Ok, all who read here must suffer as my family tradition is to celebrate tomorrow (a 3-year trad. due to the greater ease of assemblage of the hordes at my mother-in-law’s house on the lesser traffic day). I’ve had time to fiddle, er, whistle.
I recorded and reviewed all 8 of my metal only high Ds. Two qualifications - they’re all fine whistles and all would sound great played by a really good player or terrible by a really terrible player (or not bad by me).
The whistles: Silkstone (aluminum), Burke Al-pro (alum), Burke WBB (brass), Overton (alum), Parkhurst (copper), Sindt (brass),Tully (sterling silver), and Copeland (brass).
This is wo regard to either appearance or cost; it is based on sound (strength and quality of tone), playability (physical ease and wind and transitions between octaves), and expressibility (allows for expressive range of riffs).
The testing consisted of playing each whistle multiple times over a range of both slow airs and up-tempo reels with a sort of playoff of the three favorites (yes, this mostly personal taste after all)on “The Pikemen” (aka “The Halting March”) and “Cis Ni Lathain,” a wonderful fling.
On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being best, Burke Al-pro, Copeland and Sindt scored 1 (great); Overton, Silkstone, and Burke WBB scored 1.5 (very good); and Tully and Parkhurst scored 2 each (good).
Notes:
1.All but the Overton are tuneable.
2.Overton allows for great expressiveness, but you need to pay careful attention to breath control or it can get tinny sounding.
3.Overton has the singularly thickest tube walls.
4.I love Overtons generally, but this one has the two top holes literally too close (together) for comfort, and I don’t have fat fingers.
5.The Sindt singularly has the thinnest bore or tubing diameter.
6.Though the Parkhurst is not really heavier than the brass whistles, it has a denser feel to it.
7.You need to heed the tuning slide on the Silkstone.
Didn’t quite finish and hit the wrong button.
If I’m going to an island, I can’t choose between the Copeland, Burke Al-pro, and Sindt - all super whistles.
What differentiated the scoring for me was the character and strength of tone or expressibility.
Things even out - the Parkhurst and Tully are uniquely fine in appearance.
Hope this helps a beginner in making some choices or provides food for thought. Speaking of food…
PhilO
PhilO
I just got in from the pub. . . completely smashed, (as any good quasi-Celt would), and you’re telling me that the top two Overton finger holes are too close together . . . and yet your fingers are not too fat . . . this sounds like you shouldn’t ordinarily have a problem ??
I guess you really mean that you have somewhat larger diameter fingers than most ??
Don’t hate me PhilO . . . it’s just the beer talking.
. . . Tony P.
Doubtless it’s personal taste,
and I like the tonal properties
of the Copeland nickle D significantly better
than those of the Copeland brass D.
I swear…I have perfectly normal fingers…really
I’m specifically curious about the relative playability of the Sindt, the Tully, and the Parkhurst–how do they rank for you in playability alone? I have a Sindt and two Parkhursts on order and I am considering ordering a Copeland sterling silver–not all sop Ds, but nothing below B flat. I don’t have the money yet for the Copeland. My case of WhOA is better or should I say worse than my ability to play.
All three are easy to play in that they are physically comfortable, require normal air and make effortless octave transitions. However, that said, the Sindt is the only one of the three IMHO that you can really lean into and it’s more responsive. This all depends on your circumstances; obviously I’ve got all three and am happy about that. The Tully, as Eric advises, does need warming up and I’ve not yet spent enough time with it. But, hey it’s sterling and beautifully done. The Parkhurst is a bargain and I love the way it looks. It plays just fine too. The Sindt just may be the best bang for the buck in the entire field of soprano D whistles. Not fancy, just solid. It is thinner bore than other whistles. It is right on the money and I can’t see anything “off” about it. For example, if you are going up in grade from the “cheapies” and don’t want to go broke and want just one soprano D - I’d recommend the Sindt; heck, I’d recommend it in any case, it’s a great whistle. For a bit more, the Burke Al-pro is my personal favorite. In terms of quality, tuning, playability - they are equally wonderful whistles by two wonderful makers. For even considerably more bucks, the Copeland is the old high-end standard, gorgeous, substantial, filled with character. Get others to get you presents; get them all! Have a great holiday season.
And this is just metal; wait till we get to wood, plastic…ah, Silkstone, Thin Weasel…
PhilO
thanks for your HOs. Now waiting for the Sindt is going to be even tougher!
Lisa
Actually, to be even mentioned in the same posting as Copeland and Sindt, I consider a priveledge! 
dave
Wow, Parky Lives!!!
Sorry folks, we just haven’t seen Dave here on the board in awhile, forgive my exuberance…
We now return you to your regularly scheduled program…
PhilO:
I have a Burke WBB-Pro D on order (the waiting is killing me). What can you tell me about it? Anything you offer will help me stay relatively sane for the next 24 hours. 
I have one of the early WBB whistles; yours will likely have little or no clogging and an o-ring tuning slide. Should be great; I love Mike’s whistles. Enjoy and let me know.
PhilO:
Thanks for the reply! I am really looking forward to its arrival… You’ll see a posting from me as soon as I am able to put it down for a minute or two.
-MD
Hey PhilO,
You forgot to comment on one very important quality: intonation.
While recording songs for Clips n Snips, I would first play the accompaniment on a small keyboard, which can then play it back, and then I would play my whistle along with the keyboard for the recording. I found that many of my whistles had certain notes which took too much effort to play in tune, while only a few of my whistles didn’t take any effort at all. I know that all wind instruments have certain notes that need some adjustment by the player while playing, but the less I have to think about those notes, the better. One cheapy whistle I found that did play in tune very well was an Oak. But many people complain that Oaks are too raspy sounding.
Thanks,
John
Thankful for you more musically advanced guys (really). I think you just articulated for me a large part of perhaps what I’m trying to get at in terms of playability and the resulting sounds. Glad you’re hear (couldn’t resist; actually, I’ve been under house arrest for centuries due to bad punning).