Favorite unique/unusual whistles?

Whistle
1

Hi all, just curious if anyone has a favorite whistle that’s more off the beaten path?

I’m thinking along the lines of:

  • Something from a maker who only made a handful of wonderful whistles and then vanished
  • Something you happened across in the used market that turned out to be really special
  • A home-made fluke that turned out spectacular and un-replicable
  • A favorite whistle with a unique story behind it.

This topic popped into my head because I was just playing an aluminum soprano Db made by Pablo Asturias (a great whistle and flute player from Mexico). It qualifies because it’s a weird key, I don’t believe Pablo is still active as a maker, and of the whistles I ordered from him, this one was head and shoulders above the others, probably due to a fortuitous combination of material availability and his design evolution. The initial whistle he sent me (a standard soprano D) was solid, but the tone was pretty bland due to an open windway. By the time I’d ordered the soprano Db and an alto Ab (just to round out my collection of keys), he’d tweaked his design. The Ab was good, but the material thicknesses still left a more open, breathy tone than I prefer. The Db was perfect, with a warm, velvety tone, a strong bottom end that can really be pushed, and a top end that is controlled and easy on my ears. I’ve yet to need a soprano Db, but if that day ever comes, this will be my go-to.

2

Don’t know if it counts, but I have a D whistle from Chris Abell made in olive wood (not sure how many others might be out there). For me the really special part is that I got to work with Chris in building it as he welcomed me into his shop for a winter college experience. He is an amazing craftsman, musician, and gifted teacher. I get a thrill every time I get it out to play it, even all these years later. Randomly, it turned out to be serial number #300, which is kinda nifty. To me it plays sweeter and truer than any whistle out there (I might be biased). :stuck_out_tongue:

3

I’d count that. What a cool experience. I’m working on a whistle-making endeavor, and it would be nice to have access to a mentor (and their shop equipment). Getting to work directly with Chris Abell is fantastic.

4

I have a collection of O’Riordan whistles. One of the high D whistles came with its fairly small bore, original body and a silver body, said to by made by Sindt. That mouthpiece and silver tube combination has a quality quite unlike the others, at least to my ears.

5

What a cool topic!

In the hand-made spectacular un-replicable category was the amazing old Clarke C my mentor played.

The thing about Clarkes is that you can bend the metal to change all the specs of the windway. He had spent a lot of time getting everything just how he wanted it.

It was possibly the best whistle I’ve ever played. He had hung out with Micho Russell in Ireland and Micho loved it too.

My mentor graciously loaned that whistle to me for a week so that I could try to replicate it.

I examined his Clarke carefully, under magnification, and spent hours bending and shaping my Clarke to match. It was trial and error- change one thing and something else would get thrown off.

I was able to get really, really close, 95% if a number could be put on it, but that last 5% proved elusive.

In the something from a maker who only made a handful was the Low Whistle with Maple head.

In truth I don’t know how many of those were made, but it was the most-distinctive tone I’ve ever heard from a Low Whistle, and by the time I got acquainted with the maker he was no longer making them.

The end of the mouthpiece was damaged a bit, which might have been critical to its unique tone.

I got it secondhand. As I recall it came with offset holes and I asked him to make an inline body for it. He told me to send it up to him.

I almost said something like “I love the way it plays, leave it as it is, don’t do anything to the head” because there have been instances of people sending great instruments back to the maker for one thing, only to have the maker also do some other un-asked-for modification to the instrument, thus ruining it.

But I didn’t say anything, and when he sent the whistle back with the new body I was dismayed to see that he had cut down the beak of the mouthpiece to get rid of the damaged bit.

The whistle never played the same.

6

The more whistles I’ve played, the more I realize how some can be like lightning in a bottle, even among whistles made by the same maker. In 2017, I got a set of Reviol whistles (small head, large head, with a full set of bodies), and thought they were amazing. I eventually acquired heads to make complete whistles of all the bodies, but the original large head remains the most perfectly balanced head I’ve played, with just the right amount of backpressure and tonal core (I keep it on my low Eb). I similarly struggled to find small heads that matched the focus of the original small head (which sits on the low E body). I feel like I’ve finally got a good set, with each body having a well-matched head, but each of the eight heads has its own particular character.

7

This is one of those “hurt so good” whistles!

A brass Copeland Low D owned by David Brewer.

I got to play it. It’s the best Low D ever. Full low notes, incredibly sweet high notes, perfectly in tune.

He explained that it had been dropped, landing on one side of the mouthpiece, denting it, shoving it in a bit.

He said “I thought I’d ruined it, but it played even better”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbJOGR2eWMA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrGRv38pjxE

8

Wow, I’ve heard that story, but I’d never heard the whistle itself. I found this slow air solo he made, and those lows sound amazing.

https://youtu.be/Yh04jJiG6DI?feature=shared

9

I would suggest Colin Goldie’s ‘Frankenstein’ whistle for at least honorable mention in the ‘unusual’ category. From the Goldie website: In 1993 I decided to build myself a Low D whistle which was named “Frankenstein” due to its nuts and bolts through the head.

As for myself, I haven’t really owned any particularly unique or unusual whistles, though the Goldie narrow-bore tenor D I’ve had for the last few years is certainly special to me in its own way, and according to Colin it was once meant for John McSherry.

10

Now that’s a category in its own right, I would think, whistles with famous connexions.

When I was in my MK Low D phase I ended up having six of them, all slightly different.

The best of the lot, and the one I kept while selling all the rest, was sold to me by a guy who said he had bought it from Paddy Keenan.

Paddy was said to have played it on tour for a year or so, then decided to move on from the MK.

It was a superb player, a bit knocked-about. Oddest was that it was covered with a thin film of some sticky substance. Was this accidental, or to keep it from slipping? I’ve heard people say that they found the uber-smooth anodised MKs to be difficult to grip. Anyhow I dubbed the stuff “Keenan Goo” before finally getting rid of it with, as you might guess, Goo Gone.

11

As you well know, older instruments have a history all their own, long after their owners have come and gone, one way or the other. Having had your hands on a whistle played by Paddy Keenan is certainly noteworthy. As for MKs, as much as I appreciate Misha’s craftmanship, I’ve not gotten on so well with those I’ve owned (currently selling a Kelpie low D), though his whistles have sure got a booming bottom end and the tuning is right on. I will say that the polished finished is much less slippery than the anodised finish.

I have a 1890s vintage violin, Jacob Stainer replica, that’s been passed down in my family. It doesn’t play very well (and I’m not a violinist whatsoever), but I still keep it for sentimental family reasons.

12

I went through my MK phase prior to him offering either the Kelpie or the plain alloy finish.

I, and apparently a load of other people, pestered him about offering plain alloy but at that time he had dug in his heels on that issue and said he would only offer anodised whistles.

As we know there’s an aesthetic with trad whistle players where they want things silver or black (the red, blue, and green tops of the old standard Generations and Feadoga notwithstanding).

About the playing, it’s interesting that you mention “booming bottom end” because the main thing that made me lay aside the MK and keep looking was the fluffy Bottom D on all half-dozen MKs I owned. I liked everything else about the MK. From your comment I take it that at some point Misha addressed the Bottom D issue.