I’ve found the perfect whistle. I never would have believed I’d say that, given that usually the player makes the whistle. I was mucking about at Hobgoblin music down in Red Wing, MN with a couple of my friends, really just taking a break from homework and browsing, when I happened upon an oddly shaped whistle at the back of the display. My initial thought was, “That’s going to sound terrible. What a weird, chunky head and comparatively tiny voicing window.” Imagine my surprise when it had a warm, resonant tone free of the unpleasant “buzz” many wooden whistles seem to carry. Mellow and rich, and the second octave sounded like a new fundamental, relatively light in harmonics and seemingly the exact same volume as the lower octave. Even the highest note in the second octave was more than bearable; it was downright pleasant. According to the faded, peeling label it was a Sweetheart whistle. (later research revealed that it was one of the older, laminate models that has since been replaced with Rosewood) Apart from a slightly unpleasant smell I suspect may be the chemicals the wood is treated with, I couldn’t be happier with it. It just does everything I wanted in a whistle, with perfect backpressure for me and volume. Even the shape of the thing fits my hands, and the slightly flared base allows my rather short right pinky to firmly support the whistle. I bought it on the spot, scratches, dust and all, for a pittance.
Now, this whistle is in C, and so I ask our more well-traveled members if they’ve ever had the good fortune to play one of the newer D whistles Sweetheart is making. I’ve never had a D whistle I’ve been perfectly happy with, either for reasons of volume or clogging, and so I would love to know if his D is anything similar to the C I happened across today.
Ralph Sweet made wooden flutes and whistles well back into the 1980s. Many were wonderful, but some of the earliest whistles were described on these forums as ‘recorder-like’, (for better or worse). Since then, he and son Walt have made many models using many different woods and composite materials over the years. They were always trying new approaches, so there are lots of different kinds of Sweetheart whistles out there.
So… it’s really hard to give you a straight answer. If it helps, I had a Dymondwood D years ago that I thought was too loud and brash. I later ended up (through a trade) with a Dymondwood ‘Mello-Pro’ D, which I think is great. It has medium volume, and is very accurate and responsive. Truly a great whistle.
I’ve also heard great things about some of the newer plastic whistles and delrin flutes. My impression is that, with a few stumbles along the way, the Sweetheart stuff has only continued to improve over the years. The Sweets are also known to be great to work with. Hard to go wrong, I’d say.
Thanks for the great background. I’m not sure exactly what year/model I ended up with, but it’s very much whistle-like rather than recorder-like in sound quality. I’ll have to get after one of their Ds, as I really can’t put this one down.
I think you can easily find both Sweetheart flutes and Walt Sweet’s newer models on the web, and contacting them should be no problem. They can probably help you out with spending a bit more and getting a D model
I see you’re in Northfield. Do you get to the session down there? (Wed. night I believe which is why I don’t).
I have a Dymondwood Resonance Low D and that chemical smell has largely disappeared. Keep your whistle out as much as possible, as opposed to closed up in a case.
Madman,
I saw Elvis at a soccer match last night. I think he had one of those perfect whistles sticking out of his shirt pocket, it was right next to his peanut butter sandwich.
Thank you for your kind words. I’m the guy who designed that whistle; Dad and I used to produce them in Dymondwood, but the material became unpredictable.
I’ve switched to acetal (a polymer sometimes called Delrin), and I call this HiD whistle BLACK PEARL. If you get a chance to try one, I hope it lives up to your high expectations.
I do, but it’s a rather isolated group and our repertoires don’t overlap much. It has been great for making me learn more tunes and interact with some other musicians, but I can only play the Kesh Jig so many times in a night before longing for one of Laura’s more esoteric selections (Laura MacKenzie can find awesome tunes like no one else). It’s a nice venue to whip out the Busman as well, in a very fiddle-dominated session it has a significant, but still respectful volume.
No way. He, Stan Rogers and I were all having a drink downtown.
Thanks Paul, I’ll do that.
Wow, I didn’t expect to hear from the maker himself! I guess I’ll say it straight out then- great job. I tend to deviate from the “Classic” tin whistle sound in my choices, especially the highest keys. I like my high whistles sweet, mellow and largely quiet, and I love what you’ve developed here. If your D is anything like the C, you’ll be getting an order from me very soon.
Not to pirate this thread, nor to deviate too far from the original topic, but I am curious as to how and why Walt Sweet finds Dymondwood to be unpredictable? It seems other makers are still crafting in this material, so why are they not realizing similar unpredictability?
I’d be interested to know this as well. I like the dymondwood on my C whistle because it’s thick and dark and resonant. Hope the Delrin one I ordered today will be something similar, but yeah, I wonder what inconsistencies they noticed.
Can’t help but poke stick here… what other makers other than Milligan? The trend seems to be leaning ever-more toward delrin for many makers. It tools like wood, but it’s more predictable in terms of how it behaves when being worked (it won’t suddenly crack, splinter, or “blow out.” It also won’t crack later - or shrink to an extent that the whistle is adversely affected in any way). It doesn’t have to be seasoned. It doesn’t give off obnoxious odors. It doesn’t have hidden defects in it. It’s cheaper than hardwood. It sounds more or less the same as wood. It’s also maintenance-free for the customer, which is a great selling point… and it’s stronger.
A maker’s most important resource - the one resource that is in more demand than any other - is his time… and one of the things that a maker puts a lot of his time into is making whistles that sound and play with a good level of consistency from one example to the next. Dymondwood was originally chosen as an option for its relatively “maintenance-free” characteristics, but it’s still plywood, and as such it carries with it some of the drawbacks of plywoods - and wood as well… one being inconsistencies in the material to start with. Delrin is maintenance-free, and it’s much more predictable - before and after.
I wouldn’t call it stick-poking, Avien. Thanks for sharing what you know about the switch; I never knew Dymondwood was prone to such issues. Clearly Delrin is not; hope it sounds as good though…
Thanks for the validation. Yes, time is very important to me, but I also need to feel conifidence in the material. Pennywhistles are the fussiest instruments I make. In contrast, if a flute’s geometry changes just a little over time, the player can compensate. Not so with a pennywhistle. I find it has to be dead-on in the beginning, and always. I’ve had pennywhistles that changed, and it was always for the worse.
Indeed, I had got involved in Dymondwood with consistency in mind. Somehow, the first batch of the stuff was superb: rich in resin, and beautifully cured to a golden honey-brown. It made good instruments. Another batch was not so nice. The final batch of material (and I mean: no more) was fried; I imagine they had trouble getting the resin to cure. I was not pleased with the ensuing discussion, so the material went into the dumpster. If other makers are happy with their material, I have no objection. Again, my early experience with Dymondwood is that it made fine instruments, many of which are still around. For pennywhistles, I’ll be using polymers until further notice.
Walt and Avien Mael,
Thank you for the information provided on Dymondwood and associated problems. I love the aesthetic value of wooden whistles, but I do not really like the appearance of Dymondwood instruments. The laminated material lacks the organic beauty of wood and to me has a more artificial appearance. I could see where laminated material might be unpredictable fo a maker, then again, so can various woods.
Delrin is gaining popularity with makers and whistle players alike, the low maintainance factor and great tonal qualities lending to this increased use of the material. i personally do not find Delrin to come close to matching the beauty of wood, but as a maintainance free instrument that plays relatively constant despite variations in humidity and temperature, it is hard to beat.
