I just received a D/C set in Blackwood from Roy McManus. Here’s my review. Please bear in mind that I’m not a whistle expert. I’m more of a fiddler and I don’t own a huge amount of (high end) high whistles. I own an Alba Q3, Freeman Blackbird, GFM, Dixon Trad and Generation. And some tenor and low whistles, but that’s not really relevant in comparison to these whistles. Other than that, I’ve played a Susato Kildare and John Sindt whistle (which is really nice).
Ordering
Roy doens’t have a website, so its kind of hard to find information on his whistles. Luckily, he replies quickly and friendly to emails and seems more than happy to answer any questions.
He doesn’t seem to work with a regular choice of woods, so you’ll have to inform which wood(s) he has available (or if you want something specific, you can probably ask him). When I mailed him, he had african blackwood, so that’s what I ordered.
A D whistle is GBP175,-. A C body is GBP80,- and an Eb body is GBP70,-. The whole set is GBP300,-. You’ll have to order any extra bodies when you order your whistle, apparently, the bodies need to be fitted to the head.
The ordering process took 4-6 weeks.
Appearance and build
The design of the whistle is roughly similar to many other wooden whistles, such as the Abell, Oz and Rose. It’s really smooth and well finished, just impecable. The trimmings are nickel silver. In spite of the name, nickel silver is a copper alloy and has nothing to do with silver. Who cares, it looks nice!
The fipple has a comfortable curve, unlike the stubby Abell (which I’ve never tried, but is said to be quite uncomfortable). On the back of the head, there’s an engraved logo (Roy MacMaghnuis, Belfast).
Playability
The whistle has just the right amount of backpressure. Less than my Alba Q3, which has a lot of it. It takes a bit of push to go into the next octave. Not so much that it is uncomfortable (on the contrary), but enough to keep you from squeeking into the second octave when you’re overenthousiastically trying to play in the first octave.
It’s a very, very responsive whistle. Again, I haven’t tried that many whistles, so maybe there are more responsive whistles out there, but I couldn’t really see how. I’ve never really had problems with the response on my Alba and Freeman, but this McManus just great.
The whistle is supplied with two rubber rings on the tuning slide. Tony Hinnigan commented he preferred the whistle without these rings and I agree. With the rings, the wihstle is a bit flat and there’s no way to tune it up. When I took off one of the rings, the whistle was exactly in tune (A=440). For the C body, I had to take off both rings. Other than that, the whistle is nicely in tune, there’s no neath for breath correction.
Sound
Note: the sound of wooden whistles is supposed to improve over the first couple of weeks. I just received this whistle. If the sound changes, I’ll let you know.
At this point, I keep switching between my Alba Q3 and Freeman Blackbird. The Alba Q3 is nice and sweet, but lacks a bit of bite and sounds a bit compressed. The Blackbird is also quite sweet, and has a clearer tone. I won’t be switching anymore!
This whistle has such a lovely tone. The lower octave, which I find unappealing in most whistles, is nice and full bodied. Unlike most whistles I’ve tried, the lower octave still has power. Going up, the whistle gets a bit more aggressive (in a pleasant way), but retains body and sweetness. This whistle really rings like a bell (wordplay not intended). It has a nice chiffy edge, though it’s certainly not overly chiffy. It’s a loud whistle, perhaps too loud for some people, but perfect for me. It keeps me from kissing the microphone with my whistle.
There’s a link to a sound sample (excuse my playing) near the bottom of this post.
Conclusion
Tony Hinnigan and Phil Hardy reviewed some of McManus’ whistles as well. Phil Hardy concluded by saying something like: “If you don’t buy one, you’re mad”. If such a whistle is worth the price difference with a very nice and capable whistle such as the blackbird is up to you. But if you’re in the market for a high end wood whistle and you’re not worried about waking up the baby, I couldn’t see how the McManus - with its powerful sound, impecable workmanship and relativaly low price - would be a bad choice. It’s just a lovely, lovely whistle.
Oh, and…
I don’t know if the moderators allow for a moderately (wordplay shamefully bad, bud intended) commercial ending to this post - if not, I’ll delete it. My band, Red Herring, released its first album, entitled “The Mountain Valley Sessions” this summer. The CD contains folk, bluegrass and americana music (no whistles, though). And it’s available for free through Spotify (of course you can also get it on iTunes or Amazon MP3, and you can also order a handsome digipack).
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/7DwQ6eg7pXjUcdV00viy2M
Sound sample of the McManus D: http://www.jorampeeters.nl/whistles/mcmanus.wav
