I just received a Wide Bore D and an A from Gary both with the new acetal pins instead of brass. They look amazing! You have to look at them in the light to see the pin at all. I was most delighted with the Wide Bore D. I thought the Narrow Bore was great…the Wide Bore is even better! It’s most comparible to my Burke Pro Brass with a very very slight addition of more chiff than the Burke. Gary keeps cranking out some of the best whistles out there (and he’s got a cool hat!!!).
Ah. I’ve been waiting to hear from someone who had both. I have the narrow and wanted to know how it compared with the wide.
I still love my wide bore one. It really sings, very versatile sound. But i tend to like wide bore whistles. Once i was able to try every Burke model, and i picked a wide bore brass. Other people may prefer narrow bore.
I love my wide-bore too! It’s definately my favorite D whistle now. However, I like the look of the brass pin…I hope Gary offers both options in the future. I’ll probalby order an A sometime soon.
-Brett
I kike the brass pin too.
Yeah, the brass pin looks really cool. Like a nice looking blond woman wearing a black dress.
This is just a gut explanation, but to me, the narrow bore is like a hybrid Generation and the wide bore is like a sporty Burke Pro Brass. Please let me know if I’ve confused anyone with my technical explanations. I like the brass pin too and wasn’t sure what to expect with the acetal pin. I’m really happy with it, the sleek look is great. Heck, when I’m playing I can’t even see the pin anyway!
The wide-bore reminds me of a really really good Walton’s “Mellow D” that takes less air but is a bit louder.
-Brett
Some day these brass pinned fipples will fetch collector’s prices: “Ah, yes, the early Humphrey…now there was a whistle! Note the beautiful brass pin. He only made them briefly, just a few of them before he switched to acetal.”
I’ve still got enough brass rod in stock to pin around 150 more mouthpieces, so I won’t be switching exclusively to acetal any time soon! 
At my current rate of production, that will last until around December of next year… that is, if the orders keep coming and nobody else chooses acetal pins between now and then.
It’s quite likely that brass pins will still be available well into 2006 from just my current supply of brass rod… and I’ll order more if they are still being requested after I exhaust my current supply.
Good on ye, Gary! 
My question is which pin holds best? Looks are important but so is integrity. I wouldn’t want the pin to fall out while I was playing. I assume they are both about the same. What is the reason for changing to acetal? I assume it is price.
Ron
From what Gary told me, “using acetal pins also causes much less wear on his tools than brass”. I went for the brass anyway, just because I’m very conservative
No danger in the pin falling out… either version would have to be intentionally and forcefully driven out.
Brass pins probably hold better since they expand when driven into place, but I bend the acetal pins before insertion so they also fit very tightly.
Actually, acetal rod costs over six times more than brass rod! 
There is a bit of cost reduction because acetal pins don’t cause the wear on my carbide lathe inserts that brass pins do, so my cost really won’t change much if any.
The reason for the change is that I plan on offering alternatives to brass tubes in the future, and the new all-acetal mouthpieces are more ‘universal’ than mouthpieces with a fastening pin made of any other material.
A mouthpiece with a brass pin would look wrong on a nickel or aluminum tube, but an all-acetal mouthpiece would look fine on any tube.
It’s purely a cosmetic thing, and I’ll probably continue to offer a choice of pins for that reason… it seems there are some fans of the brass pins who would be unhappy if I completely discontinued them!