Over the weekend I visited a shop that had Walton Little Black D whistles for sale at a price of $8 (US). Although I have one whistle I really like, I wondered what my fellow C&F’ers think about this particular whistle. Also, what is the typical price of the LBW?
I think I feel a slight touch of WHOA coming on. Maybe it’s the due to the grim weather we’ve been having. Ice storms, power outages, cancellations, etc. Maybe I just need a vacation, or as those of you on the other side of the Atlantic might say, I need to go on holiday!!!
Mine’s terribly squeaky too, even after tweaking it (although I’m no expert at tweaking, so it’s probably partially my fault). It does have a nice chiffy, err, kind of audacity(?) to it that I like for jigs. At that price it’s worth a try–you might just love it.
I bought a LBW at a local festival booth last summer for $5 and it sounded ok. Played fairly in tune. It did not take the place of any of my Gens, Dixons or my beloved Burke. I ended up giving it to a guy at church who has learned to play a bit on it.
I have a Walton Guiness Black Irish whistle, and I don’t know how closely they are related, but I have never liked it. It’s squeaky even after I tweaked it, and it’s out of tune with itself. The A is way off. Plus it’s really lightweight and it feels like nothing in my hands. I like a little heft.
I, too, gave mine away to my son - and it sounds nearly as good in the hands of a 4 year old in my opinion. It does look great, but squeaky, strident, hollow are my best words for it.
I wouldn’t bother,Paul’sdad. I have a ‘Guinness’ whistle which never leaves it’s box,as it suffers from the faults previously mentioned.Do yourself a favour and get a ‘good’(now there’s a subjective term!),not necessarily expensive whistle-it would be cheaper than a holiday!
LBWs sell for about £2-3 over in the UK, about $4.50. $8 seems overpriced. I have one for Whoa purposes only, it doesn’t get played much, I don’t really like the tone which is a bit dull, and the bell note is a tad sharp.
It is one of the cheapest whistles on the market, and very light having an aluminium body - so if you’re travelling and weight restrictions matter, you could save an ounce or two. Problem is it’s also very squashable, and the black coating tends to scratch off easily, so it doesn’t do well in a rucksack sidepocket - I had to sort through a binful of them in the shop to find one without scraches.
Overall, I couldn’t recommend one - you’re better off with a Generation, Walton or Feadog.
The odd thing is that, when it came out first, the LBW seemed to be an answer to the prayers of frustrated Gen owners. My first one was perfect in virtually every respect. The bell note was a tad sharp, but the whole whistle had a lovely tone and was very responsive and easy to play. I tried a few more owned by various people, and they were all to the same high standard. I overcame the fragility problem by storing it in a piece of PVC plumbing pipe.
So I was really disappointed to hear subsequently that sub-standard ones are getting out.
If any of you would be willing to pass along your reject LBW whistles, I will put them to good use. I’m working on various tweaking/frankenwhistle experiments and the LBWs lend themselves well to that. It will advance whistle tweaking science, so it’s for a good cause.
If you’re willing to help, send me an email and I’ll give you my address.
Thanks!
Jerry
P.S. I can also use any hand-me-down Gen/Feadog/Walton/Oak type whistles in any key and any condition, if anyone’s looking to tidy up your whistle drawer.
