I just got my new Retrofit Eb/D Head today. I’ve played it for one and a half hours and have to write a few comments. I put the head on an Oak body and it fit snugly, as if it were made for it. It looks like a PVC replica of a Sindt head. The machining and fit are flawless, all is smoothed professionally. The barrel is a cream white and the part you put in your mouth is black. The fipple plug is a bright white and it pinned with two brass pins, smoothed flush. I was concerned, being a sign painter, that I wouldn’t like the color. But after I’ve seen it on a nickle tube the chrome with black and white looks terrific. I don’t know how I’d like it on a brass tube though. All in all it’s expertly manufactured.
I must say first off sound is very objective. That said I feel this retrofit jumps right up there with a Sindt or Burke. It’s smooth and clean. Not so pure that it sounds like a recorder, alot like a Sindt. The octaves are very even and the second octave is very clean and strong. The volume is good, louder than a Burke but not as loud as a Water Weasel. I’ve owned a Burke, Sindt and a Water Weasel and this head is as good as any of those whistles.
The cost was $50.00 which included shipping. Gary was very responsive. He answered my e-mails very quickly, every time I wrote one, the next time I checked, there was always a reply. He posted the package in Tennessee on Wednesday and I received it Saturday. All in all a very positive experience.
Last words: This is a Sindt in PVC. It’s alot of bang for the buck. If your looking for a great whistle you can’t go wrong. It appears Gary builds only a few at a time and the attention to detail shows. Great job Gary!
Thanks for the review, Jon… and I’d like to add a few comments if I may.
I’m surprised that it fit the Oak tube snugly enough that it didn’t require any Teflon plumbers tape.
I intentionally make the heads a bit large, so as to accommodate the slight variations in tube diameter between different brands, and caused by paint, lacquer, and nickel plating.
Since I haven’t measured the diameter of every available tube, it is possible that I might need to make the opening in tube end of future heads a bit larger… but only if someone calls my attention to a tube with a diameter that is too large for my current design to fit on.
Only the Eb/D heads are cream colored and black (or dark grey), because only the cream colored CPVC is available in the size necessary to make heads that will fit 13mm tubes… grey 1/2" schedule 120 pipe would work, but no local suppliers can obtain it.
The other models are made entirely from black or dark grey PVC, with black Delrin fipple plugs… and future Eb/D heads will have black fipple plugs as soon as I exhaust my current supply of white rod.
Oh, and it’s just one brass pin that goes all the way through the head. 