Hi, newly signed in but been lurking for a few years.
I’ve recently (about 10 days) been lucky enough to have my hands on a prototype of Phil Hardys as yet unreleased new optima F, which was basically Phil suddenly having the idea of mating a low D Optima head onto the slimmer F tubing and wow it’s really been something else to play with, a power house with some really subtle control, a huge bell note and loads in between.
Anyway just got this from Phil yesterday and mine’s now gone back to get the refinement of the head tube which makes for a tuning slide as well as mating the plastic head. (originally mine was the plastic head push fit onto a slightly machined/reduced tube)
Here’s a link https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj38mFF7gzs.
I’ve been a box player ( C#D mainly) for years till health took a role, but now I really love playing with the subtle nuance and human quality of the whistle, wish I’d picked it up years back. Not sure if he’s actually got these out yet, there was something about next week but there’s nothing on his site yet. I just thought people would be interested as I was when he first told me what he was up to and then he was kind enough to let me have my hands, on one. All the Best mory
Just had email from Phil to say the production one’s of these are now in stock on his Kerry Whistles site. He did have a few prototypes (reduced prices) with kerry pro barrels, which is what mine is now it’s had the addition of the tuning collet/sleeve https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ellAY8TmFNY&feature=youtu.be All the Best mory