Recently, I contacted Mr. Jerry Freeman about his tweaking of wooden-fipple whistles.
And he told me that he tweaks Shaw whistles… but I’ve never heard how they sound like!
Some say that they sound like Clarke and that’s why I’m trying to get a Shaw tweaked by Freeman. (I messed up my Clarke by tweaking it by myself…)
But of course, there might be some difference between two of them.
So please, give me some links of recording of Shaw whistles!
(I know that some of you told me not to buy a whistle until I attend the session in Ann Arbor, and I will listen to you. I just wanna check how Shaw sounds like.)
Search for ‘shaw whistle’ on Youtube, there are a few clips. To my ears it sounds just like a Clarke, and according to friends who have actually played Shaws, they require lungs the size of Lake Michigan.
I think Shaws are fantastic and keep a D in my flute case. Thing is, you almost always have to shove the windway (and perhaps the fipple) about a bit to get them where you want them, or they ask too much air (unless you like that sort of thing), use Bernouli’s principle. You can really make them chuff and drive in the low octave so they sound like a little flute. Same can be said of a Clarke of course, but the Shaws have a bit extra metal, so a bit more solid, and better built at the plug.
It may be worth mentioning, I do tweak Shaws for people who own them (I don’t sell tweaked Shaws outright). I can do any Shaw with a wooden fipple block (recent Shaws below the key of C have metal covering the block, and I can’t tweak those, but some older lower keys do not have the metal).
This not only corrects the excessive air requirement, it also focuses the voicing and generally makes a very nice whistle.
I charge $20 plus $5.55 postage anywhere in the world.
