Two years ago or so I bought a Reyburn D/C Set, that I liked very much. (See the end of this post for links to a review by Brother Steve.) Back then I wrote about Ronaldo’s D/C set:
I was understandably excited when Ronaldo announced a new model. He sent me one to try out. I found that it hardly differed in looks, but that it played very differently. Most significantly, Ronaldo had opened up the windway and adjusted the blade, so that the whistle took more air, had a bigger, chiffier sound, and played more like a wide-bore wooden whistle than like a brass-and-plastic whistle. Still a wonderful whistle, but it did not suit my style and preference as much. So I wrote back to Ronaldo.
Here is what’s so wonderful about the world of whisteling and hand-made whistles. Ronaldo’s response was: Hang on, I’ll make one that will suit you.
So he went and modified his new model, making a new new model. He narrowed the windway, probably did other things to the mouthpiece I am not in a position to notice, and re-drilled the holes.
From left to right: The original Delrin-head model, the new model, and the modified new model.
A close-up of the three heads is here: Heads: Old, New, Modified
To show the difference in the windways, I took this picture:
From left to right that’s the Modified, New, and Old models. Notice the height of the windways between the Modified (smaller) and the New (larger) models. (On this picture you can get a sense of the different ramps.)
Here are my impressions of the Modified New model, which I believe may be one of a kind. Like all high Reyburns I’ve played, it has a very full round tone. There is a bit of chiff to it, a bit of breath that is more perceived by the player than by the listener. The tone is strong and the whistle is fairly loud, but well balanced between the octaves. Considering that the tone is basically pure, the whistle is very strong and versatile, and I’ve used it for playing dances. I’ve gotten compliments for the whistle, too, the sound is very beautiful: mellow and rich and pleasant.
The Modified New model is responsive and fun to play. The separation between octave is good (that how hard to I have to blow to push the whistle into the second octave thing), but perhaps not as easy as on other whistles because it takes very little to go from one octave to another for the d, e, f and a bit more for the g, a, b. I like that very much because it makes the whistle very fast for playing b/c#/d triplets or things like the beginning of George White’s Fancy provided that you have good breath control. This is because the Modified model offers some back pressure (not very much, but more than the New model Ronaldo sent first.) It does take more air than most whistles (such as a Sindt D or Generations, Feadogs, Oaks), but not such an amount that you couldn’t get used to it easily.
As a D/C set the whistle come with one head and two bodies. Of the two, the C set has the richer more vibrant tone, and at first I thought I much prefered the C-body on my Modified New model. Then I liked the D body better. Now I like both, but I think perhaps the C-body brings out the wonderful sound of the Reyburns even a little better than the D-body.
Great whistles, and hat-off to Ronaldo for being a great whistle maker and a pleasure to work with. I don’t understand why his whistles aren’t talked about more here. And don’t just take it from me, L.E. McCullough endorsed Ronaldo’s new whistles. Check out http://www.reyburnlowwhistles.com . Ronaldo, by the way, was the first maker I am aware of to offer just-intonation whistles.
I did record a couple of clips, both on the D and C, which I will get up shortly (I am having issues with my MD recorder, or it is having issues with me, I should probably say).
UPDATE: Here are two sound clips.
Clip: 2004 Reyburn Hi D
The tune is The Humors of Lissadell, played by yours truly for demonstration purposes only, and using the D shaft.
Clip: 2004 Reyburn Hi C
Another reel, Over the Moor to Maggie. Unfortunately the beginning got chopped off in the transfer to computer and I didn’t want to fix it (because it’s rushed and sloppy in the first place). This time with the C shaft.
For reference, here is StevieJ’s review of the original model, and an update on the delrin head. Another review by Micah.[/url]
