I have spent about two weeks with the Fred Rose whistle. I have spent three years looking for it. I feel, after all this time, that I have found my perfect whistle. I have written in another thread about it’s qualities, but here I just want to share how excited I am. Now I am collecting tunes.
Jessie
[ This Message was edited by: JessieK on 2001-10-26 10:19 ]
That’s great, Jessie, but you’re mean! Now I want one even more!
Start making recordings, please!
Jessie,
Thanks to your (and other’s) glowing praise, I got on the Fred Rose waiting list last week. I’m very excited. I’m sure it will be worth the wait.
Jenny
So when are you going to start selling all of those other whistles?
Jens
Hey Jeny how long is the waiting list? Do you pay before or on delivery?
avanutria,
Fred said the wait would be about three months. You pay when your whistle is ready.
Jenny
avanutria,
Hope you don’t mind I reply to your question.
I placed an order for a Rose whistle early october. Fred replied that he expected to have the whistle ready in december. He did not give an exact delivery time. I guess I’ll contact him early december.
You pay when the whistle is ready.
Drop Fred an email (fredrose.whistles@virgin.net) to get current information, he has been very prompt in replying to my mails.
Jeroen
oops, posted at the same time
Mick Woodruff has excellent recordings on his Rose whistle, and he is a much better player than I am. I suggest you listen to his recordings.
http://www.fingertrip.net/whistle/
I don’t mean to be mean!
Anyone who orders one of these will not regret it…it’s amazing.
As for selling my other whistles, not at this time.
Jessie
[ This Message was edited by: JessieK on 2001-10-26 10:20 ]
Alas, I too must confess my Love…
For the Rose whistle 
It is true that Mr. Rose’s whistles are unusually good. The balance Fred has struck between volume, tone, and playability is quite remarkable. I won’t say any whistle is the “Best” overall, because I truly believe whistle selection is a matter of “Horses for Courses”, but I will say this:
If you’re looking for a medium volume, well tuned whistle, with a wonderfully sweet tone, that’s easy to play, beautiful to look at, reasonably priced and (at least for the moment) available relatively quickly…You can’t beat the Rose, No Way, No How, Not Gonna Happen…Not on this planet anyway.
I have only (minor) issue with the Rose that’s worth mentioning: The second octave D will squeak a bit under certain circumstances if you don’t play it oxxxxx. Sometimes hitting the high D note with xxxxxx causes the whistle to start heading for the third octave, hence the squeak. I readily admit that this may be due to my shoddy playing and lack of breath control - I mean hey, Mick doesn’t seem to have this problem based on what I’ve heard at Clips and Snips.
Perhaps as others get their Rose whistles they will comment on whether or not the notice this characteristic. Seems to me a by product of the conical bore design since I’ve noticed a similar tendency with some Copelands as well.
Loren (Who wishes Fred would hurry up and produce a Low D) B.
Ooooo! Jessie! First Mick, now you! I want one! Wah!
I’m very pleased that after an assessment period, our Rose whistle owners are now only more convinced that Fred’s whistles truly are masterpieces! Nick Turner has been calling Fred’s whistles, the “Stradivarius of whistles”, for quite some time, and certainly before I had tried one. Then I joined in with Nick, but for a while it was a lonely position to be in, singing the praises of a little-known whistle to a suspicious whistling community, awash with fine whistles from around the world. Maybe people thought I had lost objectivity?
By the way Loren, the problem you say you’re experiencing with the 2nd 8ve D, it’s not a problem I’ve had myself. I’m very much a oxxxxx man as opposed to a xxxxxx man, though. Still, I do use xxxxxx often enough, and I’ve just experimented with it on my Rose, playing it in some fast passages to see if I could “trick” it into misbehaving, but it seems just fine to me.
Happy weekend everyone.
Mick
[ This Message was edited by: Mick Woodruff on 2001-10-26 11:41 ]
On 2001-10-26 10:04, JessieK wrote:
Mick Woodruff has excellent recordings on his Rose whistle, and he is a much better player than I am. I suggest you listen to his recordings. >http://www.fingertrip.net/whistle/ >
I don’t mean to be mean! >
Oh I know you’re not mean! I have downloaded Mick’s recordings previously, I was just hoping to hear more. I emailed Fred Rose, too, asking about the whistle.
Does this whistle come with a case? I forget if someone said or not. How many pieces does the whistle come in?
The whistle is in two pieces. Look at Mick’s pictures.
http://www.geocities.com/dwisely/fredrose.html
It comes with two cases actually. One is a dark green cardboard folding case with foam rubber cut to fit the whistle, and the other is a dark green polarfleece pouch with separate pockets for the top and bottom of the whistle. It closes with a really neat and stable plastic thingie as on, um, laundry bags or something. You squeeze the little plastic thing together to pull it open or closed. Really classy packaging.
Jessie
Ah. I did see the pic but I didn’t realize it came apart at the top. Is the cardboard case sturdy?
I think I’m pretty much sold, I just have to estimate when I will have the money for it! Thanks for the info Jessie.
You got me too! I just placed an order.
That looks, and sounds, like a beautiful instrument. I’m impressed by the price also. It will help get rid of the Canadian Winter Blahs when it arrvives…
Cheers
Gerry
I placed an order via e-mail a few days ago but have not heard back. I tried again today. I hope I am on the list!
Does Fred usually respond back to let you know he has received an order?
These whistles sound great.
Tres
Mick, dear boy, can you ask Mr Rose to send one of his whistles to me on the Isle of Wight (I was transferred here from that other place in South London, as you probably know). I’d appreciate it if you could see that I get to the head of the queue, which seems to be lengthening by the minute since the fulsome Jessie posted her charming eulogy. (Have I got that right?)
Oh, yes, money. Um - tell him Mary will handle the financial arrangements. Or perhaps he’d take books in exchange? A consignment to his local library?
The cardboard case is sturdy, and the little bag is really great.
Fred sometimes has e-mail issues. Once he was sending me e-mails and when they arrived they were just a bunch of unreadable symbols. I ended up calling him on the phone.
Jessie
[ This Message was edited by: JessieK on 2001-10-26 21:57 ]
Sigh, it’s a consipiracy…I told my boyfriend about the Rose whistle and he all but told me to get it! Looks like I will be working some extra hours soon…=)