Hi All,
Does anyone have experience with Hans Bracker’s whistles?
The D+ is looking quite interesting.
How is the quality (craftmanship)?
Cheers,
Yes. I have 11 (well, 7 heads and 11 standard-bore bodies) from high E to low D in what you might term ‘standard’ keys and am talking to Hans about increasing that to 16 with the addition of the missing C#, B nat, G#, and F# as well as a narrow-bore D.
How is the quality (craftmanship)?
They are excellent whistles (my favourites in every key I own) and very consistent throughout the range in terms of producing the same notes with the same fingerings (which, curiously, some makes don’t… especially in the upper register). Clear, chirpy, slightly reedy tone at solid medium volume with excellent air efficiency till you get to the low Eb/D size, where the increased air requirement is repaid with a truly big, bold sound. All good for the full two octaves, even in the wider bores (and I’ve tried most of Hans’s range including four different bores for high Ds). Craftmanship is good; for sure, they look handmade and not identically-machined in large runs, but treat that as a positive! Tuning’s as good as or better than anything I’ve tried if, like me, you favour the simple OXXOOO forked fingering for first-octave C and understand that can leave the OOOOOO C# a hair flat, and they’re possibly the only whistles I’ve got where I’ve found the intonation over both octaves effortlessly matched when playing with other instruments.
So what about weaknesses after all that? Well, I can think of one:
Not all of them slur as cleanly at standard bore from low A to high A, low B to high B etc. as I would like (which would be perfectly and effortlessly right to the top every time!), with some superb and some a bit more sticky there. Hence my decision to add the narrow-bore high D for the rare occasions when my delightfully bright, chirpy, standard-bore model (otherwise just about the best of the lot and much admired by good players who’ve tried it) might currently tempt me to pick up an alternative that’s not so good at everything else.
And one further caveat:
Not everyone’s looking for the same thing, so they (standard-bore Brackers) could just disappoint if you’d prefer a quieter Generation-style instrument, super-loud ‘cannon’ or something else they’re not. That said, they’re just plain good (as in can’t buy better) if you’re looking for the same balance of attributes (and remember every whistle ever made has to compromise on something!) as me.
Seven heads/eleven bodies that’s some haul, do you have a picture of them all together, it would be interesting to see?
‘Four different bores for high D’ .. Hans is showing three sizes on his site (14/13/12mm) was the fourth larger or smaller Peter and is their much difference between them?
Did you have chance to try one of the Bass whistles with the curved neck, they look superb?
No, but I could take one sometime. I had the low E first (but not yet with the full custom hole offsets we developed for my larger whistles), then the high D (which I’d not been looking for, but had to have when smitten by it as the second of two Hans asked me to try) and then the full ‘set’. Basically we discussed how many bore sizes were really necessary for a near-optimum standard-bore set (hence the seven heads), then built the bodies accordingly to give E/Eb at 12mm, D at 13mm, C at 14mm, Bb/A at 15.7mm, low G at 18mm, F/E at 20mm and Eb/D at 23mm. So all the new bodies should fit the same heads (starting with narrow-bore D at 12mm on my existing ‘E/Eb’ head) unless we decide that 14.6mm (as listed by Hans’s site) merits a standalone B nat.
‘Four different bores for high D’ > .. Hans is showing three sizes on his site (14/13/12mm) was the fourth larger or smaller Peter and is their much difference between them?
It was wider… an unlisted experimental (?) ultra-wide bore. Can’t remember exactly how wide, but from memory possibly even wider than a Chieftain though (unlike the Chieftain) it still played the full two octaves without any trick fingerings. Also from memory, sure, they’re all different but on a continuum with the same reassuring ‘family’ feel as moving up or down the sizes (e.g. D to C, C to Bb etc.). And that’s how I like it!
Did you have chance to try one of the Bass whistles with the curved neck, they look superb?
No, I haven’t, though I’d have a go if I was up and Hans had one in. But doubt I could manage it since my short-changed left-hand’s pretty well defining D as my lower limit for whistles or simple flutes.
For clarification, I’m talking not about their ability to play the full two-octave range or to do it slurring (which they’ll all do no bother in scale/arpeggio contexts etc.), but about the kind of exercise I described in my Holifield video review as ‘slurred octaves’ and the Holifield did pretty tidily for a low D. So would I like all my Brackers to do that particular exercise as cleanly as, say, my Killarney or Dixon DX203 high Ds (which have the loveliest, cleanest, sweetest first-to-second-octave breaks)? Yes, of course! But how often do I actually choose my Killarney or DX203s for that reason? Only when the tune absolutely demands it, and even then I’d usually prefer to be playing the Bracker…
Might just add (post edited) that that slurred octave test will ruthlessly expose a whistle’s limits in that particular area, and it’s not unusual to find even ‘higher-end’ models struggling above halfway (i.e. As and above). Or perhaps more typically higher-volume/higher-pressure designs when it’s something simple ‘trad’ types with narrower bores and lower pressures often do better.
Thanks for that Peter very informative, a Bracker whistle is now firmly on my ‘To Buy’ list 
I’ve been having a look through Mr. Bracker’s post history and reading his insights into bore sizes, fascinating stuff indeed, even if a lot of it’s over my head at first reading 