Inexpensive whistles for Asia

Whistle
1

Hello! Pardon my inexperience in this forum :puppyeyes: I’ve only just picked up the tin whistle after getting inspired by Denmark’s Eurovision winner this year :smiley: I own a Clarke original in D but it clogs under 10min into playing and I’m definitely keen to expand my whistle collection.

But so far I’m facing numerous obstacles in buying another whistle

  1. I live in Singapore where it’s terribly humid; will wooden whistles or parts turn mouldy? This has happened to my harmonica :frowning:
  2. There are no music shops that sell tin whistles here and shipping fees from ebay or bigwhistle.co.uk can cost more than the whistle itself o.O
  3. Customs are really strict and held my Clarke for a good 2 months! I’m really hesitant to buy metal whistles if they’re likely to get confiscated.

What whistles are recommended for such circumstances and how can I go about buying them? Thank you so much!

2

Hi

I wonder if the clogging might be linked to the mould problem with the harmonicas in that some people have wetter breath than others.

Making your own whistles might be an option. See:
http://www.ggwhistles.com/

3

Well mould in Clarkes is one thing, rust is another in humid climates.

There are several members from Singapore on the forum, they may be able to help you further. Try contact Eldarion (via PM) he’ll probably be able to sort you out with some advice.

4

Something good came from that lip-synced Eurovision whistle performance then? Glad it inspired you to play the whistle.

Just thinking about the humidity and mould issues for a minute I would think that an all plastic, cylindrical bore whistle would be the way to go. The reason for the cylindrical bore is to make swabbing the whistle out after playing easier. The advantage of the plastic is that it will not rust, rot or corrode and it would be a easy to clean after playing. You can actually run them under a stream of water (provided it is not too hot) to clean them out. Then swab the remaining moisture out with a bit of silk or cotton to keep them dry inside so as not to promote mould.

There are lots of models to choose from in various price ranges. Here are some suggestions. At the low cost end, there are Chinese made whistles variously branded as Woodnote, Smart or Ferris that borrow their construction from Susato designs. The original Susato Oriole or Kildare could be useful for a bit more. An all polymer Dixon would be workable as well. Maybe a Parks Walkabout could do it. Then there are the delrin whistles made by Busman, Milligan or O’Brien as examples (duties and shipping fees should not be as much as these whistles cost :slight_smile: ). There are many other options as well.

All of those are available over the Internet. Some may be available locally but it might take some digging. I have had good luck buying whistles here in the US at specialty children’s educational toy stores. Don’t know if there are any near you. I’ve bought Clarke’s, Feadogs and others at such stores. They stock whistles because they are about as easy a wind instrument with which any child could start their life’s musical journey. So who knows what you might find.

Since you seem very conscious of import duties and shipping costs I would encourage you to look into making your own whistles from plastic plumbing pipe which I am sure you can find in Singapore. Look at Guido Gonzato’s website to get some ideas on the materials and the process. We are here to answer questions should any come up. It takes very little in the way of tooling - just common household tools. The most important thing you need to make a decent whistle yourself is patience. I bet you can’t make just one.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

Feadoggie

5

Hello Åkerskog!

Interesting situation you’ve got; is there a decent body of Irish music players in Singapore? I wouldn’t find it too surprising given its Commonwealth history, and globetrotting expats.

A few minor questions:

  1. Customs are really strict and held my Clarke for a good 2 months! I’m really hesitant to buy metal whistles if they’re likely to get confiscated.

Are you saying that metal whistles are getting confiscated because they catch Customs attention as looking suspicious, or that it’s because they are, or appear to be, higher-value products and come under more scrutiny? Or are you just saying the Customs service is just unpredictable and just anything that gets mailed to you is at-risk? I’m just unclear how a metal whistle would be more controversial.

Also, given how much folks travel in and out of Singapore, maybe easiest to have it mailed to a friend who’s visiting the US or UK and have them hand-carry it back to Singapore (provided that doesn’t transgress some local smuggling rules)?


Inexpensive > whistles for Asia



Just thinking about the humidity and mould issues for a minute I would think that an all plastic, cylindrical bore whistle would be the way to go.

I totally agree with Feadoggie on polymer being the way to go, though I wouldn’t totally write off conical-bore polymer instruments, since I think the hassle of cleaning the bore would only be incrementally more. I’d imagine you’ll be rinsing a lot more than scrubbing, so it’s the avoiding wood and metal that’s the big key.

All things are relative; do you mean like <US$20 inexpensive, <US$100, <$200?

Of the all-polymer whistles, I’ve messed with:

  • I own a Parks, made of white CPVC (base price US$55). I bought it as a set one mouthpiece, a D body that unjoints into two parts (letting all three bits fit in a 4" or so long case), and an Eb body as well. A set with one mouthpiece and C, D, and E bodies is $73. Might be a way to save on shipping/customs to get a multi-body set. The Parks were specifically developed to hold up while backpacking in the Everglades swamps of Florida.
  • Susato makes all-polymer cylindrical whistles in several price-ranges, as low as $28. And they also sell multi-body sets, and also make whistles in several body sizes and a large range of pitches. I’ve owned a few of theirs, and am rather partial to the very low-breathy tone of their Low F, though their High D I find cleaner/smoother than I’d like.
  • I’ve briefly messed with the Sweetheart “Professional” model. Comes only in D, but looks more traditional and more refined, and as I recall sounded more whistle-like than the Susato (Susato sounds good, just very “clean” and I like a chiffier sound). Pricier at $150, but that’s still way, way, cheaper than any non-junk guitar would be, and with a little occasional washing could last you decades or more (plus take up less space when traveling). In contrast to the other two it has some taper in the bore so might take just slightly more effort to rinse out, but it also has a curved airway that supposedly helps resist condensation clogging.

These are three that come to mind that I can speak to, in a variety of price-ranges, and all-synthetic should be easy to clean and immune to Singpore weather (so long as you don’t leave it sitting on your car’s dashboard on a hot day).

Interesting environmental-musical challenge! I’ll be curious to see what you end up getting.