Review: Jubilee low D practice whistle - with sound clip!!

Whistle
1

Thank you to Daniel Bingamon for generously offering this whistle
as the raffle prize at the recent SF Bay Area Low Whistle Fest. And
thanks to Norcal and Steve for organizing the event.

As the lucky winner, I’ve had close to 2 weeks to get aquainted with this whistle.


Here are my impressions:

Volume: This is a quiet whistle with a firm tone. The bell note can be a little
squirrelly at first, but speaks easier with a little practice. (Norcal’s whistle,
the same model, spoke more easily and firmly on the bell note.)

Air requirements: very high. (This could also be billed as an exercise whistle
as you do get an aerobic workout while playing it.)

Timbre: Very little “air” noise. Nice pure tone.

Intonation: Excellent intonation with itself through both octaves, but overall a
little on the flat side. (Great as a solo instrument, not so good as an ensemble
instrument - okay, it is called a “practice” whistle so there’s no surprise about
that.) There is no tuning slide.

Finger spacing: Since this is the only low D I own, I don’t have anything to compare it
to. I’m able to reach all the holes using piper’s grip - though it took some getting used to.

C Natural: 0XX 000.

Construction: Made of 23" of large ID PVC. The windway of the mouthpiece isn’t typical.
It’s larger near the player’s mouth, and gradually tapered toward the blade. It looks odd,
but works well. There’s some excess glue visible around the mouthpiece (a triviality). A
solidly made whistle.

Overall: For the price, there is nothing out there that even compares. Daniel could easily
charge 2 to 3 times more for this whistle, and it would still be worth every penny. I really
like it.

If there’s anything I’ve missed that you’d like to hear about let me know and I’ll give it
a go.

Keep whistling!
Aldon

Edited to add URL for sound clip:

http://media.nowhereradio.com/cgi-bin/dl/1075770048/LimuHead/castle_kelly_normalized.mp3

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Thank you for the review. I ordered one two days ago and was wondering if I made the right decision. I also noticed that the other lows jubilee offered were very very competitivly priced. Including a copper DE model with a key for the sixth. Sight said the pad was made of some soft material and could function to partial hole just like a finger would. 59 Bucks! Sure would like to hear from someone who has played one…

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Aldon,

Thank you for the nice and fair review.

The copper DE Model is very different than the practice whistle.
The practice whistle is cranked out of a CNC machine where all 6 toneholes are drilled and the windway slot in 90 seconds flat.
The DE Series is made by hand and much more detail is given to the voicing, it has more volume than a practice whistle.

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I’m considering the DE model with the 6th hole key right now. If I hadn’t bought a bushel basket of whisles lately I would have already. More than anything I wanted something to tell me whether I really will or will not feel comfortable playing the low d.

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Here it is at last. I got it this afternoon. (18$ practice whistle) I’ll review as best I can. Mind you, not only have I not been playing long (whistle, at least) but this is the first time I’ve ever tried a low d.
Comfortable in the hand. I can fingertip this rather easily. I believ this is a fairly short reach whistle. Or maybe my reach was longer than I thought. Short but comfortable fipple.
Tone. Low notes speak pretty well, at least from where I’m sitting. They arn’t especially strong, but they arn’t weak either. No problems popping the low D out. Reach for the right hand is actually more comfortable to me than the left. Really doesn’t take that much air in the low register.
Upper register is where the breath goes. Pretty easy to compensate by attacking slightly. And by pinching open the first finger. I can do that when I think about it. Like the pinch open on recorder.
Upper tone has a nice aggressive chiff to it. Really easy to tounge too. I can see replacing some of those quick rolls and turns with double and tripple tounging easy enough.
I can manage most of what I play on the high D. Sorta supprized me. Fly_by_night came off supprizingly easy. Coolie’s reel is an absolute blast on the low d. Places to breath, good places to add double tounging, you get the picture.
I intend on uploading some samples to my yahoo folder this weekend if anyone is interested. I hope uploading files isn’t any different than photos. I may have to cut tunes a little short though.
Like I said I may not know beans about low D’s, but I felt like I got my money’s worth and then some.

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Aldon…

Is there anyway you could record yourself playing the Jubilee practice low d? I wrote the Company but they never responded. I really would like to hear the whistle’s tone before buying. thanks

Stephen :slight_smile:

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I’ve got to pick up a better mic than the little headphone/mic combo at have right now. It will pick up a high d whistle ok, but the low produces this electronic hiss/buzz on every note. Yeah, I intend to put up a file or two. I know a lot of people wonder about this inexpensive low whistle. It told me what I needed to know, and I’m planning on purchasin a “real” low d very soon. Not that this isn’t a “real” whistle. Just not great. I’m sure there is a couple of tweaks that could be employed on it. I’ve had a huge amount of fun with it so far. It takes as much air as a medium to small tuba. (if that tells you anything). The reach isn’t bad at all. I can fingertip it, and my hands, while not small, arn’t huge. I have know idea how to compare it to a better low d though. First I’ve seen or heard.

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15 second test clip. 18$ low d. by jubilee
http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/bc/401bc885_251f/bc/My+Documents/lowd.mp3?bfoy8GABTWr.T9n4
cleaned up and modified with audacity software.
And just one with the dixon high d.
http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/bc/401bc885_251f/bc/My+Documents/dixon.mp3?bfCV.GAB_HIk3G4B

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Stephen,

I’ll record something tonight and post it.

It looks like vomitbunny, and bonequint have already posted some clips. I haven’t downloaded them yet.

Sorry for the tardy reply. I gig on the weekends and usually don’t check in to C&F until Monday morning…

Aldon

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Well, your reach is probably pretty normal. My Overton was my most comfortable reach whistle…

Until the Julilee Practice Low D showed up that is. It is the smallest reach of all my low d whistles.

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vomitbunny:
Make sure the mic is situated over/near the “window” (the hole at the top that does not get covered by fingers/mouth)

This is where the sound is produced. It sounds like maybe there simply isn’t enough volume of sound coming to the mic.

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Thanks. Yeah, that was one of my problems. The default settings for the mic in wern’t very good for what I was using it for too. I got it straightened out. I still can’t get a great recording on the fly, but I can do plenty well enough to clean it up in software later. I’ll put something else in there tonight if I can. I played with the mic and the audacity software for hours last night.
I think my whistles know when I’m recording. They screw up tunes that I normally can play.
The whoa is getting to me again… I think I’m gonna have to find out what there good low d’s sound like. And then, of course, another low d to compare it to.
Oh well. At least I had it out of my system for a couple of days.

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I tried one of these Jubilee practice Low D’s in Daniel’s shop yesterday, and I’d agree - it has the shortest reach of any Low D I’ve played…which is more than a few.

Loren

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Okay, as promised, here’s an mp3 of Castle Kelly played on Jubilee’s Low D practice whistle. This link will download the tune (.8mb):

http://media.nowhereradio.com/cgi-bin/dl/1075770048/LimuHead/castle_kelly_normalized.mp3

To listen without downloading, click on the link in my signature, then “discography”, then “singles”. Castle Kelly is the only thing listed there right now.

Enjoy!
Aldon :smiley:

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Thanks Aldon!!
I really appreciate you posting the song. It sounds really good for a 18 dollar whistle…although, you probably have a lot to do with that. :slight_smile:

Stephen

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You’re welcome.

:smiley:

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I posted a link to the sound clip in the original message, and changed the title of the post so people will know about it…

Aldon :smiley:

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I like that clip! :slight_smile:

Sounds like that whistle responds pretty well for you, nice tone color, and sounds like it’s well balanced between octaves, too.

You play well.

–James

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Thanks James! :smiley:

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Where would one buy one of these whisltes???

Thanks in advance!!

Nancymae aka whistlinancy by my family now!! heheheheheeee