I don’t know if it’s common knowledge yet, but I was at this weeks meeting of the Sheffield Pipers Club and Brian Howard has tweeked the latest head even further and the results are very rewarding. For anyone thinking of upgrading my advice is go for it! I don’t see them on the site yet but he has them in production I know because I snapped one up.
Thank you for this timely bit of information. I was wondering how one tells what generation of Howard whistle head one has, but if there’s a new and improved one, that’s all I need to know.
Cheers,
Jim
That is very interesting i wonder what he has done. How has it improved the Whsitle?
Well a few weeks ago at one of the Wednesday night meets Brian had a little tweek with my Low D head and the improvement on the tone was exceptional,He did this for all of us who were there and we were all well pleased,Then last week he came with a completely new head,Not tweeked but a completely new design (internally that is,it still looks the same on the outside) and this also had the improved tone but the big improvement was with the playability of the instrument,it required so little breath to play that it almost plays its self, well slight exageration but you get my drift, This is an excellent improvement and for those who think that a Howard whistle needs alot of breath (i do not personnaly) then this new head is a must,its worth getting just for the improvement in tone. I am no expert but even i can tell the difference from the older version. Anyone interested then contact Brian he will only be to pleased to offer help and advise and supply you with one.
Did the new “less air” design reduce the volume of the whistle?
-brett
NO, The volume has not been affected at all,it is still just as loud as you want it to be.
Cool! Sounds like a winner. I just made a trade for a Kerry Low-D (the plastic head kind) which I assume is similar in looks, if nothing else. If that doesn’t work out I think I’ll try a Howard next.
-Brett
a fellow wrote this on the lunasa board:
about the new howard-head:
I was there, had a good old play on it, and whilst it was a nice head, its not one that I would prefer myself.
I found that playing it the lower notes were greatly easier to play - rightly enough with no air. However, pump it up into the 2nd octave and things started to get a little dicey. The problem of low whistles going higher than 2nd octave G started to kick in. With a bit of adjustment it was possible to get the full note range, but the drawback was insane amounts of air passing through, combined with rather noticable increase in volume. Not good if you’re doing a ‘slow’ piece, if you ask me.
Brian continued to play with the whistle and after about 5 minutes clogged up. Then again. And again. Then he put it down and played on his normal whistle. Granted i’ve found my howard to clog up often, it does take a good 15-20 minutes (climate depending)…
Tone etc remained the same.
In all fairness, given the fact it clogs up, for me isnt an issue. What I did find difficult was due to it being SO easy to play, that especially in the lower note range, was far too easy to kick it up into the 2nd octave.