i had posed the question about the difference between o’riordan high b/c whistles
what i meant was…any thoughts about the difference in playability and sound comparing the concert(wood) and the traveller(metal) models ? dg
I have one of each in D- wood and metal. They play the same. I’ve switched the heads to compare and they sound identical. The wood tube sounds a bit different than the metal. The wood has a woody, non-metal sound which is what I think of as less ‘tin-whistly’ sounding. The aluminum tube just barely sounds tin-whistly. Both have a very pure tone, the wood is a sharper or brighter tone. In comparison, the metal sounds a bit more muted/slightly softer. They are both plenty loud. I don’t think recordings, unless studio quality, would show up the fine differences. The aluminum, like nickel Generations, is a bit slippery to hang onto if you have sweaty hands like me. If you attach a nickel Generation tube to the mouthpiece, you get a third sound, more traditional sounding, but without the breathiness. The Rose whistle is probably the closest sounding to a wood O’Riordan.
Tony
In short, Tony, today’s alternatives would be either the Rose or… Whitecap?
The Rose would be a definite close alternative if you’re looking for that sound. The playability is a bit different, though. The Rose needs more careful breath pressure or you can make it squeak. It’s one of those things that works its way out with getting accustomed to the instrument. That’s what I found with the O’Briain Improved Gen. Never played a whitecap. I think I heard one at Weekender’s house once, but I can’t remember what it sounded like. (It gets kind of noisy there, so it’s hard to evaluate whistles while all these whistles are going in the background or right behind your head.)
Tony