I came across Elfsong whistles on their whistle site while searching the net for whistles. A couple of time I posted an inquiry on the Chiff and Fipple board to see if anyone has ever tried these whistles. No one ever replied. A few weeks ago I received an email from the maker of Elfsong whistles, Sandy Jasper. She told me that her husband Steve had search the C&F achieves and saw my postings. They wanted to know if I would like to try one of their whistles. Even though I have been try to keep my WHOA under control, how could I refuse.
Elfsong whistles are made by Sandy Jasper in British Columbia. Sandy comes from a musical family background and has a band called “The West Coast Whistle Company”. Besides playing the whistle, she sings and plays the keyboards. You can also get their CD on the same site as the whistles- http://www.angelfire.com/music2/WestCoastWhistleCo/. She started making whistles for herself, but after playing them in public people ask if they could buy her whistles. They are two piece cooper whistles. The mouthpieces have wooden fipple plugs which she puts a protective clear non-toxic coating on as with the polish copper. She paints the body of the whistles and offers many color and designs from which to choose. Elfsong whistles come in D and C (a D&C set-two body’s one mouthpiece is available). She has recently started making brass F and G whistles and is working on a low D and a soprano Eflat.
Sandy sent me a D& C set to try. Elfsong whistle make you think of other whistles and whistles makers. The high quality of the paint job on the body compares to the finish Paul Hayward uses on his PVC whistles but Elfsong whistles offer many more choices of color and design. The fact that they are made of copper brings to mind Dave Parkhurst’s whistle. They have that copper weight, but the airway is narrower and the clear coating protects the copper from trashing.
The sound of the Elfsong whistles reminds me of Mack Hoover’s brass whistles. The 2nd octave plays very easily and they have a pure sound with little chiff, but they are louder than Mack’s whistles. I found both the D and C barrels in tune with OXXXXO the best cross finger for a C natural with the D barrel and OXXOXO the best for a B flat with the C barrel. The whistles are individually made so Sandy can try to match not just the design of the whistle but the sound of the whistle to your desire.
I looked at the link-- they are very attractive pieces. I just wish they were charging $80 in Canadian funds for each whistle. That would be SO cheap. I like that for $5 you can have your name engraved, in case you leave it at the bar. Nice.
Lollycross, make sure you have the complete address when you try to open it. Sometimes copy & paste, or just clicking on the link, only moves part of it. It sounds as if you’re going to something in angelfire above the link you want.
Well I bought C & D whistles from Sandy. I am impressed. I ordered a “Doodle” for the “C” bottom and a “Mother of Pearl” for the “D” bottom. She E-mailed while she was working on the bottoms. The gold pen she was using for the “Doodle” bottom was giving her problems, so she sent me a “Emerald” bottom which I picked out as a replacment as well as the “Doodle” that she seemed to think was not a good job. So here I am stuck with two excellent “C” bottom for the price of one because the skilled whistle maker thought it wouldn’t be good enough. That was just the cake. To top it off with icing, she E-mailed me again and said that the “Mother of Pearl” finish bubbled on the “D” bottom while she was curing it (which has never happened to her before). So she sent me a replacement “D” bottom in "Metalic green with gold veins). Wow, what a finish! She was finishing another “Mother of Pearl” and sending it to me as well. So in my ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE (Sarcastic) predicament, I ended up with two killer “C” bottoms and two outrageous “D” bottoms for the price of just two. AS for the fipple tops. Well, they are tops. I had problems trying to get a low D out of the whistles and was instructed by Sandy that there are two different tops. One plays “C” bottoms better and the other “D”'s. Also, she instructed me on proper mouth position and blowing method for these whistles. WOW! They are excellent. I can get a nice even vibrato with little effort. These things are smooth. Each top and bottom combination has a unique pleasent sound. Tuning is a cinch. They come set sharp with the tops on all the way. I use my keyboard and slowly twist the top out until I have it.
I’m actually heading up near Ladysmith in a week. She is willing to show me her little shop. The whistles, the embroidered bags they come in and Sandys help are well worth the money. She really does take pride in her work. If any of you are thinking of getting one, you won’t be disapointed.
I’ve been in contact with Sandy about getting some sound clips but she’s unfortunately had a recent computer crash and lost her mp3 files. Can either of you post something to Clips & Snips that we can hear? It may be a big help to Sandy as well, so anyone interested can hear her whistles. Nice reviews, by the way.
Thanks,
Denny
[ This Message was edited by: DRC on 2002-07-15 10:48 ]