Does anyone here have an Elfsong whistle? And if so can you give me a review?
Thanks!
Click SEARCH, type ‘Elfsong’ into the keyword field, then click the SEARCH button. There’s your review.
Hi! I am the ecstatic owner of an Elfsong whistle! I posted a review a couple of weeks back. But I’ll be glad to rave over it some more!
Bottom line…YOU REALLY NEED ONE!!! Mine is just wonderful to look at, never mind anything else. I got the “Gold Cotton Candy” paint sceme and it is sooooo beautiful!! As one of the other C&F members said…you don’t know whether to play it or just stare at it!! The golden copper fipple with its underbelly of beautifully varnished wood must be raved over too!!
As to the sound…Heaven! I wanted a nice soft whistle with a pure tone…not much chiff and Sandy was wonderful with giving me just the sound I wanted. I play mostly at home so I did not personally want a loud whistle…but Sandy is great at giving you what you want..just let her know.
Before this whistle I was playing a Dixon Soprano D and also a Silkstone Goldring. They are both great whistles but I feel my Elfsong rates above both of them. It is the whistle all my family members prefer after an informal listening test. It has become the first one I grab nowadays!!!
If you are considering…I would not hesitate for a moment. You will surely not be sorry in any sense of the word. This is just an awesome little whistle!!! I plan to get another just so I can try another magical color…to suit my mood you know!! Hope this helps answer your questions!!
cheers!..Andrea Z
I’m eagerly anticipating mine (finally took the plunge, after drooling over the pictures on the website for about a month). Glad to hear you’re still in love with yours. This will be my first “higher-end” whistle.
Did you ever decide on a name for yours?
Redwolf
Oops…didn’t mean to double post! I thought the board had crashed, so hit “submit” again.
Redwolf
[ This Message was edited by: Redwolf on 2002-10-28 21:29 ]
Ok, the cosmetic beauty of the Elfsong has worn off; it’s now nudged its way into my third most often played soprano D - Copeland, Abell, Elfsong.
philo,
that’s mighty fine company…
Marguerite has two D Elfsongs, I got a chance to check them out at the workshop last Saturday. As everyone has already said, they are eye candy for sure - truly works of art, and hers were personalized beautifully. She has an early model and a more recent one. Unfortunately, the resin sealant on the wood plug of the earlier whistle will never harden properly. The newer one was just as it should be - a nice smooth translucent rock hard surface. Perhaps there was some early experimentation with the precise mix of the resin, in any case Sandy seems to have arrived at the right proportions by the time the second whistle was made.
The copper fipples seemed a little raw and unfinished on both, with clear evidence of the handtooling that went into the individual voicing of each whistle, but this didn’t appear to adversely affect the tone, only the cosmetic appeal. Not something that would deter me from buying one, although I think if I ordered one I would specify that I’d like it finished more smoothly. Have to say I haven’t seen any other models, so again, this could well be something that has already been ironed out in newer whistles.
I didn’t spend hours playing these b/c we had other items on the agenda than me indulging myself by playing everybody else’s whistle, but I did pop out a tune on them and run them through their paces. Lovely sweet tone, gentle, easy to control, nice balance of chiff and presence, not a hint of a squeak anywhere. A well-bred whistle. I certainly wouldn’t mind having that sound for applications where a Copeland would be just too overpowering.
The newer Elfsong was more to my taste, with a little more volume and guts than the older one. However, I found both to be too heavy physically for my grip and my style of playing - even heavier than my Copeland C. However, I can see where the Elfsong could really come in handy for Temiwaza.
Wendina
I just noticed, there are new pictures up on the West Coast Whistle Co. site! You can see the colors more clearly (including the new “Pumpkin’s Fancy”), and also get a clearer look at the headpiece.
Check](http://www.angelfire.com/music2/WestCoastWhistleCo/OrderPage2.html%22%3ECheck) it out!
Redwolf
Wendina
Thank-you for drawing my attention to Marguerite’s whistle! I am sending her a replacement mouthpiece first thing tomorrow and have offered to re-do the resin on the one in question. As you assumed, I have learned a lot about resin since her first whistle but had no idea she had a problem! She is a very nice lady!
Thanks again,
Sandy Jasper
Thank you all very much for your helpful reviews! I am getting a whistle for sure…they definitly are eye candy, and I now know that they play well!
Thanks again.
Kaitlin
Sandy just e-mailed me with her offer of a replacement mouthpiece–what a sweetheart! Wait–that’s another breed of whistles. Sorry, Ralph. 
The “personalization” that Wendina mentioned is the engraving of my first name on the back of the mouthpiece (180 degrees around from the fipple).
I really, really like both whistles, resin problems notwithstanding, and I keep coming back to them. I’m happy with the octave break–one of the first things I decided I liked (after the beautiful look).
Sure, they are a little heavier than some whistles, but they don’t fall off my hands on C#.
Ya know what, though? I bought my first one blind, never having tried one or read a review. I had some Christmas money to spend on it, so I decided on that deep red.
I’m so happy with the whistle AND Sandy was so much fun to deal with that I’m not inclined to queue up for a better-known maker. I’ve got all the whistle I can handle right now and it’s practice, not another whistle, that will move me along.
Marguerite
On 2002-10-28 20:50, andreaz54 wrote:
Hi! I am the ecstatic owner of an Elfsong whistle! I posted a review a couple of weeks back. But I’ll be glad to rave over it some more!
Bottom line…YOU REALLY NEED ONE!!! Mine is just wonderful to look at, never mind anything else. I got the “Gold Cotton Candy” paint sceme and it is sooooo beautiful!! As one of the other C&F members said…you don’t know whether to play it or just stare at it!! The golden copper fipple with its underbelly of beautifully varnished wood must be raved over too!!
As to the sound…Heaven! I wanted a nice soft whistle with a pure tone…not much chiff and Sandy was wonderful with giving me just the sound I wanted. I play mostly at home so I did not personally want a loud whistle…but Sandy is great at giving you what you want..just let her know.
Before this whistle I was playing a Dixon Soprano D and also a Silkstone Goldring. They are both great whistles but I feel my Elfsong rates above both of them. It is the whistle all my family members prefer after an informal listening test. It has become the first one I grab nowadays!!!
If you are considering…I would not hesitate for a moment. You will surely not be sorry in any sense of the word. This is just an awesome little whistle!!! I plan to get another just so I can try another magical color…to suit my mood you know!! Hope this helps answer your questions!!cheers!..Andrea Z
Gosh, Andrea, why don’t you tell us what you really think???
I don’t have one yet, but I’ve been emailing with Sandy off-board, and she’s an exceptionally nice person there as well as here, and deserving of every good fortune. I see that I’m not the only one who thinks that. Vehemently!!!
Cheers,
Bill Whedon
Yippee.. my 500th post…
Anyhow. erm. yes.
I’m thinking about getting another whistle, probably a higher quality one than my Susato (which I love for performances, btw), but even with a part-time job, my price range is still… er… well. You get the picture. 
Are the Elfsong’s really that good? I mean seriously. (Knows she’s probably about to start another full-fledged debate.)
On 2002-10-29 01:36, Redwolf wrote:
I just noticed, there are new pictures up on the West Coast Whistle Co. site! You can see the colors more clearly (including the new “Pumpkin’s Fancy”), and also get a clearer look at the headpiece.Check](http://www.angelfire.com/music2/WestCoastWhistleCo/OrderPage2.html%22%3ECheck) > it out!
Redwolf
Blimey! THese are seriously sexy whistles. WHoA attack!
Sandy should get one of the ultimate awards for her work in furthering the cause of WhOA !!!
Seriously, they look good. Must … have … one … no cash … oww
Everyone should have a copy of that website - with all those wonderful whistles, how couldn’t it cheer people up anytime of the day?!
Wonder what’s next?
A more serious question:
How do these Elfsongs compare to Parkhurst Whistles which are also copper and look similar - anyone?
On 2002-10-29 10:19, nickt wrote:
On 2002-10-29 01:36, Redwolf wrote:
[…] new pictures up on the West Coast Whistle Co. site! You can see the colors more clearly […]
Check](http://www.angelfire.com/music2/WestCoastWhistleCo/OrderPage2.html%22%3ECheck) > it out!
RedwolfBlimey! THese are seriously sexy whistles. WHoA attack!
Feeling the effects of same. :roll:
After getting home from the workshop, I went to Dale’s list of Upscale Whistles looking for the Elfsong site, and was disappointed not to see them listed - whazzupwiddat, WhistleMeister?
Thanks for the link, Redwolf. Now I am hankering after a Sassy Brass F in Sparkling Royal Lavender. I figure the weight won’t bother me in a smaller size.
Another person here asked for a comparison between Parkhurst and Elfsong. I think ChattieKathy had a Parkhurst, maybe - Kathy, where are you? Dan had a Sweetone, and Byll had a box full of Burkes. Along with Marguerite’s Elfsong and my Busman, Dixon and Copelands, a stellar assortment of whistles.
Anyhoo, I found a defect in Kathy’s whistle, whatever it is. The high G has rather unpleasant overtones and will not sound clearly at any wind pressure or adjustment of embouchure. We were discussing tone and the fact that every whistle has different pressure requirements to get the ideal intonation on a given note, and Kathy couldn’t get her high G to sound properly, so I checked it out to make sure it wasn’t her technique. It wasn’t. Kathy, if you’re lurking, you should send that whistle back for revoicing. But first, please confirm the maker for us. And…I hope you are enjoying my Dixon A. When I get back to work they better have another in stock for me! Gotta replace it.
Wendina
With all those beautiful colors to choose from, I can see a variation of WhOA arising: TAO (“Tube Acquisition Obssession”). I agonized before narrowing my color choices to natural and Starry Night (I’m getting two tubes) even before I saw the new pictures…now I find myself thinking “Gee, the marbled ones look awesome too…as do the cotton candy ones…and that metallic white is gorgeous…and…etc.”
Redwolf
I have two on order, C/D combo. Hopefully they will be here sometime in November