O'Brien Narrow Bore Brass Review, Pics, Recordings

Whistle
1

David O’Brien has added a new design to his whistle lineup, a narrow bore brass whistle.

This is actually a hard whistle for me to review–I have fallen in love with the thing, and it’s a real shame, as I don’t think I’m going to get to keep the prototype.

Construction

The whistle is made of heavy-guage narrow brass tubing with a wooden fipple. It’s tunable. The design and execution are very good–it’s a handsome whistle with excellent craftsmanship.

Here’s a pic:

And close-ups of the fipple:

Tone

The tone of this whistle is just wonderful. It’s a moderately loud whistle with nicely balanced octaves. The first octave tone is rich, very traditional, almost gritty, and you can make it “bark,” even on the bell note. The second octave is pure and focused, and very easy to hit without being shrill.

The tone is stronger and “grittier” than the Black Diamond, but without being harsh or unpleasant, even when playing in a small room right in front of the computer (which is one of the worst places to play a whistle!).

Intonation

Intonation is good. My favorite cross-fingering for C-natural is precisely in tune (o x x | o o o ). The C-natural has a slightly different timbre than its surrounding notes but not really weak, just slightly less focused.

The high A and B in the second octave tend a bit sharp; this is not unusual, and is true of most whistes.

The whistle has great pitch stability over a wide range of blowing pressures, giving you some volume control.

Response

This whistle has less backpressure and resistance than his previous design but still doesn’t take very much air. It’s a very easy playing whistle, and can be played very rapidly. Ornamentation “pops up” nicely, and the whistle has some nice chiff popping in there and there, lending it some real elegance. It’s a very traditional sounding whistle.

Pros

–very traditional sound
–strong first octave and bell note
–can take hard, “thrashing” play
–great pitch stability
–very easy player

Cons

–slightly weak first-octave C-natural
–top of the second octave tends slightly sharp
–I can’t keep it!!! :cry: (sob!)

Recordings

As always, please blame faults in the execution of the tunes on the player and not the whistle.

Here’s the Old Favourite:

http://flutesite.com/obb/obrien_brass1.mp3

Here’s Sweeney’s Dream:

http://flutesite.com/obb/obriend_brass2.mp3

And, finally, in order to showcase the lovely sound of this whistle, here’s the air Aisling Gheal:

http://flutesite.com/obb/obrien_brass4.mp3

–James

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Wow! That wood-on-brass action is pretty sexy! Any idea what kind
of wood the fipple is made from? Glad to see such a nice, long beak.
The fipple on the OBrien Maple was a bit short for my taste (though,
that’s probably an indicator that I choke up too far on the whistle).

Sounds like this would be quieter than my OBrien traveler, which I
mostly limit to outdoor use (but love, nonetheless). I think I want one!
Thanks for the review, James.tgz

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David tells me the wood on this prototype is bocote. It’s lovely, and very professionally built and finished.

My other O’Brien is a moderately soft whistle, about on the same volume level as a Burke narrow bore brass. This O’Brien is louder, roughly on a par with a Syn or a Black Diamond.

The tone is similar to a Black Diamond only stronger and grittier, and it’s a bit easier to play in the high octave than the B.D.

–James

4

It sure looks that way! How is the wood finished? The reflection in the
second picture makes it look like there’s a layer of polyurethane, but
that may be a trick of the light.

5

It has a moderately shiny finish on the wood, like a varnish.

I’ll check with David and see what he finished it with.

–James

6

There ya have it, from the man himself.

–James

7

those pics remind me a lot of the SZBE whistle mouthpiece…nifty stuff!

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By the way, I misunderstood one of David’s PMs; I will be able to purchase this whistle from him.

It’s unusual to find an instrument that fits so well, and since even factory-build musical instruments can vary from instrument to instrument, I am thrilled that I will be able to keep this particular whistle.

That doesn’t affect the review one way or the other, but I thought I should note it here, just to prevent anyone misunderstanding.

–James

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I’m trying to figure out from all this if there is a substantial difference between delrin and wood fipple. (Is the delrin the Black Diamond you mentioned?)

I am very encouraged/interested by your review James! I got the jones for a new tooter anyway.

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The Black Diamond is a whistle made by a different maker, Erle Barlett of Australia who also makes the Syn whistles. It’s a delrin fipple with a brass tube and is another whistle with a very traditional sound, although somewhat purer in sound than the narrow bore O’Brien.

David is making these narrow bore brass whistles with delrin fipples as well as with different woods (in a PM he mentions both bocote and rosewood).

He has some lovely photos of this new whistle at

http://www.obrienwhistles.com/OBPWbrass.html

–James

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The Black Diamond has a Delrin Fipple/Head, but personally I like the O’Brien Narrow Bore better.

There are pics of the O’Brien Narrow Bore with a Delrin Fipple here:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=42011

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No other keys than D in this wood cap model?

13

I only bump this thread because I don’t think my comment deserves its
own thread…

I just got my O’Brien narrow bore brass (with bocote top). It’s
absolutely lovely, as noted in prior posts. I just wanted to make a note
to anyone who first tries this whistle: the tuning slide sleeve is very
long. You can lengthen this whistle so much that its internal tuning is
changed. It’s pretty crazy. When I first got it in the mail, I separated
the head from the body to inspect it before playing, and when I put it
back together, I didn’t slide it in very far. Then, I tried a scale and the
C# was way, way flat. It seemed like a couple of the other notes were
out of tune with each other. I was very upset! Luckily, I picked it up
the next morning, and happened to push the head all the way in.
Then, it sounded beautiful and perfectly in tune! I thought I must be
going crazy, so I experimented a little, and found that there is a point
at which the tuning goes out of whack. But, that point was so far out
that you were almost playing past Db, so you probably wouldn’t have
any legitimate reason to pull out that far.

So, in closing I’d like to say: Thank you for the beautiful whistle, Mr.
O’Brien, and I’m sorry for any curses I may have lobbed your way in
a time of temporary insanity. Also, if a customer complains about tuning
problems, tell them to try pushing it all the way together first!

14

Thanks for the encouraging comments.

Actually, adjusting any tunable whistle off standard pitch (A = 440 Hz), alters the relative spacing of the tone holes. Usually the error is not enough to notice, because normally you wouldn’t de-tune a whistle by more than a quarter tone or so. A true tunable whistle would need six tuning slides.

I made the tuning slide extra long to provide stability because it’s made from thin-walled tubing.

15

That’s what I thought must be the case. I happened to detune it
enough for the error to be noticeable. One of the reasons I like your
whistles is that there is plenty of room for tuning in both directions.

I ran through some tunes last night in the correct position, and it
sounds great! I can’t wait to get it to a session.