I recently received the Harper C/D set for my birthday, and I figured I’d write a little review.
First of all, they are beautiful to look at. The engraving is really nice, and the finish is nice, and the shape is nice. But I have a feeling that good looks aren’t quite enough to make a serious whistle-player happy. Just the same, they are pretty, so I guess I’ll have to count visual presentation as a “pro”.
Another pro is the tone. They have a really nice, flute-like tone. Since I haven’t been playing that long, I can’t really sling around a lot of nifty C&F lingo, so I’ll just have to say that they sound pleasant.
I also like the big holes, because it makes half-holing easier. The downside is that I’m not used to such big holes, so I have to work on NOT half-holing.
And Now, the Cons:
The main Con is related to one of the Pros: The small windway tends to clog. This can get annoying, even downright frustrating, like trying to carry on a conversation with someone who looks really sharp, but in reality is a moron and won’t stop talking about how pro wrestling is real, and great Adam Sandler Movies are.
In a fit of frustration, I shoved a twisty-tie from a bag of bread into the windway, hoping to dislodge whatever it was that was clogging the darned whistle. Well, it worked! But I wasn’t all that keen on using twisty-ties as cleaning tools, so I took my snappy-looking whistle to a local music shop to get their expert advice on what I could do.
The people in there were really really really nice. Not only did they admire the aformentioned good looks, they fashioned a device I could use to clean out that windway properly. They took some thin pieces of wood (they said these things are normally used to mix epoxy) and planed them down even thinner, then sanded them down even thinner than that. The result is a really thin piece of wood. They told me to go buy a pack of cigarette paper, and wrap it around the wood, and use that to clean out the moisture and gunk. Then they asked me to play. I managed to get out a very timid version of “Sally Gardens”. (There you have it, my first public performance.)
The remedy does work, but I still get the occasional clog. Overall, I like the Harper. I suppose on a scale of 1 to 5, I’d probably give them a 3.5 to 4.0 rating.