Rob Gándara, the maker of these whistles, consulted with Michael Copeland when he was designing his instruments, and he has captured some wonderful Copeland qualities in his conical bore whistles. I find the intonation to be superb, and the response to finger articulations is extremely fast. Cranns seem easier to play on these whistles. They’re also are very lightweight and pretty much indestructible. Tunable of course.
I’m interested to hear of other’s experiences with these Carbonies.
I own a high D and D (ergonomic/small hand) flute from Carbony. I had been wondering about the “quiet” high D. Thanks for the great comparison videos. I just ordered one from your website
-Diane
I’m very glad these comparison videos are proving so useful. In making them, I was very careful to make sure that the audio settings were identical with each video, making the comparisons quite reliable. I also chose to play the same tune on each whistle video, for the same reason.
Thank you so much for ordering your new whistle from my website! This helps to support my continued work developing new Irish flute and tin whistle books and materials.
Perhaps the “CP:” might be in order for this and other similar postings… No objections to the content, just questioning the labeling (or lack thereof).
Just sayin’
Steve
[On Grey’s behalf, and per his assent, this has now been done. - Mod]
I agree. Grey posts so rarely though, only once a year lately, and less frequently previously, so I’m willing to give him a pass. Maybe because he mastered volumes 2 & 3 of Wooden Flute Obsession and is such a great guy. Guess he is just not up on the forum etiquette. They are essentially the same messages he sends out to other forums, boards & via email, and he forgets to mark them properly. The moderators can just fix it and/or chide him.
I don’t doubt they’re good whistles, but I don’t see the value in carbon fiber. The primary virtue in carbon fiber is strength to weight ratio, so it makes some sense for, say, the top and back and sides of a guitar. It’s more durable and less weather-responsive while remaining thin and light.
But I’m not sure it confers much advantage in a whistle. Tubes are inherently strong; a PVC whistle is extremely hard to do any damage to and is extremely light, and for that matter a brass whistle isn’t exactly heavy. I suppose with a low whistle it might be an advantage over aluminum, but aluminum is pretty light and I’d have to work pretty hard to damage any of my aluminum low whistles.
I want to apologize if anyone feels that my recent post has gone against the grain of C&F etiquette. A couple people have mentioned a “CP label.” Does CP stand for commercial post? I have been looking for some method of labeling posts in this way, and so far have not found it. I have also read item 7 of the CCCP (https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/c-f-consolidated-concordat-on-policy-cccp/78337/1) and see no mention of the CP label, or instructions on how to label a post that is, in part, commercial. I would be grateful for elucidation on these matters. Thank you.
Regarding the use of carbon fiber as a whistle body material, I will report that I have had three occasions when my brass whistles have become dented in and needed repair. Metal whistles are certainly vulnerable to this, and of course wooden whistles are vulnerable to damage as well.
By God, you’ve got us there. Apparently it never made it into the CCCP, and even the Used Instrument Exchange only references using an appropriate label (with colon) such as FS: (for sale), WTT: (Wanted to Trade), & etc. No CP:. I guess it has just been a convention that developed over time and a courtesy we’ve come to expect. Someone forgot to engrave it on the tablets before bringing them down the mountain .
As to edits, you’re allowed to do that for a limited time only, and other changes require moderator intervention. Should you wish to edit your subject title, you’d probably have to use the ! and self-report your post with a note to the moderator with your request for changes. At 31 posts, we may ourselves be in violation of CCCP #3.
Note that I have edited the subject in my REPLY post, though (cut off due to length) and added CP: for my post.
In any case, thank you for your participation, thank you for the materials you produce, and thank you for the music you make available.
It’s true that the heading intro “CP:” has up to now been treated as a convention of courtesy rather than a hard-and-fast rule. Preferring to be as hands-off as possible, we in Admin tend away from installing new rules except where events absolutely indicate their need. That said, on the basis of public opinion it would appear that this thread might actually have turned into one of those cases. While it wouldn’t be a momentous change, nevertheless one is loath to add yet another rule to the list. The mods will discuss this, and we welcome further member input (via PM) to aid our decision.
In the meantime, I can change the OP’s title to include “CP:” if Grey so chooses. Let me know.
EDIT: We've decided to point out this customary courtesy in CCCP #7.
Don’t have a Carbony so far (not ready yet to shell out that kind of money) but I can say that carbon fibre ist a nice material in itself. I got a “Goldleaf” carbon whistle and the velvety smooth surface is really nice, as is the low weight. Even though it doesn’t make much difference in weight of course in a standard soprano D but it is noticeable when you play longer times and have already damaged joints like I have.
First, if this thread is a CP it’s an advert and I shouldn’t be giving any opinions about the product being advertised.
If it is not a CP and is an ordinary thread open to commentary, I’ll thrown in mine. The Mods can certainly delete this post if it’s inappropriate.
I’m no “name” player so take it for what it’s worth but at several events, including yesterday, I played a number of Carbony low whistles (at their booth) and to me, coming from years of playing cylindrical alloy Low Whistles such as Goldie, MK, Burke, etc, the Carbony low whistles aren’t something that interest me.
Like some conical wood whistles I’ve played the low range was weaker than I would like. However the upper range is very sweet.
A personal thing with me is having the upper-hand fingerholes widely spaced, and the Carbony Low C had it’s upper-hand holes much more widely spaced than my Goldie Low C. I found the Carbony Low C more difficult to finger than my Alba Bass A. (I’ve gravitated towards Low Whistles with closer spacing such as Goldie and Alba.)
For me the selling feature of the material is that the thermal coefficient of expansion is effectively zero.
So for a wind instrument that means that the pitch doesn’t change with temperature. The head is aluminum, so they’re not completely impervious to temperature, but probably about as good as it gets in that regard.
I’ve been playing these whistles in sessions, and it has indeed been my experience they don’t seem to change in pitch with temperature changes. That is a plus, for sure.
Rob has a history in the aerospace industry. He casts the things on a mandrill rather than machining them, and it’s a process he’s comfortable with. Makes perfect sense to me.
Hear hear.
and is such a great guy. Guess he is just not up on the forum etiquette. They are essentially the same messages he sends out to other forums, boards & via email, and he forgets to mark them properly. The moderators can just fix it and/or chide him.