That’s an excellent point.
I read and understand Renaldo’s note about the clip coming from a cd, but generally speaking, if a person makes a clip specifically for a site selling whistles, it really shouldn’t be doctored in any way. That would bother me more than the abilities of the player.
Hi
What I was trying to say in the other post was that the way a lot of guitars are made,in my case classical guitars, all of the work in terms of volume, tone, projection etc is done before the instrument is played for the first time you feel how stiff or flexable a sound board is and over time you get to know how to use that particular piece of wood to get the sound you want.
Once the guitar is french polished there’s not a great deal that can be done.
When your customer comes along to buy, even if its a commisioned instrument I will give them a choice of maybe2 or 3 others to try and chose from.
If I go and buy a whistle from a shop I’l try a few, if I’m buying on line I take my chances listening to the sound clips gives me an idea but thats all, if I like it great, if I don’t I’ll sell it on.
now if I’m spending $3000 -$6000 on a guitar then I’m sure as hell going to try it first, but $18 or $250 for a whistle I’ll take a chance.
I hope you see my point.
Cheers
I think sound clips are to the ears what photos are to the eyes. It gives you something, but not everything. Plus there are three more senses that are still left out. Some people object to the taste of a mouthpiece or the feel or balance of the whistle. It is lots of things that contribute to the satifaction of playing a particular whistle, and these differ by the person and their needs and expectations.
A good many of the makers, if not all, will allow you to order a whistle on-line and then return it within 30 days if you are not pleased with it. And when you get the whistle, send a clip to the maker. They will enjoy hearing it and possibly put it on their web site. Getting clips is a lot harder than posting them. (Hint.)
That’s kind of what I was thinking. The cost of a whistle is rather insignificant (it may not be to some people) but I can’t get all in a tiff about lack of professional quality sound clips. I am sure that most whistlemakers have a waiting list of people that want their whistles, although sound clips are great and all, it may not be their top priority.
I wish makers (and their buyers) would use sites like youtube more.
To me, a videoclip of someone playing the whistle will help me a lot more than photos or soundclips.
I’ll be able to tell what the whistle looks like, listen to the whistle being played etc etc.
I think between youtube, http://www.tinwhistletunes.com/clipssnip/index.htm and other sources, I imagine you could find at least half a dozen sound clips for any brand of whistle.
I am all for good sound samples, and if I think of my favorite whistle makers, they play well. I do think that an instrument maker (and I don’t think bodhrans are instruments, at least not musical instruments) should be able to play the instrument he or she makes.
Doesn’t bother me. Makers seem spread out all over the world, and don’t necessarily all have a good player right around the block. Most probably know more than a handful of players, so why would they NOT have a good player put a few clips on their website? If it costs a free whistle or two, money well spent. I have heard more than one or two clips on this site which would be very sufficient to show off a whistle at its best. You have to market your products, no matter who you are. If you are not good enough to get a good whistler to play your wares, then you may not be quite up to speed. Just my take on the thing.
The cost of a whistle is rather insignificant (it may not be to some people) but I can’t get all in a tiff about lack of professional quality sound clips.
I have no intention on wasting any money to fill up the unused whistle jar. I don’t particularly like the idea of randomly buying and sending instruments back to the maker if I don’t happen to like them. It doesn’t seem particularly fair on the maker (aside from the hassle of sending stuff up and down). I try to buy only things I know to be useful to me.
I don’t always read all the notes in a thread closely, so maybe this has been suggested, but in other threads I’ve come across references to Tony Hinnigan’s website where he reviews a wide variety of whistles: http://www.tonyhinnigan.com/moviedl.php?group=29
I think he does a great job of giving an impartial review and other helpful information such as how it feels to play, etc. Maybe that’s an avenue more whistle makers could explore?
And given that whistles can also be variable there needs to be a clip made of the specific whistle being sold to the customer. A copy of that music should be sent to the customer with the whistle with affidavits sworn by both the whistle player and the maker testifying that the whistle in the package is the same as the whistle being played and that was heard by the customer before the transaction was initiated.
There should also be provision that if the customer cannot play the whistle as good as the clip (say, within the year) the customer has the option
a) to demand the whistle be exchanged for the whistle player who did the demo, OR
b) to return the whistle so that the maker can organise a music sample with it by a lesser whistle player, and, in which case, the maker is to refund 10% of the purchase price to the customer on account of having created an unrealistic expectation in the customer
TBC
oh c’mon, give me a break! if Bloomfield “thinks” that bodhran is not a musical instrument I am entitled to my “thoughts” also, aren’t I?
All the pictures and sound clips in the world won’t adequately prepare you for what you will get. Something will always be a surprise (positive or negative). This is especially true for musical instruments purchased sight unseen. I don’t think I’ve ever purchased something, received it and then thought to myself, “Wow! This is exactly what I thought it was going to be!” I hope to be pleasantly surprised. Besides, I am sure any reputable maker will offer the customer a full refund on the (non-custom) item should the customer not be happy with it within a reasonable time frame. Purchasing anything is not without risk. If you never take a chance and always play it safe, then you will never be pleasantly surprised. There’s something to be said about a musical instrument that exceeds your expectations rather than just living up to them.
That’s all understood. But what good is it being turned off from a whistle by a mediocre sample? Even if you know that you can only hope that a car will be as good as you think it may be, would you buy it if the commercials showed the car being driven into a tree by a beginning driver?
It depends Bloomfield, is the beginner meaning to drive into the tree (because the car is sh!te) or is it bad control of the car due to it not handling as he expected it? 
OOOpps, my last post missed the point.
I usually don’t buy any whistle that I have only seen from afar and I don’t rely that much on available sound samples.
The person playing the whistle sound sample is never going to play like me, so how can I judge what way my style of playing will sit on that particular whistle?
How do I know if I am going to like the feel/response/air requirement and look of the instrument until it is sitting there in my sweaty palms?
That is how I would judge if I was willing to part with my hard earned dosh.
I would prefer whistle makers to have a selection of sound samples from a range of master (I’ll leave you to fight over what constitutes a ‘master’), experienced, mid-level and beginner players, that should keep most people happy.
I think repeating the same same thing I responded to in the first place will not get us much further, I know what you were saying. I realise all the caveats that come with ordering an instrument un-tried ( I hope I dealt with that in my first post to the thread). I am not interested in randomly buying and hoping for the best either. I do want to be informed as best as possible before purchase. If a maker cannot play his product adequately or has access to people who can, you can be sure I won’t even think of ordering the instrument without trying. While a maker who can provide a decent sample, he may just sway me into taking the risk. And only at that point do your return options and (un)pleasant surprises come into play.
I think that this thread demonstrates why more makers do not have such clips on websites. Peter, your request makes sense, but there are others whose criteria for a good clip vary greatly from your own. I do not think anyone will argue with the assertion that a good clip is a useful thing. However, with the myriad opinions concerning what constitutes a “good player” or a “useful clip” when making a decision to purchase a whistle, to whose standard does the maker conform? The standard of clip and player also vary by listener, as you pointed out, further complicating the issue. The principal reason more makers do not offer such clips might involve the overly complicated nature of the task–not to mention the somewhat capricious nature of musicians in general.
The solution, as alluded to in a previous post, might be for the senior, more skilled players…cough, cough, Peter…to offer such clips to the makers, YouTube, etc, for those whistles that they possess. That way, noobs like myself could experience instrument and player at the same time.
I understand what you are saying but I think if someone puts an Irish tune in a clip there are a few minimum standards that apply to all good playing, as I said before the lower intermediate level seems to be all too prevalent.
I don’t buy it’s too much work or too complicated : if you can find the time to set up a website, a few clips are just a small part of the whole effort. Making a clip is not difficult, you sit down and play, ten minutes later you have your clip. It’s not more complicated than getting a few decent pictures of the whistle on your site (well, you find the odd shortfall there as well but generally makers have greatly improved on that front).
Just out of interest, I did a bit of a run through a few whistle makers sites (they shall remain un-named) to see what was on offer.
It does seem on reflection that there are sites that (to me) have a feeling of ‘Here’s my whistles, you’ve seen them now buy one’.
There are sparse pages with descriptive terms that may not mean the same thing to everyone reading them. I may have a different idea of what ‘chiff’ should sound like and how much chiff I like in a whistle.
When I first got into low whistles I bought a few solely on the makers assement of his whistle and the endorsements from others who had bought them.
I can say without fail that none of the whistles I bought had the qualities I was looking for in a low whistle. I now make my own.
I have tried many high end whistles (through meeting and comparing whistles with other players) and I still have not found any that I would ‘splash the cash’ for. There have been a few beauties, but still not quite what I want.
So if a site has several good sound clips, that may be enough to sway towards a purchase, but unless I can get my hands on and actually play the thing first, I will not buy. The only way I would is if I knew someone who had the same model and I had tried it out before hand.