SO the other day I was at a rendezvous and the was a lady playing a Copeland high d. Man she was making that thing sing! She was excellent! So I stopped at her booth and talked to her about ITM and whistles and such, and she mentioned in passing that there was a man who happened to have a wooden whistle made by a pipemaker a few booths down.
After finishing the conversation with her, I casually strolled down the aisle with my dad and our eyes both locked onto this whistle at the same time.
I knew it was a Boisvert whistle immediately. He wanted $145 dollars for it, and I asked my dad if I could borrow the money…
God, this whistle can sing. It is so fun to play.
Thank you Mr. Kempbell, and thank you Mr. Boisvert.
Now I need to find $145 to pay my dad back, and I need to put this whistle down so I can finish my homework!
Jim Kimpell is a GREAT guy. I’ll have to give him a call and let him know he got taken to the cleaners! You got one heck of a good deal from Jim. He’s a great guy though, and often underprices his stuff because he likes getting good stuff in the hands of good people. Was the gal playing the Copeland selling pottery? If so, that’d be my friend Tracy (I owe her a whistle as a wedding present still…almost done)
Hmmm…I wonder which one you got? I donated one to a good group of guys in Illinois who hold an event at Fort Des Chartres for the auction. I recall JIm bought that one (he buys almost everything at the auction!)
All the best, and I hope the whistle serves you well!
They are indeed just plain old GREAT folks. Hmm…yep, sounds right. It may sound odd, but I DID trade that for a REALLY nice handwoven 100% wool blanket that are REALLY hard to get and are very expensive…let’s see…I THINK the maker’s name is Rob Stone… Jim was the only one selling them for the maker…though I’m not sure you can even get them anymore.
I usually take one or two whistles plus a couple of hand carved pipes (tobacco not uilleann) with me to events as barter. I usually come out ahead of the game and my trading partners are happy…ya GOTTA love barter…it’s a win-win scenario.
Yes, I do love the barter system…except I don’t really have any handy talents, other than the fact that I’m pretty big and can do yard work. lol.
I seem to remember stuff about Rob Stone blankets. That might be the guys name. I happen to have inherited a few HUdson Bay blankets. I even have an 8 point. the thing is huge! I’m thinking about having a capote made out of one.
You frequent alot of events? I’m trying to get to the Kalamazoo rendezvous. That should be interesting.
Yep. I got my Greenwood whistle in trade (from another C&Fer) for a low D I wasn’t playing, and I’m pretty sure we both thought we came out better in the deal.
(Nice to see you’re back to making a few whistles, by the way. )
I love to barter. I’ve traded whistles for full or part payment of several instruments including a Trinity College octave mandolin, and a custom made electric 4 string mandolin.
It’s been a long time since I wrote anything here but just stopping in, this post caught my eye. I didn’t know that David made any whistles in A - all I ever saw advertised were D, C and Bb. I count myself among the blessed to have 2 Greenwoods - D and C which I rate as my all time favorites & which get regular play. I posted some time ago about how David’s kindness and integrity brought me the C. An A from him has definately got to be a jewel.
[*Sorry for the mistype… It’s a d whistle. not an a. that’d be really cool though.]
Yeh - an A would be cool - and a Bb, and a G, and an F, and an Eb and…and…and well where would it end? I really like David’s whistles and I know i am not alone!
at. Lucky fellow.
still…almost done)