Just Arrived: Serpent SunSinger Bb (raffle prize)

Whistle
1

Well, this is definitely my week for WhOA appeasement. On Tuesday my new Busmans arrived (see topic “Just Arrived: Busman…”), and today I received my prize from the Jerry raffle: a brass-bodied Serpent Sunsinger Bb, made by Bill Whedon. Thanks Jessie! And thanks to the anonymous donor!

My first thought upon removing the whistle from its packaging was, “This thing is heavy enough to break a toe if it slips out of my hands while I’m playing!” It’s a very substantial whistle. (It feels heavier than my aluminum Burke low D.) I wonder if Bill designed these with punter-clubbing or bodhran-smashing in mind…

When I had asked previously for descriptions of the sound of the Serpent whistles, DCrom described them as somewhat airy and chiffy, by design. This Bb SunSinger is no exception. Plus, it’s got plenty of volume, and a quite strong bell-note and lower octave. I think I’m gonna enjoy this one. :smiley:

Cheers,
John

2

I also recently received a Sunsinger from Bill and I’ve been owing him a review. I think this would be good place to put it.


Review on Serpent Music Sunsinger High-C Pennywhistle
Serial #:032
By: Daniel Bingamon - Jubilee Music Instrument Co.

Description:
Whistle is a wide bore high-C whistle made of various materials.
The Tone Body tube is made of Aluminum and has slightly large (but not huge) toneholes comfortable spaced apart. The Aluminum is an anodized finish, a purple color that looks almost black. The tone holes are well cut well rounded with no hanging filings inside. The anodize appears to well cover the surface both inside and out.

The color combination is pleasant.

The tuning coupler is a turned copper material with some decorative bands cut on the lower half of it. The slide appears to be treated with a wax material (bee’s wax) and is very well packed on delivery.
The tuning coupler on this whistle stays with the tone body and the head separates from it.
The bell note/key of the instrument is engraved on the underside of the tuning coupler. A rather decorative looking ‘C’.

The whistle mouthpiece is made of brass for the main body of it and a copper windshroud/beak.
This brass body has engraving on the underside, indicating the Model, “Sunsinger” in handwriting, the Serial number, initials of the maker and the Serpent Music web address. Pretty nice writing, I couldn’t write like that.

The copper fipple has a traditional radiused type beak and a white delrin block. A curved windway and a very interesting fipple window. It is not straight across like most whistles, it instead goes across in an arc with a fairly steep but well pronounced blade. It appears to be an overcut only type blade with no undercut - maybe I didn’t see it.
The copper fipple is soldered to the brass part, it looks pretty solid and not likely to break.

It has a good sound with just a slight hint of air rush in it. It doesn’t change sound after you play it while, it seems to have good stability. I think if the beak surrounded the sides of the fipple window (like ears), it might produce a richer timbre. But, whistle sound choices vary from individual to individual.

One problem that I have encountered with the beak of the instrument. At first I though it was the curved windway (I always put a little flat on the mouth end myself).
The windway is really close the surface of the whistle, this is a bittersweet thing - whereas the closeness to the surface allows the copper to heat up fast and keep the whistle in tune and from clogging easily, this is a good thing. The fleshy part of my mouth catches in the windway and gives the whistle laryngitis by stopping the airflow. As long as I’m aware of it and keep the beak well into the mouth, no problems occur. Some musicians like to play the instrument barely connected to the mouth and this could be a problem for someone playing this way. Believe me, when you’re up late playing and tired, this makes a difference. The good thing is that there are many ways to remedy this and I’m sure Bill would be more than happy to satisify customers.

(Bill has acknowledged my comments and plans on experiementing with this).

Weight: The weight of the instrument is nice. Using the aluminum for the tonebody on a wide bore whistle really brings the weight done. But it’s no ultralight and I like a little weight. Headjoint is a little heavy but the aluminum for the body is good choice for keeping it comfortable.

Tuning: I was amazed at the tuning of whistle. Perfect A-440 Equal Temperment, no problems here at all. It checked it using Volkmer’s “Tuneit!” software.

Breath Pressure is moderate and there is ample pressure between octaves so that won’t hit the wrong octave. I would like just a triffle more backpressure - but this is still good.

After taking the head off of the whistle to look it over, the head is now just a little wobbly. Probably was not supposed to take it fully off.
I will have to replace the bee’s wax that made it tight.


I don’t do reviews very often, but I do try to keep my comments fair and balanced.

13-May-2004
Daniel Bingamon

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Bumping this thread again - I’d promised a review of my SunSinger A when it arrived and this seemed like the best place to put it. Mine arrived while I was travelling, so I’ve only had a couple of days with it so far, but I’ve become very fond of it already.

Disclaimer up front: I like Serpents, and I’m a fan of Bill Whedon. I’ve been as objective as I can, and would (I think) report any major flaws fairly, but thought I should note this going in. Feel free to apply however much salt you deem necessary.

Daniel’s review covered the physical part quite well. My A has its aluminum body anodized a deep, rich, red. This is a hefty whistle; not too heavy, but not a lightweight either.

The tone holes aren’t huge, but it’s worth noting that they are as large or larger than the holes on my Dixon Low D. Even so, this is a very responsive whistle - I can play jigs and reels at full speed (as easily as I can on any whistle, that is :laughing: ). It is also a rather loud whistle - not shrill, but you’ll have no trouble being heard, either. And if you lean on it, it positively booms - this works remarkably well on marches.

The volume is quite well balanced between octaves - the second octave might be a touch louder, but the difference is less than my Sweetone or Dixon D’s. As Daniel noted, it takes a bit of a push to jump octaves - not difficult, but I’d spent the last 10 days on a trip playing (mostly) my Dixon Bb, which requires much less pressure to flip - for the first 10 minutes or so I had to consciously think to jump octaves cleanly. With a little practice, it became automatic. It doesn’t really take too much air, especially for the volume, but it responds well to aggressive play. For me, the backpressure felt about right - less than the Overtons I’ve played, a bit more than my year-old Serpent Python F, a lot more than my Dixon Low D.

Tone? I’ve described the Serpent Polly line as sounding like louder Clarke whistles; the SunSinger A, by contrast, sounds remarkably like a louder, slightly more stable, version of my favorite Generation Bb (I played them side by side to compare). This is a very traditional sounding whistle, at least to my ear - I can’t imagine anyone who knows the difference describing it as “recorder-like”.

This is my fourth Serpent. All of them rank among my favorites, but - in my opinion - this is the best so far. I’d better start saving my pennies, because I’d really like one in G, too.

Edit 5/25: Checking the Serpent website I see that the SunSinger only comes in the keys of D, C, Bb, and A. Unless Bill changes his mind and adds G to the list. But I can probably justify getting a Bb, or maybe a C . . .