intermediate player and my opinions do not reflect the experience of a master whistler…but I’m right :stuck_out_tongue: