The Whistle Shop has Harper Whistles. Has anyone any experience with these, and if so, what are your feelings about them. Also anyone remember a review being done? The engraving looks beautiful, just wondering about playability.
I have a Harper - not engraved, but with that trademark shell casing. Good solid whistle; look on Phil Hardy’s site (movies, pro-file) for a sample playing. Somewhat Overton like. Flared bottom end, squared off mouthpiece, all aluminum. Nice whistle.
Philo
Mr. Hardy has a video review of a Harper D in the Pro-Files section of his site. www.kerrywhistles.com
I found the clip and it sounded quite nice, but then I wasn’t playing, Phil was. Thanks for the info!
I have four Harpers, D, C, and a G/A set (two bodies, one head). They’re similar to Overtons in construction – flat, thin windway. I find them much more playable, but that may just be because I own them and have invested the time to learn how to play them. They have high backpressure, a good growly sound. I love them, but have two issues: I don’t play whistle hardly at all any more, and I can make a whistle clog at 20 yards just by breathing, and these are prone to clogging. The C is the finest C whistle I’ve played outside of the Thin Weasel, and it will go to the grave with me.
My engraved, non-tuneable D is for sale. I’ll let it go for $125 including shipping to the US. I might deal on the G/A set, too.
Hi all!
I own the G/A set which is nice. Not as complex a tone as similar Overtons but easily blown and great intonation. Holes are quite sharp to need smoothing on the edges to avoid notes cracking.
I’ve also played a D/C set a few times. Again intonation is great. A purer tone than Overton (more like Silsktone alloy). The D body I played had a fairly weak bell note but was a very good player. I agree with waht was expressed above, the C whistle is an amazing player!
Parkwood
Parkwood - Good points on the Harper D - toneholes are a bit sharp edged, albeit not distracting, and the bell note, while adequate, is not as strong as on whistles I prefer to play (Burke, Copeland, Sindt, etc.). I was wondering why, with all the postitive feedback on these whistles, noone bit at mine when it went up for sale at $50 (I got it from someone on the Board at that price). I then withdrew it as I realized that I actually liked it. Although I’m mostly in this now for the music learning and playing, I still like a whistle that’s both collectable for me in that it’s unique somehow, as well as being a good player. The term “collectable” I feel is so often misused. Anything that you like to collect for whatever reason is collectable - whatever you get enjoyment from. While certain items do have intrinsic collectability at various times, created generally by some degree of quality, reflection of a period or place, and demand for a particular maker, the term is a bit overdone with respect to whistles IMHO. We are growing, but still an esoteric lot; so that there will likely not be a great clamoring for our whistles outside our group; all the more reason to collect what one really likes and not for “collectability” alone.
Philo
I have a Harper D/C which I acquired in London (the one in England, U.K.) around 20 years ago and I would recommend them to anyone. The tuning is perfect, the tone is bright and “silvery” and the whistle is an all-round fine product. I have never played another whistle which sounds quite like a Harper. If anyone has a DVD of “The Devils Own”, that’s a Harper playing all the way through it. Get one. You won’t regret it!
Hey, sorry about my spelling (well it was early here!)
I agree, Phil Hardy’s clip gives you a great idea of what the high D sounds like. The C/D set is certainly worth looking at!
I always thought they looked nice, but were hard to cross to upper register and play up there. It’s been a long time since I played them. They sat unsold for quite a while at Lark in the Morning in SFO. it might be that a more experienced whistler can tame 'em. I was pretty much a novice at the time I tried them.
Hey Chief 
sounds like a whistle I shoudl get - Does Harper have a website?
I don’t believe that Steve Harper has a website but here are a couple of places to start.
http://www.thewhistleshop.com/catalog/whistles/highend/harper/set/set.htm
I had the good fortune to ‘meet’ one tonight at our session. It is … or rather… they are… beautiful! The engraving is nicely done, the harper seal is tasteful and the flared bottom is a very nice touch. I liked the sound and the playability, though I only got to barely test the D of the CD combo. I was quite favorably impressed.