Recent rave reviews for Burke high D whistles has activated the WhOA center in my brain (this portion is beginning to crowd out less important areas such as the cerebrum), but I do have a few questions (a sure indication that I haven’t succumbed completely to WhOA – otherwise I’d just buy one of each and forget the questions).
Currently I play a brass Humphrey high D (pre-Stealth/Journeyman) and I’ve been pretty happy with it, but (of course) one is always in search of the whistle that has just the right sound… How does the Burke sound compared to the Humphrey? I suppose I should narrow it down – how about the Burke narrow bore (I’ve never been to a session, and quieter make keep the family happier)? What about aluminum vs. brass? The sound clips on the Burke site are nice, but not good for comparison (some have accompanimant, some don’t, the songs used are vastly different…).
I can maybe help, but just a little bit. I’m a relative newbie also, but have acquired a few whistles including cheapies and a few nicer ones. I recently bought a group of three nice whistles from a fellow C&F’er at a great discount, one of which was an older (pre-black-tip) aluminum session D Burke. It was a real eye-opener!
1- It’s REALLY an easy player. You almost can’t make it misbehave, honk or screech. Just really, really, easy to play
2- It has a very, very pure sound. Virtually no chiff at all. Flute-like, but not at all breathy
3- It has a great volume level for my tastes — quiet enough to play at home, and loud enough to play in a group
I love it, but can’t decide if it’s my favorite whistle, due to the purity. Right now I’m in love with a Black Diamond, which is similarly easy to play, but sounds a bit more traditional.
All that said, the Burkes are pretty incredible, IMHO. Hope that helps!
A Burke is a little less pure, actually, a little more full in tone than a Humphrey (or Sindt). It does tend to play itself. That said, a Burke looks like industrial plumbing and a Humphrey looks like a taditional whistle.
The Journeyman is an amazing whistle. It’s responsive, precise, controllable and expressive with a nice full tone (it’s more pure than his earlier designs). The Burk NB aluminum is also precise and controlable but doesn’t seem as responsive or capable of expression with a slightly shrill tone (less so with the brass). Compared to Gary’s earlier designs (which I still like, too) I think the Journeyman is even more responsive. I would put it a the top of any “to buy” list.
Burkes are fine whistles and all that but you should be aware that the head contains a fragile industrial O-ring seal. Susatos do too, but the rings they use seem a little more robust.
On a Burke, if you separate the head and body, you can easily break this seal when trying to reassemble the whistle. Thousands of people are not encountering problems with this, no doubt, but I did, and despite getting the specs of the seal from Mike Burke, I could not find one in a hardware store. Mike obligingly sent me a replacement O-ring very quickly, but in my opinion this is a design fault. You should be able to fix a tuning slide on a wind instrument with something easily available such as waxed cotton or even Teflon tape.
PS Who broke the seal on my Burke? John Sindt… he pulled it apart, wanting to have a look inside.
JessieK,
Have you tried the Journeyman? It’s a bit different than Gary’s earlier designs. It is without a doubt the most controllable whistle I have ever played.
I have both the Humphrey pre-Stealth D and a Burke brass narrow bore D. I’ve also tried the Stealth with a brass tube (pre-Journeyman tube).
My thoughts:
The Burke has a fuller, more flute-like sound, and is incredibly forgiving. The Humphrey has a thinner sound and a more focused airstream, I think the sound has more character than the Burke, but it’s still pretty pure.
The Burke is made so forgiving by a duller sound blade than many whistles, if I put the tip of my finger on it I can feel that it’s duller than the Humphrey or Sindt or cheapies. This makes it more forgiving (meaning it’s very easy to control the change of octaves and not make squeaky/discordant notes). I think it also gives it a duller sound than the Humphrey, which I don’t like, and I think it makes it slightly less responsive than the Humphrey, which I don’t like. By responsive I mean how quickly and crisply it shifts from one note to the next. Both whistles have very good high ends that don’t require lots of extra breath and aren’t dramatically louder than the lower end, although the Humphrey is a little better in this regard.
I like the pre-Stealth Humphrey better than the Stealth, maybe because I’m used to it. The Stealth has an incredibly balanced high end volume-wise, though, better than the pre-Stealth.
I play the Humphrey frequently, it’s one of my favorite 2-3 whistles. I rarely (almost never) play the Burke and would loan it to you for a few weeks if you were my neighbor. The reason I like the Humphrey better is that I like the feel, sound, and playing characteristics of cheap whistles, but I don’t have the breath control or skill to play them consistently well without breaking octaves on some notes, which doesn’t sound very good. The Humphrey plays like a cheap whistle, and sounds close to a cheap whistle but is more forgiving, certainly forgiving enough for me. I think it’s very well suited for Irish traditional music.
Which you like better will depend upon your playing style and the type of sound you prefer. I’ve heard great playing from both whistles. Which probably means that in the end the player has more to do with how the whistle sounds than the whistle does.
I used to own a Burke brass high D; it was a fine whistle but didn’t have a lot of character. I love my Humphrey Stealth. To my ear, it has the quintessential tin whistle sound that you would hope to find in a Generation but won’t unless you’re very lucky.
