Hello! I have a Burke aluminum D. I’m considering purchasing a low D. I’m wondering what folks think of Ethnic Wind low whistles and how they compare to Burke and MK in terms of tone, back pressure, etc. Thank you and best regards.
Mike
Allright, no one else has replied so I’ll take a shot.
First off the Burke and MK are completely different whistles. The Burke offers no resistance (back-pressure) while the MK has fairly obvious resistance to breath, though not excessive by any measure. The Burke is pure sounding while the MK has been described, I think accurately, as “dirty” sounding. The Burke has a booming bell note while this is the MK’s only weakness IMHO. Maybe weakness is too harsh, just a different design choice. The MK is certainly adequate in this regard. The MK is more breath efficient which allows me to play nearly twice as long on a single breath, YMMV. There are other differences but you get the picture I imagine.
Now to the Ethnic Wind. I have played three different Ethnic Wind low whistles over the past three years. None of them were mine so I can’t say that I know them as well as the others. I played each one for an evening. As much as I respect Nick at Ethnic Wind none of these compares well to an MK or Burke in my book. One was copper, one PVC and one alloy (possible aluminum). All there were different and all had tuning issues and all had an obvious tendency toward a breathy tone which varied by whistle. They are not dirty like the MK where there are overtones present but more like a big Clarke if you are familiar with those. Like most whistles, they could be blown into tune but there was a significant variation in the breath pressure needed to bring some notes into tune. One might get used to this over time I suppose. I’d say the Burke and MK tend to be louder whistles, while these three Ethnic Wind whistles were soft to moderate in volume, which might be attractive to some. Nick does have some fairly radical designs to be sure.
As previously stated, I have played and own several other low whistles by other makers - far more than the Ethnic Wind so others may come along and share a much different opinion.
Good luck with your choice and let us know more about what you’re doing.
ecohawk
As above.
No Ethnic wind here but perhaps useful-
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fkL06uOtZQc&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DfkL06uOtZQc
I’m with ecohawk on this one. I have a low d Ethnic Wind whistle, and it isn’t my favorite - it was difficult to keep in tune. It was also very heavy (aluminum, I think?).
Hello! Thank you for the comments. I appreciate them. Best regards.
Mike