Interestingly, I never hear of these whistles turning up on eBay or that someone’s managed to stumble across a box full in an antiques store in backwoods Kentucky or anything like that. The Golden Tone especially was by almost all accounts one of Walton’s best ever. And hell, let’s face it - I’d buy a Perri just for the paint job!
Anyway, as I said, I haven’t heard anything about these turning up recently. Just curious. What Walton’s was thinking when they discontinued these we may never know.
The Walton Golden Tone C is IMHO one of the best whistles out there; I have a couple that I treasure. I also have two Perri whistles, purchased because they share a name with my daughter and, as you said, the great paint job!
Yeah, these whistles seem to be near impossible to obtain, yet from what I hear of them they would be neat to have or at least get a chance to see what they are like in person. But never hear or see of one. Agree it would be interesting to hear if anyone has found any turning up for sale at all over the past few years.
We all get a kick out of some of the exorbitant prices (and exaggerated) descriptions of Clarkes and others on ebay, but if either of these turns up there, expect a bidding war. Too many of us would love to get our hands on one, not least because of Dale’s descriptions thereof.
I was lucky enough to obtain a GoldenTone 2 or 3 years ago. They are indeed a GREAT whistle. My only complaint about them is that they are a little too delicate. It almost feels as if it would crush under your fingers if you played with too much enthusiasm. Of course, the fact that I know I am unlikely to get my hands on another GoldenTone probably makes me treat it even more carefully than I have too. Who knows, maybe one reason Walton’s discontinued this whistle is that it isn’t all that durable. I also own a LBW, but that doesn’t feel as fragile as the GoldenTone.
My 2nd whistle ever was a Perri C. It had an orange-painted aluminum tube, which tended to dent & crush easily. It was a lovely sounding whistle, but being in C kind of limited its usefulness.
Eventually the tube got bent right in half, and i finally decapitated it and fit on a home-built tuneable brass body in D. Finally, the best of all worlds - my Perri was now a D! I’ve since made C, D, and B bodies for it, and it’s been my main whistle for years. I played a Sindt for a while, but i recently rediscovered my affection for my faithful frankenPerri, and i don’t expect to ever need a nicer sounding whistle.
My only regret is that i didn’t buy more of them at the time.
Sara