Review: Wilson Woods D

Whistle
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Dale did a review of this whistle (which is quoted on the Wilson Woods website). I think I pretty much concur with his, but wrote one anyway.

Review: Wilson Woods D

Background: These whistles are brand-new (having been around for a few months), but the maker is not. Ted Wilson is a well-known maker of fifes.

Appearance: This whistle is strikingly beautiful. He obviously borrowed heavily from the design of Chris Abell. The wood is blackwood, rings are flush with the body, and are of some white metal – either stainless or nickel-copper (I refuse to call something nickel-silver that contains no silver). The mouthpiece ring is a little larger diameter than the body and is chamfered on both ends. There’s a sharp 90-degree curve to the mouthpiece, and the part that fits in your mouth is somewhat thicker than most. The sharp curve plus the chamfer make for an exceptionally comfortable mouthpiece IMO, but I know the thickness of it will bother some people.

The bore of this is somewhat larger than other wooden whistles, and so is the wall thickness. I measured the following diameters (in inches, sorry, multiply by 2.54 to get cm):

Whistle ID OD
Wilson 0.518 0.720
Abell 0.490 0.660
Busman 0.500 0.666
Thin Weasel 0.498 0.660

So you can see that the bore is about 20 thousandths larger and the wall about 20 thou thicker. The windway is curved like all the others and of the same length, but also appears to be tapered (wider at the mouth than at the window). The blade is about as wide across as the Abell (narrower than the other two), and about as long too. However, given the greater wall thickness, it seems to have about the same pitch as the Thin Weasel.

Tuning: Spot on compared to all three others. Good two-finger C-natural. Seems to be equal tempered. The tuning slide is very long (3/4"?) and fits very snugly but is still easy to slide. However, the whistle appears to be in tune with the slide only pulled out about 1/8", so almost all of the tuning room is toward the flat end.

Playing: The sound is probably closest to the Abell: it’s pretty mellow, probably somewhat louder and less breathy than the Abell, but not as sweet nor as piercing as the Busman and especially the Weasel. However, the sound goes much beyond the Abell. It’s fuller, and has a bit of that “openness” that I love in the Thin Weasel C. This is probably due to the large bore, which is 8% greater area than the others.

The playing is also easy. The breath requirements are on a par with the Abell, a little greater than the other two. It has good backpressure and the tuning seems to be pretty insensitive to changes in breath pressure. The octave transitions are very easy, though not as easy as in an Abell or Burke. It gets a little raspy before it really clogs, like all of my wooden whistles, which always give warning before all hell breaks loose. (You can inhale before it really clogs.) Given the large bore and wall thickness, it’s not going to have as fast a response as many would like.

All ‘n’ all, I’d say this is one of the finest whistles I’ve played. It has all the characteristics I like – it’s wood, has a big, open sound, and is sublimely easy to play. Will it replace the Weasels and Burkes as my favorite whistles? I dunno, I’ve only had it for a few weeks, but it hasn’t stopped growing on me.

Edit: After seeing Jim McC’s post, I should add the price: I got it for $235 from fifeanddrum.com. Really not for anyone who isn’t in love with wood.

Charlie

What kind of idiot asks rhetorical questions?

[ This Message was edited by: chas on 2002-09-22 22:12 ]

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I tried the Wilson a couple of weeks back, and while my opinion differed slightly from Charlie’s, I still have to admit it’s a pretty impressive whistle. I didn’t find the octave jumps to be as clean as I’d like. That was really my only complaint with it. Well, the price. I’m not saying it isn’t fair, because it’s a good price compared to the high-end, exotic wood competition, but it’s still a lot of money. You could get 2 Overtons, Sindts or Burkes, or a full set of Dixons for that kind of dough.

I was also surprised at the decision to make a cylindrical bore whistle in D. Wilson has been making B flat fifes with conical bores for over 30 years. I would like to see them make a conical bore wooden whistle, and whistles in lower keys.

A funny story. I was standing in Cooperman’s tent trying out the Wilson, and someone came over and asked if Skip Healy had made it. So I went through the whole story on how the Wilson seemed to be modeled after the Abell, and how Skip had apprenticed with Chris Abell. Then I turned around and who was standing about 10 feet away: Skip Healy! Luckily, my comments were innocuous (and accurate). I have a habit of sticking my foot in my mouth.