I agree that, at the low investment end, a Susato is the only realistic solution. Parks Every Whistles are excellent, but not loud. A Swayne, of course, is ideal, but not cheap nor readily available. The real answer is, of course, a piccolo…
I used to have a Bleazy whistle that was by far the loudest whistle I ever played. I loved the way it played but was too loud for me (O.K. too loud for my wife).
I think our newest mod is cracking under the strain. (Head’s gone, naturally.) He needs to be rudally apprehended, carted off and enjoined to keep better company.
Ooooh… that would be so cool. There’s something sexier about playing transverse, not sure why. Is a piccolo substantially louder? How easy is it to make a decent one?
Clive, thanks, that would be fantastic. Are you actually looking to sell it? I’m on the other side of Surrey (Reigate), but perhaps we can figure something out.
A decent piccolo is way louder than just about any whistle I’ve ever come across. I’ve been playing fife for Morris for 30+ years now and wouldn’t consider trying to do the same on a whistle. You have a substantial volume gain playing in the same octave as you would have on the equivalent range of a whistle, and once you get to grips with the third octave fingerings you’ll be more than holding your own against just about as many melodeons as you want to take on!
I’m currently playing a metal Angus D fife, and previously played various Sweet wooden fife/piccolos. Another advantage of a simple-system one is that you won’t even have to learn more than a couple of different fingerings compared to whistle.
Can’t say how easy they are to make (I suspect they’re harder to get right than whistles) - but Tony Dixon makes a plastic piccolo for about 30 quid, and whilst they’re not on a par with an Angus or a Sweet they’re plenty good enough to learn on and realise what you’ve been missing, and then you can start looking at the more expensive instruments.
That was just OTTOMH - I’ve just checked and they’re actually under 20 quid (the DX015 at http://www.tonydixonmusic.co.uk/catalogue/dixonshop.html ). Like I say you’ll soon want something better, but you won’t ever spend a better twenty quid if you do want to try playing piccolo for Morris.
See what I mean? Barrel of laughs, you are… and the body of members has to foot the metaphorical bill (jointly, of course)…
Seriously, Anyanka, sfmans is on the right track. I wouldn’t recommend anything by Dixon (that I’ve ever played), nor by Sweet. I’ve no experience of the Angus fifes, but have heard good things about them and they look the part and their website is convincing, FWTW.