Ok, here’s the thing…I generally play by myself, and have for years. I have just recently started to play at our regular drum circle, accompanied by an occasional guitar, drums etc…
Or, we are sitting quietly around the fire in those silent moments, and someone says “Did you bring a whistle??”…
I’m looking for a whistle that can carry it’s own in a jam type setting…but also play beautifully alone, without blasting everyone’s ears out hitting the higher registers…does this monster exist?? Thanks!
Lorri,this monster does exist but with as many incarnations as there are whistlers.If you are not happy with your Susato D why not try a C instead for a softer sweeter tonality.The Waltons brass C is particularly good after the varnish is removed.On the high end side my favourite is Overton.How did your whistlemaking attempt turn out?Cheers, Mike
To me…my Blackwood Thin Weasel D serves both … very well. This morning in church…I just added my Tully Sessions C to that category. I even received a compliment from our director. Gm
There are too many fine whistles on the market for me to recommend and each type/brand has characteristics as varied as the players here at C&F.
I will say that you could “have your cake and eat it too” if you had one loud/large voicing headjoint and one soft/small voicing headjoint for a single whistle body. This would probably have to be custom made by a Pro.
The alternative would be 2 whistles. One short bore cylindrical with a large voicing and toneholes (for loud sessions) and one long bore conical with small voicing and toneholes (for quiet background sessions).
Having one whistle that can play loud and quiet is asking too much from one design, in my opinion.
I guess I’m not saying I want a “quiet” whistle, per se. Clear, but not breathy…and does not require huge amounts of air to hit those high notes cleanly…
I guess I tend to lean towards the nickel family for it’s brightness…but I think sometimes that can also mean SHRILL. Just want a nice mellow whistle that won’t hurt everyone in the still of the night
Michael Burke’s whisltes would seem to fit your needs, but they may take a bit more air than you’d like (not on the high notes, but just in general).
I haven’t played one yet, but the descriptions of the Silkstone Alloy D also sound good.
You’ll probably find that Water Weasels/Thin Weasels and Copelands take too much air (pressure) on the high notes.
I’ve got a Dixon high D that’s really sweet sounding and the high notes play very easily, but it may be a bit too quite. Takes very little air…overall a very nice sounding and playing whistle for the money.
Lorri,Thomas Hastay’s excellent idea of a dual head,single bore concept has inspired me to expand on his concept…recently I’ve been exploring the potential of a Sweetone fipple on other whistles so,what if..this fipple was fitted to a SECOND Susato head.I know from my tinkering that the SW fipple is naturaly quiet and is almost the right size to fit your Susato and could even be epoxyed onto the head once you’ve established the right location.Susato heads are available seperately and sweetones are cheap enough anyway…would this be worth a shot?The only problem of incompatability could be that the larger bore of the sweetone fipple might lead to voicing problems and perhaps Thomas could respond to this. Mike
[ This Message was edited by: mike.r on 2001-10-01 16:06 ]
[ This Message was edited by: mike.r on 2001-10-01 16:20 ]
As much as I am embarrased to admit it, my tweeked Generation D can sit in the back and shout down four (count 'em) FOUR amplified acoustic guitars. (I’ll bend over and take the kick for the bad oxymoron, after all, this is South Dakota.) I know, because I won’t go near a mike or a stage, so I sit in the back of the room and “touch up” the songs that other people are doing. You should hear it on “Mulenberg County!” Whee!
1)Clear tone but less wind needed to play.
Clear tones are the metal whistle’s forte’.A Renaissance Recorder Voicing is best for this combination. It consists of a narrow but wide windway that leads to a wide but short “window”.
This voicing creates backpressure to ease wind fatigue and plays sweet and quiet but is prone to windway clog syndrome.The Renaissance Recorder used this voicing to offset a wind eating cylindrical bore.
A conical(decreasing) internal bore helps with reducing the amount of wind a player needs and if you couple this with a deep and quickly rising labium ramp,you get clear tone along with reduced wind requirements.This combination is most common in wooden recorders but would work well in a metal whistle.
Metal is harder to work with than wood,increasing labor cost and the resulting whistle would be very heavy. A combination heavy head with a thin bore would be a good balance with the benifit of shallow toneholes that are prone to pitch variations between octaves in deep tonehole designs.Metal lining in headjoints is another option but these are prone to splitting due to differences in material expandtion.
To sum up: Each variation in design has an opposing element and each change affects all the other features. The “perfect” whistle is a myth and compromises are the rule for players and designers.
To PaulsDad: Ever try a “sweet Potato” ocarina? Mellow quiet tone for background to vocals and guitar and they fit in your pocket like an harmonica.
Thomas Hastay.
[ This Message was edited by: Thomas-Hastay on 2001-10-02 14:27 ]
One of the things you appear to want from this whistle is to be able to play it outside, like around a campfire.
I’d like to second the Dixon, especially the tunable. It is relatively inexpensive (around $25)and fairly impervious to the the weather. The tunable version will allow you to turn the whistle head so that the window faces your chest, which shields it from breezes that can cause havoc playing outside. The design of the windway on the Dixon deters moisture accumulation and the related clogging. Its thicker walls also make it fairly durable against breakage. The PVC composition remains relatively inert to the temperature changes around the campfire. It is a bit breathy and not as clear as a Burke or Weasel. The volume is also more consistent across the first and second octaves compaired to the Susato (doesn’t squeal in the second octave like my Susato used to).
I have a Burk composite and have seriously coveted a friends Thin Weasel both have some of the sound characteristics you where looking for. The clarity of the Weasel’s tone as much as its volumes allows it to cut cleanly into a session. I just couldn’t bring myself to taking a 200-300 dollar wood whistle around a fire, exposing it to the elements.
So lori, the solution? Go ahead and get a Dixon for around the campfire, a Burke (narrow bore) for those quiet moments, a Thin Weasel to cut into your next sessions, and a … OOOps this was supposed to make Choosing easier, huh.
Well regardless which you choose what carries around the campfire or the session, more than your selection of whistle is your desire to …
Mike