So, I splurged last year and bought a Glenn Schultz Thin Weasel (aka water weasel) in D that I absolutely love from the Irish Flute Store. Is anyone out there currently making something out of CPVC (or similar) these days up to the same quality level? I love this thing, but finding other Schultz’s is like looking for the holy grail…plus they go for a small fortune.
Thanks in advance,
Eric
FYI the Thin Weasel whistles were the ones made out of wood. The Water Weasels were the ones made out of PVC / CPVC. They’re not the same thing fwiw.
I always thought that but the original sticker still on mine is a CPVC whistle and it says Thin Weasel.
Eric
Oh interesting! Thanks for the correction.
I’ve only played a few of them, but do have one of his wood ones… it’s ok, I still prefer Generations and Feadogs
That’s the great thing about whistles, especially for makers…everyone has their favorite. I admit to being disappointed the label didn’t say Water Weasel, because, well, I always was amused by the name. Maybe it was just a nickname for them? Having to print two different labels would have been the more expensive option. Or, maybe I just have an early CPVC model before he came up with the name Water Weasel.
I’ve never played one of Glenn’s wooden whistles, but the two CPVC version I’ve met in the wild (one of which I own) I have loved.
Eric
There was a shop here back 30 years ago or so which carried Glenn Schultz wooden whistles. (Blackwood/Ebony and Brazilian Rosewood as I recall.)
Whenever I visited the shop I’d play all the ones they had. They generally 3 or 4 at a time, rotating through as they sold.
The voicing of these varied quite a bit. Some were good, some weren’t. I never said “wow! I need that one!”
Yet..yet…there was an excellent Irish whistle player here, a guy devoted to his trusty old Generations.
One day he showed up with a whistle roll with a half-dozen blackwood Schultz whistles, graduated sizes, with mezzo G, or possibly mezzo F, as the lowest.
They were great players, every one!
I was just seeing that now…some keys I’ll likely never use, but some others I definitely would. Contemplating…deeply contemplating.
They’re minesss my precious…all minessss. 
Eric
I’ve been very impressed by the cPVC Goldfinch whistles out of Poland. I’ve only played a Glenn Schultz whistle briefly, while visiting Erik Tullberg for an afternoon (and I don’t really remember how it played), but the build quality of the Goldfinches are phenomenal.
Goldfinch whistles are very air efficient, precise, smooth, and focused, kind of a Burke-like design (without the honking bottom end). The biggest drawback, for me, is that they only come in three bore sizes, so you have small for the soprano Eb, D, C, medium for the Bb, A, G (and a narrow bore F# I asked for), and large for low F down to low C. I like when makers can tailor the bore size to the key for consistent play-feel, instead of having some feel wide-bore, and some narrow, but most of my Goldfinches play really well. I just get the sense on certain keys that a slightly wider or narrower bore might be more ideal. I particularly like the lower keys, like my alto G and low E. I find the soprano D a bit thick, but it plays better than my Killarney.
Here’s my run through of a set of them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-LLvaVgxug&t=1s
That’s tempting…never heard of Goldfinch and I could use an Eb. I did buy the set of Thin Weasels recently that came up for sale, about the only key it didn’t have was Eb.
There is a fellow named Bob Littlefield who has been perfecting the pvc whistle. He posts a lot in the FB Irish Whistle page.
