High-end whistles worth the $$$? Wow.

Whistle
21

TradBox I did go through a Burke romance at one point.

Injuries had ended my fluteplaying days and I wanted to find the best Low D Whistle I could. I got a Burke Pro Viper and I loved it. The voicing was butter-smooth throughout the range and it had an impressively powerful Bottom D that you could honk like a flute.

A friend warned me “watch out or you’ll soon end up with a pile of them things” and he was right- I got several Burkes from Low D to High D, all gleaming in my whistle roll.

What’s amazing is how consistently they play throughout all the different sizes, making it ideal for a musician at a gig who needs to quickly switch from key to key.

Later, after acquiring and playing Low Whistles from a large number of different makers, I realised that Burkes had bores a bit too big, making for slightly harsh stiff high notes. Also the big bores and wide windways made for the least air-efficient whistles of any I tried. As far as ergonomics went the fat tube of the Burke Low D was tiring in my hands.

All of these led me to the more standard style of Low D’s by Goldie, Lofgren, Reviol, MK, etc.

22

I think you kind of answered your own question. I think this was expressed earlier in the thread that the term “High end” is a bit Barbie like in it’s own right. I don’t trust the term “high end”, a poorly made instrument is sometimes attached with the term to justify a customer handing over too many $$ than it’s worth. Only real way to find out if a instrument is worth a high price is to read as many reviews as possible and ask experienced whistlers for their opinions. :flute:

23

I would say that the only way to find out if a whistle is right for you is to play it.

Different players have different performance features they’re looking for.

For example a very good whistle player I know feels that the ideal whistle has a strong crisp “break” between the octaves. He said something like “I want to know what octave I’m in”.

Myself and many other good whistle players I know feel that the ideal whistle has extremely nimble octaves, almost no “break” between octaves.

You can’t know how a whistle performs until you put it through its paces.