Hi all!
This has come up thousands of times I think.. But I cant find a proper information on this.
I might get Goldie’s low d in the near future. But what are the differences with these different blowing charasteristics? I have been playing Chieftain V5 for some time now, that is my only reference.
Thanks!
EDIT: I just spent a half-hour going back and forth between a “medium” headjoint and a “soft” headjoint on my Goldie Low D.
Of course there’s no substitute for playing them yourself, and get a feel for what you prefer.
Personally I like both, though they do play differently.
The “soft” has much easier/lighter/more responsive high notes. This is most noticeable on High B, which tends to be the stiffest note on Low Whistles. So without doing any tonguing, you can easily shift octaves like A-a, B-b on the “soft” Goldie.
On the “medium” High A and especially High B require a stronger blow, what I call a “stiffer” 2nd octave.
So on the “soft” Goldie playing things that jump back and forth between High B and low notes is much easier. However the lighter 2nd octave means you have to be more careful when playing in the low octave because it doesn’t take much to flip the notes to the 2nd octave.
Overall to me it feels like the “medium” Goldie is more solid, while the “soft” Goldie feels more spongy.
The low notes on the two whistles are very similar in strength. You can blow Bottom D the same, and when I tried A-cuts on Bottom D they behaved about the same on both whistles.
The tone is different, the “medium” head giving a more foggy musty tone and the “soft” head giving a more pure clean tone.
The air-efficiency is better on the “medium” but it’s not a great difference.
BTW older Goldies were stamped “M” for “medium” etc but newer ones have the actual windway height in mm engraved inside the bell.
This is my understanding, for his Low D whistles:
.8 mm “hard blower”
.87 mm “medium blower”
.97 mm standard “soft blower”
1 mm very soft/easy blower
BTW I’ve not played a V5 so I have no idea how it plays compared to the various Goldie models.
Ok thanks for the good info!
it is so hard to choose… I cant test them anywhere. Intuition says that soft is the way, but who knows..
Pancelticpiper describes the differences quite well, and has years of experience and expertise with whistles.
The only Chieftain I’ve had (or played) was an OS model (long ago), and it was definitely a free-blowing whistle, but I know the design and playing characteristics have changed a lot over the years. Perhaps AngelicBeaver will chime in, since he’s played both Goldies and Chieftains and does a lot of comparisons.
Colin also makes windway heights with increments between these standard ones. The tenor D I got a couple months ago has a .95 windway. He also is making 2 different hole sizes now, smaller for better articulation in playing fast and a slightly larger size (I opted for the larger size).
As most players of Goldie whistles will say (myself included), talking directly to Colin is the way to go. He’s very approachable and will help you decide on design and playing characteristics.
Yes when I recently bought a mezzo F directly from Colin we had a nice chat on the phone, he played several F’s for me to listen to, we decided on one, and it’s superb.
Very interesting the incremental windway heights! After going back and forth between the medium and soft, it would be very interesting to try one halfway between.
Thing is, I got the medium Goldie a couple years ago and I’ve been playing it regularly and I love it. If I never touched another Low D in my life I would be happy.
However now that I’ve been playing the soft one more, I think if it had been that one that I had got a couple years ago I would have been just as delighted with it as I have been with the medium one.
The light easy response of the soft one is something special, no doubt. BTW the closest Low D I’ve played to the soft Goldie is the Lofgren I used to have.
Thanks guys! I appreciate this. Lets indeed hope Angelic beaver will stop by..
I have a Goldie Low D with a fipple rated at .9
Medium air required and I have no problem with breath control.
Good instrument.
Colin is awesome to talk with on the phone … a real help in picking out the whistle.
He will play them for you to hear and tell you their characteristics.
I have Goldie high C, D & E for more than 10 years now and assume these are all medium blowers since I cannot recall that he offered any variations at the time. Does anyone have high Goldie whistles and can compare soft/medium/hard types?
As far as I understand, soft blower means it’s “easier to blow” and get the sound, but it wastes more air as it has less back-pressure. Which means it’s less air efficient than medium. Is that correct?
Aslo, what about the sound? TBH, I’ve always wanted my Godlies to have slighlty more crispiness and punch.
Yes the “soft blower” has a wider windway meaning it’s easier to blow, sweeter easier high notes, yet big low notes, more flexible/responsive, but the tradeoff is slightly less air-efficiency.
With my “soft” and “medium” Low Ds the efficiency difference isn’t very big.
Both are great whistles, with the Medium there’s a satisfying something about playing with a bit greater resistance, and you can play a bit longer between breaths.
About tone, as I mentioned above the Medium has a bit foggier tone, the Soft a bit purer tone, but the difference was subtle.
Thanks! Although I would love to hear if someone can compare the same things when it comes to high (soprano) whistles. I assume there might be a slight difference.
I thought of this thread yesterday as I was playing my Goldie “soft blowing” Low D for an hour… then switched to the “medium blower”.
I’m really getting used to the soft blower, so much so that when I switched to the medium blower it seemed dull and a bit stiff.
It’s odd, because when I first got the soft blower, after playing the medium for a couple years, the soft blower felt oddly spongy, like switching a guitar string to a narrower one.
Well I suppose it’s whatever you get used to! For now I’m liking the soft blower better.
The ears play games with us … but over time we usually get it right.
“BTW the closest Low D I’ve played to the soft Goldie is the Lofgren I used to have.”
Interesting comparison, Richard. I used to play soft Goldies (Owned low D, low E and low G). I loved them, but when I got my low D from Marc Löfgren something just clicked with that whistle. I think maybe the Löfgren can be considered a medium or even medium/hard blower and that just suited me better. I since sold all my Goldies and got a low F from Marc, equally lovely as the low D.
I do sometimes consider getting a Goldie or two again but medium blowers this time, but do I really need another whistle?
Sadly I had already sold the Lofgren by the time I got the soft Goldie, but if memory serves they play very much alike, the only two Low D’s I’ve tried that played like that.
Freeblowing, super responsive, huge bellnote, sweet easy high notes, not as air-efficient as the medium Goldie.