Has anyone properly reviewed any Reviol low whistles? Failing that, what are your feelings about them?
Like CranberryDog, I just bought one, and I’m curious to see what people think. (Why we always ask after buying them I don’t know. Perhaps we seek justification for what was partly an impulsive decision… hehe )
I have a reviol non-tunable low D, and I absolutely love the sound. When people say a whistle has a “flutey” sound, I believe they usually mean that the whistle has a pure, sweet tone, like a silver flute. But this reviol is the closest I’ve ever heard a whistle come to sounding like a wooden Irish flute! My only negatives are that the low fundamental breaks easily and the high A and B notes are on the shrill side. Other than that, a very fine whistle indeed. It’s in line to be reviewed for my website, but that line seems to keep getting longer, so I don’t know how soon I will be getting to it! Hope this helps in the mean time.
Maurice Reviol makes a fine whistle. I have tried them out in keys; Low C, D, Eb, E, F and G - all tunable. Here’s my take:
Maurice has been making woodwinds for quite some time and apprenticed in Europe under severl master woodwind makers including Cillian O’Briain in Dingle Ireland. He now lives in New Zealand where he makes flutes and whistles.
In appearance they are very striking with the black anodize. The finish is quite grippy (no slip). The tenon joint is done with an outer sleeve similar to the Chieftain but the sleeve is a bit slimmer. Maurice also makes them in a frosted “natural” aluminum finish.
In sound, they are definitely in the style of O’Briain’s whistles with a fairly smoothe lower octave and a second octave that is able to “take-off” with a very distinctive “singing” quality. For reference you could listen to the playing of Paddy Keenan who plays O’Briain whistles and now uses Reviol as well. A good choice if you like to have extended expressive range in octave 2.
In tuning - I find them spot on.
Air requirement is on the high side with whistles he made up to about 6 months ago, however the newer models have reduced air req without losing the other characteristics. Back-pressure is fairly normal for a low whistle.
I rate the hand-made Reviol amongst the top low-whistle makers. I look forward to when he starts producing an A.
Hope this helps.
I recently acquired a Reviol Low C. I’m still getting to know it, but I like it very much.
Here’s a clip of “Abide with Me”. You’ll have to overlook my imperfections in playing (and there is some reverb added), but it will give you a sense of what the whistle sounds like in the lower octave.
LoFi:
http://ezfolk.com/audio/play.php?mode=song_lofi&band_id=2788&song_id=11171
HiFi:
http://ezfolk.com/audio/play.php?mode=song_hifi&band_id=2788&song_id=11171
Thanks for your advice guys!
Mitch - It was I that played the reviol at your stall at the medieval fair and it got me all enthused about my low whistle again - thanks! 
I didn’t realise at the time that you were Mitch hehe
Agreed with Mitch’s assessment of them. I’m reluctantly selling my Reviol C/D set to raise funds for my pipes. There are some sound clips.
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=53345
B.