I have two flutes made by Carey Parks. Maybe a relative of Gene Parks, of which you had mentioned? Really nice whistles. You might have to email him to ask him to make you a whistle, as they are usually listed as being out-of-stock. Reasonably priced, too.
https://www.parkswhistles.com/
Last night I watched an hour-long documentary on the career of The Chieftains. Paddy Moloney at one point said he always carries around a whistle in his pocket.
Have you considered sewing in a new pocket more suitable for carrying whistles?
Correcting my earlier post: Carey Parks, NOT Gene Parks … sorry. His instruments are outstanding.
I’m a big fan of my David O’Brien…but also feel it’s too nice to toss in my pocket. Carey Parks walk about 3 part whistles are great for that purpose (definitely lighter, too, which is nice).
Eric
Yes, apologies - TWO pieces not three. (The larger Burke’s do have a third piece but that is primarily so you can position the bottom hole comfortably.)
I got one of his in bicote a couple of years ago. It is very nice
Dante makes a telescopic soprano D, as well as a telescoping low D. I found the Soprano D to be very nice, sweet and chirpy, though I’m not much of a high D whistle player. Dante whistles periodically show up on the Irish Flute Store. You might see if Blayne will put a request in for one.
The only concern I have is how long the telescoping action would stay solid, since it’s a friction fit, and there was one person who reported the resin fipple block coming loose after a while.
Wow, I’m taken by how similar the Dante is to my home-grown telescopic whistle, which I mentioned further up, some time back. Mine is powered by an old Soodlums or similar plastic head, but from there on down they appear extraordinarily similar. Even to the little flare on the end.
Which I found to be quite important. It definitely gives a lift to the bottom note, probably by getting the partials into better tune.
And I wouldn’t worry too much about the telescopic bits letting go after a while. Just squish the top of the inner tube a bit and you’ll find it regains its grip. Not too much though or you’ll have trouble getting it back into the tube above!
My wife carries a Clare around in her purse. It isn’t the strongest-sounding whistle, but the take-down feature is lovely. I tried ordering a couple more a year ago, since the Clare website was taking orders. Foolishly placed the order without first contacting a real person. Never got a whistle or a response.
I own a gorgeous Tully whistle that also takes down to the same size, but I have no willingness to carry an expensive whistle when what I need is just a charming cheapie. I keep the Tully at home!
I keep thinking I need to find a real hobby shop, if such still exist, and bring in a whistle I’m willing to modify. Get some brass tubing the right size to make a close fit on the whistle body and just make a short connector sleeve. Superglue would likely be enough to hold it, but I’d prefer to do something mechanical to permanently attach the sleeve to one part of the whistle.
I remember back along there was a maker who made telescopic whistles, can’t remember the name for the life of me but it may be an idea to look for “telescopic Whislte” in a google search.
One of the telescopic whistle makers was Noah something. I think it was called a “Laughing Whistle,” but maybe that’s a manufactured memory…it was a long time ago. They were very nice, sweet sounding instruments, and on the quiet side. I no longer have mine.
-Brett
Yes, Noah Herbison. I owned both the telescoping soprano D and a Low D he made. Cool whistles, wish I hadn’t been forced to sell them. Really well priced too, however the fipple block arrangement was decidedly low tech and I wonder how the surviving whistles have held up. Surely someone out there still has the soprano version. The Low D’s were pretty rare IIRC.
My three Laughing Whistle Ds have held up, though I did have to repair one of the fipple blocks once. Possibly two, I can’t recall.
I still regret selling my aluminum Laughing Low D; it wasn’t telescoping but it was really nice. I don’t recall who I sold it to. Might have been you, Loren.