I’m thinking about getting an A whistle and, before I get to sinking a chunk of change into a high end instrument, was wondering what kind of experience folks have had with Susatos.
I’ve got a Susato Narrow Bore A that I would be pleased to divest myself of. This is in the context of having two ‘A’ whistles that I prefer.
Tom D.
I don’t pretend to be an expert, but I have heard recordings of Susato whistles (see the Clips & Snips website, http://www.tinwhistletunes.com/clipssnip, for some examples). To me, they sound like a recorder, possibly because they have a plastic shaft and fipple and possibly because I have no idea what I’m talking about.
Now, many people are OK with that (the recorder sound I mean, not my ignorance), but I would never buy one for that reason.
You might check with Mr. Jerry Freeman (j3rry@tc3n3t.n3t, replace the threes with e’s), whistle tweaker extraordinaire, to see if he might be tweaking “low A” whistles. I recently purchased a whistle from him (his special “MellowDog” whistle in D) and I am EXTREMELY pleased with it 
. I found his rates reasonable, too - you will probably pay a little less for one of his properly tweaked whistles than you will for your Susato “triple shaft”. He generally tweaks Generation, SweetTone and Shaw whistles.
Here’s a long thread with a wide variety of opinions on Susatos:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=29775
Get the medium bore, which is an excellent whistle in A. I’ve got Susatos from Low F (which I find intolerable) up to the C (like this one lots) and D (which I like, but not as much as my composite Burke D), but that A is my best Susato. It’s a wonderful balance of volume and tone, even up in that second octave where it doesn’t shriek like some higher Susatos tend to do.
Jef
Jon, check your PM’s!
I have loads of Susatos (16 I think). The narrow bore A is not one i would recomend. I haven’t tried the medium bore. Eb, C, B and maybe Bb are my favorite Susatos.
Susatos are the kind of whistles that you eighter love or hate. I personally hate them.
Even though I’m biased, I will try to give you a few reasons why people seem to think one way or the other.
Reasons to love them: They have a stable tone, good intonation and solid quality.
Reasons to hate them: They sound horrible (like a cheap plastic recorder), they often have a very weird construction in terms of finger hole placement and such things. And, I don’t know, I just get a very bad wibe from them, I’ve had that feeling since I first put my hands on an A.
Tom: IMHO, I would much rather see you with a Hoover Whitecap or CPVC, used or new…
Be well.
Byll
Its really funny that you should post this. I came here tonight just to give my opinion on the Susato A whistle. I’m kind of a newbie when it comes to whistles and only own a handful of the less expensive whistles (living on a fixed income I cannot afford anything else). I have been wanting to try a few of the better whistles and I have herd a lot of good things (and some bad) about the Susato whistles so when I seen a Susato A on ebay for $20.00 I jumped on it.
Fist off lets address the sound. I’ve herd a lot of people say that the Susato sounds like a recorder. Not so, I also play a recorder somewhat and like the sound. The Susato sound has a vinyl sound to it, a cheap vinyl sound. The bottom finger hole (being one of the largest holes) is placed way to far down making it very hard to reach. The finger hole could have been made a little smaller and moved up some making it easier to reach. It does have a very good balance in volume between the lower and upper registers. Thats about the only good thing I can say about it.
Now I did find out that a ½" repair coupler will fit the body of the Susato perfectly so one can cut the mouth piece off the whistle and using ½" copper tubing make different keys for the whistle. And if you buy a 12" section of repair coupler and use a 1½" of it you can also make it tunable with interchangeable bodies/keys. I have not decided if I’m going to do this yet. If it sounded differently there would be no choice but I really do not like the sound of the thing.
Oh by the way, being that this whistle has a ½" diameter bore can some one tell me if this is the wide bore or narrow bore whistle?
Narrow
Just a comment here… soundwise, the bottom hole should be the largest one. Obviously it’s never like that, because the distances must be adapted to the human hand, but anyway this is a delicate matter and it’s not as easy as making the hole smaller and move it up, there are several other things involved, and it’s up to the whistlemaker (or whistle-designer in this case) to choose for a better balance or an easier reach. I’d always go for a better sound myself, and just get used to the small difference of reach 
I said they sounded like very cheap, low quality recorders. I hate the sound of most recorders, but the Susato recorder sound is something I just can’t stand.
Henke, I’ll have to beg your foregiveness here my friend. I have about a dozen really cheap plastic recorders I bought (25¢ each) to use as give-a-ways for the little ones. And you know what? they sound just like the Susato. Really bad…
There you go bearbro! God, I love to be right
You know what Henke, its like I tell my young’uns “I may not always be right, but I’m never wrong”