In April this year I recieved a new low D from Colin Goldie, very nice it is too.
Then a couple of weeks later a chap turned up at our session and asked
if I could play the whistle he’d been loaned as he was struggling to
get much of a tune from it.
It turns out he was told it was an early Bernard Overton mid to late 70s.
It wasn’t the easiest Low D I’ve ever played due mainly to the quite large
tone holes and was generally very very different to my Goldie.
Anyway I happened to have my camera with me so I took a few pics.
I’d forgotten they were on the camera until earlier today when
had to upload some others for another thread.
As you can see there’s quite difference, the Goldie’s on the left & bottom. Progress I think.
Having tried a few of Bernards whistles over the years I do prefer Colins. But to be fair Colin has spent years refining them so it’s probably what you’d expect. From your photo the old Overton looks as if it has some bad wear on the blade which would have a negative effect on the sound, also the windway looks quite dirty which would contribute a fair bit to it’s difficulty.
The whistle was generally fairly clean, I think what looks like a dirty
windway and damaged blade was just a bit of surface corrosion.
It certainly looks worst in the photos and it’s right next to a very new whistle.
I would have loved to have brought it home and played it for a week or two,
a couple of tunes isn’t really enough.
Mm, I may be wrong but isn’t the other whistle the non-standard big hole Overton, the Low D Davy Spillane plays (oops did I say his name?) but with his own tweaks. There look to be just two sizes of hole and all of them large. If it is you are comparing two very different whistles, one made more specifically for slow airs etc and it will be more difficult to play. Colin Goldie also makes a big hole Low D, like the Overton only to order. Having recently bought his “standard” Low D and loving it I am considering ordering a big hole version for the even richer tones it delivers . . . but expect it to be a more challenging play. That’s what I’m betting this Overton is. Check out this thread by whistle-maker Gary Humphrey https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/big-hole-overton-low-d/1851/1
it would be interesting to put them both up against a KPro low D. But both whistles in your pictures seem to have a very large gap between holes 5 and 6. The KPro has a very large hole 5, which is lower down the barrel, while the first three holes are similar to the Overton. I’d love to give all three a go sometime.
The difference is in the lower hand - that huge fifth hole on the KPro. Unsurprisingly, my Goldie high D and KPro low D have a definite family resemblance in their tone, so far as I can tell given the octave difference. Both great whistles. In fact I was playing the low D yesterday and decided to withdraw it from sale.
