Hi John,
Sorry I’ve been so slow responding to your e-mail - mad busy and having to prioritise… Anyway, now you’ve posted here and I’ve found a minute, I’ll answer here.
No, nothing much to add, really. I don’t get to play it intensively, so it has only “played in” very gradually, though I do think it has developed somewhat/I am learning better how to get its best response. It has not fundamentally changed, though. I do enjoy playing it, always get it out at sessions and always play a few tunes on it. I only use my previous main low whistle as an alternative for specific reasons.
It still does very much what JS says in his blurb - optimised (and how!) for low register and therefore not easy or very sweet above A in 2nd 8ve. Character-wise it still sounds overall towards the recordery end of the whistle spectrum, but to my ears still definitely whistle, not recorder, and certainly not recorder in playing style potential.
I haven’t checked upthread but think I may have mentioned playing mine comparatively with a friend’s older grenadilla model: his has a narrower bore and, though stronger than your average low whistle at the bottom end, is less so than mine and quieter overall, but his plays much more readily in the upper 2nd and into the 3rd 8ve. I think my ideal would be something about halfway between the two, and when I can organise a visit to the West Country I plan to try to visit JS and talk to him about it it, to enquire whether he can adjust the voicing of mine in that direction. If not, I shall not be discontent, but I would appreciate somewhat greater flexibility from it including easier big interval jump response. As is, I don’t find it especially conducive to slow air playing, which is one of the things I like to be able to do on a low whistle. But for playing faster tunes, especially in noisy company, it is quite superb.
I made a short audio clip at the session in Chester last night with me playing it. The company was one high whistle, 3 sets of pipes, an accordion (or 2?) a concertina and 2 or 3 guitars. Of course, I was by far the closest instrument to my mobile phone which I used to make the recording, so balance is not representative, but I think you can hear its agility and responsiveness and also that it does not get lost in the ensemble.
