Yesterday, I saw a “penny” wistle in D which is made of wood, tunable. Original price: HK$260 (USD33), now special offer, HK$200 (USD26). Is it worth buying?
Do you know what the brand name of it is?
Will the seller let you try it in the store?
If he will let you try it, and you like it, and you can afford it, buy it. If you can’t find out anything about the maker and the seller won’t let you try it, I wouldn’t get it.
If it’s good, that sounds like a decent price.
Certainly some high quality makers use wood, such as Thin Weasel (is that a play on the word tinwhistle? I always thought it was), Brewerpaul, Sweetheart, Abell, and the wood/metal Reyburn whistles.
Naturally, since I make wooden whistles, I am predjuiced here, but I think wooden whistles are terrific. I’m a bit skeptical about a $26 USD whistle. If you can try it out first and like it, by all means get it and let us all know about it! I’ll bet a LOT of people here would love to buy such a whistle if it’s any good.
Sounds like the Weltmeister/Adler Heinrich/whateverelsetheycallit whistle, doesn’t it, for that price? In that case, make sure to play it first and expect problems in the second octave (screetchy above the f#). C-nat is oxxxxo on those, iirc.
Kwanchan,
It isn’t a “Serpent,” is it? 
On 2002-08-21 18:21, WyoBadger wrote:
Kwanchan,
It isn’t a “Serpent,” is it? >
No. The Serpent whistles are made of metal, with engraved designs on them.
I wouldn’t buy it unless you know
what brand it is–might let us know.
The US$20 unknown brand maple whistle I have (doubtless mass produced) was not worth getting, but I have it anyway. This sounds like the kind of whistle that you’re looking at, probably…
I’ve heard (but don’t own) some beautiful wooden whistles, but they all ran over US$100, with the exception of the Ralph Sweets, some of which can be pretty good at only, uhm, something like US$40 maybe, or $50, at a guess without checking his site.
I don’t know of anyone that makes lower priced wooden whistles that are worth buying.
(Mass producing metal and plastic whistles is -much- easier to do with consistent quality than wood, which is a tempermental medium at best, and a handcrafted whistle for US$26 doesn’t sound likely to me.)
Still and all, if you get to play it and it sounds good, then great! If it’s a used whistle, it’s always possible the shop doesn’t know what they have… if it’s a bucket full of near-identical whistles, it’s almost certainly a mass-produced like I wasted money on, and if it’s neither then, uhm, I don’t know.
–Chris