I was at a festival yesterday and someone had a tent full of old stuff from their attic or something. In amongst the three-stringed guitars, old leather sandals and Jar-Jar Binks golf club cover I discovered a Soodlum’s D whistle for 2 pounds. Sold!
It sounds really great, even after washing out the moldy smell. Here’s a closeup of the head; does anyone have an educated guess on how old it might be? Sorry for the slight blurriness - I’m sure you all know how hard it is to take a good photo of a whistle inside!
I have no idea when Soodlum whistles appeared in the marketplace. I was playing one around 1980 - and it was second-hand. I loved playing that whistle and was broken hearted when it disappeared. I had to go out and buy an O’Riordan for $20.
I have several, and they’re the sweetest cheap whistles I’ve ever owned. Errr, the good ones, that is. The bad ones were awful.
The ones I have came with no maker’s name on them at all, so I’ve never known who made them or where.
They do have that distinctive kelly green fipple made out of comparitively brittle plastic, however, and the wider bore D tube–the C and D whistle used the same fipple and tube diameter. The fipples can be swapped between C and D.
Yes. I looked into this a few months ago, and it didn’t take too much research to learn that Soodlum’s had changed their name to Waltons. Don’t know if it was a corporate buyout or merely a marketing decision that “Waltons” was more salable, but they are the same whistle.
