I know I have read some discussion here about problems with the Cnat on a Sindt whistle. I have an A I love…except for the Cnat at slower tempos. I’ve tried many diferent fingerings and none seem to really balance tone and pitch. Does anyone know what fingering John Sindt himself recommends? I am in no way a pro at whistle, but it is an issue for me. Respectfully offered. Thanks- Mike
Tuning is good for the “cnat” on the Sindt A. I’d use oxxooo. It’s a practice issue.
John Sindt himself only recommends half holing.
So, he tends not to make his whistles with crossfingering in mind…
Are you sure this applies to anything but the Sindt D whistles? I’d be interested to hear.
The cross fingerings probably work fine if you find the right ones. Generations etc. are not designed with any kind of cross fingering intended, but many such fingerings do work on them. If they really don’t work on Sindts (which I doubt), it sounds like a good reason not to buy them!
I know that’s the maker’s philosophy. I guess he could’ve made the other keys
with crossfingering intact because it’s easier to do so in those sizes… But I was
under the impression that he wouldn’t bother tuning anything for crossfingering.
I’ m on his list for a whistle, though I haven’t decided on the key yet. So maybe
I can test the theory in about 6 months?
His Eb have the same problem as I think he’s using the same tube? But yeah mine is sharp too. My other Sindts are closer.
It is VERY easy to half hole a cnat on a Sindt D.
You can’t do a roll or a trill on it though! And C nats like the one in the 1st bar of Banish Misfortune - in fact all through the A music of that tune - must be durned awkward 1/2 holed, but are a doddle cross fingered.
Well, convince me by recording a, let’s say, reel in G with good tempo on that whistle. Then you can say it’s easy. If you say it’s easy because you can put your finger on the B hole, half hole it and play a CNat… sorry, that’s not good enough.
I don’t wish to argue, but it is pretty easy to say “its a practice issue”. I have a Hoover and a Reyburn low G and Generation Bbs and a pile of Mellow Dogs and other assorted D and C whistles. I can happily adjust to the best Cnat fingering on each of those. Even with a good quality tuner and varied breath pressure, I can’t find a Cnat on the A Sindt that has good pitch and a tone that matches the rest of the scale. Perhaps it is me, as I am a middling whistle player. But I am a professional musician and it seems odd that such a fine sounding whistle gives me the only problem of this kind I have. If JS intends a half hole for Cnats so be it. I love the whistle otherwise. Thanks again- Mike
For what it’s worth, I didn’t say that having to half hole a cnat was desirable. I just wanted to say that if you have to do it it’s easier on the Sindt than almost any other whistle I have tried. Then again, I am not a pro and may not have the same expectations others have.
I believe on the D whistle JS recommends that, if you
don’t half hole, go 0XX 000 and reduce your breath a bit.
I had my own, entirely subjective impression that, as these
whistles descend in pitch the cross-fingered position
works better.
I sold the lower pitched whistles, at least partly because
I had a bad reaction to the brass in my mouth.
Now I have a really nice Sindt D with a delrin mouthpiece
and a silver tube. He makes these if you ask, I think
the price is 120. I’m probably going to sell this
because I have a Burke DAN that I like very well,
but the Sindt is very good. I compared it with the
standard Sindt D and thought it was a tad louder
and sounds ‘silvery.’ If anybody is interested
PM me–I got it from Doc Jones for 150 plus shipping,
I’ll sell it for 140 plus shipping.
Wayyyy too sharp. The only crossfingering I could find (on the 2 Sindt Ds
I’ve tried) which could be brought into tune with breath reduction was
0XXXX0.
Another vote with Bloomfield’s position. I’ll defer to the knowledge of those
who’ve played more Sindts than I.
What makes half holing hard on those other whistles? I would’ve thought half
holing would be of equal difficulty no matter the whistle…
I don’t regularly half-hole for C-nat unless I want to bend the note but I do half-hole for F-nat for a few tunes and at high tempos. The problem is repeatibility (tuning and tone), which is more difficult to learn if you keep switching instruments. Anyways, if a fiddler can play all her notes in tune without frets, then why can’t a whistler do it for 1 or 2?
Listen to Mary Bergin play F-nat appregios in the C section of the Flogging Reel:
http://www.amazon.com/Feadoga-Stain-2-Mary-Bergin/dp/B000000E87
I never doubted the CNat or any note can be half holed with great efficiency. I simply doubt anyone on Chiff can do it well enough. Mary Bergin was busy practicing and playing while we were busy writing on the Chiff board 
Half-holing can be done by keeping your finger at an angle at the fingerhole.
Breda Smyth does that when playing a D/D sharp sequence . . . like this
It’s not that hard, even I can do it, despite hanging around here a lot 
Regarding half-holing:
Just because I can do it, doesn’t mean I want to. I have to say, tuning on the Cnat is the toad in the punchbowl on the Sindt whistles, which I otherwise find to be really great. Call me lazy, but I just don’t feel like changing my technique to suit the whistle. Wouldn’t that be backwards, anyway? It’s a tool, made to suit the player. I would greatly prefer that the Cnat be available with what I consider the standard fingering.
I feel a bit queasy discussing this here, before I’ve made mention of it to John. However, it seems to be a common enough view, so I don’t suppose it’s too scandalous. At some stage, I intend to discuss it with the man himself. Anyone ever get his word on the subject? Cheers,
Rob
Sure it can. Unfortunately, I don’t see any evidence in Breda’s YouTube clip to indicate her finger position. Fingering d# in the sequences |~e2^df e| or |e^def gfef| that she plays in Bachelor’s Walk can be done easily with the tip of the finger, the side of the finger, the knuckle … whatever. Of course, this doesn’t invalidate your point that it can be done as you describe.
But that’s a very different matter from half-holing C-nat, for both mechanical and musical reasons. There’s no physical support issue when playing d#. And the d# is usually an accidental to the mode of the tune; whereas the C-nat usually occurs as a scale note of the tune, with more rigorous requirements of both intonation and ease of execution.
I’d love to hear a personal clip of, say, The Graf Spee played up to speed (around mm=110) on a D whistle using only half-holed C-nats. Any takers? I’m sure it can be done, but with what I’d consider great difficulty.
As for the Sindt … I’ve tried several Sindt D’s, and they’re lovely whistles. I was even surprised to be able to produce a very acceptable oxxxox C-nat on at least one of them. That said, I consider the Sindt’s lack of a good cross-fingered C-nat by design to be an outright flaw or defect, thus making it a defective whistle. And I don’t understand the maker’s apparent reluctance to address the problem, especially when some others will bend over backwards to accommodate player preferences. A wacky workaround involving non-standard fingering and/or lighter breath is hardly user-friendly.
Sorry, but I’m the same camp as Rob and Azalin and jem and fearfaoin and plunkett on this one.
Dale did an interview with John many years ago, wherein this was mentioned.
Nothing ground breaking though.
http://www.chiffandfipple.com/sindtinterview.html
Maybe it’s time to reopen this issue with the man himself. Though, I’m on his
6 month waiting list right now, so it’s possible that he doesn’t have time for
R&D at the moment…
I’ve heard a Sindt head will fit on a Feadog body, enabling crossfingering…
I’ll go try it in a minute with my new (to me) Sindt.