This past week I came to discover that I prefer a chiffier sound than I previously did…I played a Sweetone at a session for a bit, instead of my usual pure sounding Burke AlPro, and then I got my Overton Bb in the mail… And now I think the Burke may be too pure for my tastes, at least for session play.
So after reading a lot of archived posts and listening to a bunch of different whistles on Tin Whistle Tunes (ex Clips and Snips), I think I’ve narrowed it down to two whistles (Water Weasel, Overton) which might do the trick for me. I would appreciate comments on the characteristics of these high D whistles, especially with regard to back pressure and the sound and volume in the second octave.
By the way, anyone selling?
Thanks,
Micah
[ This Message was edited by: Micah on 2002-11-22 12:54 ]
My Overton has quite a bit of backpressure and requires some fortitude in the upper register. Timid players need not apply. It is also my loudest whistle, with some very nice ‘furriness’ to the sound. I wish I could describe it better, but the overtones on the Overton are distinctive and quite pleasant.
I don’t have a Water Weasel to compare against. And I am NOT in the mood to succumb to more WhOA this year. I am maxxed out. Broke. Overwhelmed with riches. I go into the holiday season refusing to even think about the Water Weasel, the Copeland, the Abell or any other sorry gap in my whistle playing repetoire. Of course, if Tyghre wants to indulge :-
Water Weasels are pure, eh? Well, I guess that kind of changes things. I was under a different impression from reading some other posts. Actually, that simplifies the WhOA. A further Overton question: my Bb is much like you describe your D, Tyghress. But Bb is of course a lower pitch…does the high register on the D whistle blow out ears or windows ?
Micah
I agree that the WW is a fairly pure whistle. I have both an Overton and a WW. No comparison really…very different whistles. Overtons are great whistles but are not for sissies.
If you want chiff another tooter to consider would be a Reyburn Hi-D. Tuneable, good volume and good chiff plus they look classy. Ronaldo has a website check it out. The Reyburn is also much less likely to clog.
My advice in choosing whistles is to buy both and re-sell the one you don’t choose. Nothing compares to having the whistle in your hands for a few weeks and in my experience they really don’t depreciate.
I agree that the WW is a fairly pure whistle. I have both an Overton and a WW. No comparison really…very different whistles. Overtons are great whistles but are not for sissies.
If you want chiff another tooter to consider would be a Reyburn Hi-D. Tuneable, good volume and good chiff plus they look classy. Ronaldo has a website check it out. The Reyburn is also much less likely to clog.
My advice in choosing whistles is to buy both and re-sell the one you don’t choose. Nothing compares to having the whistle in your hands for a few weeks and in my experience they really don’t depreciate.
My impression of the water weasel
D is that it has a fair amount
of chiff. It’s a bit shrill upstairs,
the Overton is moreso. The water
weasel can be bought in a package including
a D tube, a C tube and an Eb tube.
I think it’s about 120.
The C is the best, I thought.
Of the two I like the vasser weasel
better, but I don’t know the
Overton well–the backpressure
is considerable. The weasel
is cheaper.
Glenn (water weasel) typically aims for a very pure tone, no hiss and few overtones. This said, I have one that they’re only going to take from my cold, dead mitts. It plays very easily (Glenn has an awful case of emphysema, so he doesn’t make stuff that is hard to blow). If you want something a bit chiffy, though, just call him. Overtons have a fair amount of backpressure…you can blow the bejeesus out of them and not hurt the tone. The tone is different though… rich in overtones, chiffy. The windway tends to clog when cold, but this remedies itself fast when playing. They are apples and oranges and both fine, fine whistles. Get one of each, I say.
I too own one of each. Trying to compare the two are like comparing apples and oranges. One day I prefer the Overton and another the Weasel. My Weasel is pure but not as pure as a Hoover. The Overton definitely has a “warmer” tone to it. I like the Weasel for faster tunes and the Overton for slower pieces with lots of emotion. Just my two cents.
There must be a bit of variation in Water Weasels. My WW high D is quite chiffy (here chiffy = opposite of pure), in fact not unlike the Overton high D I used to own. My WW Bb, on the other hand, which sports the thick walled, wide bore gray PVC, is very pure in its tone…
Thanks for all the helpful comments so far. If the Water Weasel is (generally) relatively pure sounding and easy to blow, then it’s probably not what I’m after.
The Reyburn idea seems a very good one to me, however (thanks Doc)…I went and read Steven Jones’ excellent review and listened to the sound clips, and it seems to be a whistle that would be excellent at a session. As a flute player, I’m used to cranking out a lot of air when I play, so the air requirements shouldn’t be a problem. Does this whistle take breath accents well? (I make my Burke squeak if I’m not careful.)
Micah
[ This Message was edited by: Micah on 2002-11-22 09:38 ]
[ This Message was edited by: Micah on 2002-11-22 12:54 ]
I’ve got a Water Weasel in high D that I could send out to ya for a trial period if you’d like. It does indeed have a pure tone. If you’re interested drop me a private message here on the board. I don’t play it that often and if you like it we could maybe work out a trade.
A quick note, Micah - Ronaldo Reyburn has introduced a new head for the high whistle made entirely of Delrin. I received one this week to replace the wooden one that came unstuck (see my post about “Heads will roll” a while back).
I am going to post something about it when I’ve had the chance to play it for a week or two more. So far I would say that it has very similar characteristics to the wooden head. Ronaldo has revoiced it to reduce the air requirements somewhat. My first impressions are that the new head is slightly less forgiving than the old one, if only a touch. The wooden one was not at all prone to squeaking and I don’t think it is likely to be a problem with this one either.
As I say I’ll post more about it in a week or two.
FWIW, I think that Water Weasels are chiffy. They have a good trad whistle sound, to my ear. But the ones I have played are a little louder than I need a whistle to be, with the top A and B being a little “over the top”. The Reyburn does not suffer from this problem - the top notes are quite sweet.
Soprano Overtons are also very fine whistles, based on my experience with Colin’s “modal” D/C model. They aren’t tunable however (although perfectly in tune with concert pitch) and in my experience (Colin and others don’t seem to find this) for best results you need to have the whistle nicely warm not only before you play but in between tunes.
The Overton has back-pressure and requires assertive blowing but takes very little air throughput. The Reyburn has no back-pressure to speak of and needs sustained air throughput.
[ This Message was edited by: StevieJ on 2002-11-22 10:13 ]
The Reyburn high D is a nice whistle with a good amount of chiff and moderate air requirements, but I’ve found the 2nd octave to be a bit flat - especially noticeable when playing with other instruments. I can also hear it in recordings. I contacted Ronaldo about this and he tunes his high Ds this way to maintain a clear, sweet tone on the high notes. Problem is, when playing with other instruments that are right on the money, you can really hear the flatness of the Reyburn in the upper register. I’ve also found C natural using OXXOOO is accurate but extremely weak sounding on mine. Ronaldo’s high C is a different animal. Excellent whistle with a good C nat, and in good tune through both octaves. Really nice 2nd octave.
After hearing all the great reports about WWs and how pure they are, I got one but it was a little chiffy - even a bit scratchy sounding in the upper register…like there was sand in the windway, and not well balanced at all. So who knows what you’re actually going to get without playing it first. I got a new Burke AlPro D that was absolutely terrible and returned it. Then recently I got another one that’s wonderful. You just never know.
If you’re serious about finding a whistle with a particular sound, and can afford it, try both whistles. You’d have no problem selling or trading either one, and you may like them both. Unless you can find a used Overton, there’s a pretty long wait.
Again, thanks for all the helpful posts. I’m intrigued by the Reyburn and am leaning in that direction at this point.
I’ve listed some of the characteristics that I like and don’t like in the whistles I’m playing most of the time these days…perhaps this will help clarify what I’m looking for.
My WW Low G has a very pure, and piercing character to it. It plays very easily through both octaves, and the tuning is very good. But I find myself taping over at least half of the window in order to bring the volume down far enough to play at session! It just completely overwhelms everything in its vicinity.
If Sweetone is one of your choices, you can’t go wrong in getting one of those, even if you decide you’d rather have another one. Hurry up and get a Sweetone. As you mentioned, the Burke Al-pro is very pure, but the Burke composites are not as pure, they have a bit of a softness that you might like.
Denny is correct, initially I intentionally did tune the top couple of notes of the second octave about 10 cents flat which gave the instrument a much more pleasing scale to the ear. So it works very well as a lead instrument (without other whistles) or as a solo instrument. But I have realized that most people want to play in session with other whistles, so I now tune those notes up to concert pitch, so not to worry. And if you folks want the softer tuning for solo work, I can make either.
It was nice hearing from Ronaldo and learning that he’s now tuning his high Ds to be more accurate on the high end. Since this is the case, it’d be a no-brainer for me, as I’m mostly a session/gig player. I’d go with the Reyburn in a heartbeat over those you mentioned. It’s a wonderful sounding whistle with a lot of character, and has a distinct advantage over an Overton in that it’s tunable…and you won’t have to wait months to get one. It also doesn’t clog easily. The only reason I don’t play mine is because of the flatness in the upper octave.
Hmmmm…wonder if I can talk Ronaldo into sending me one of his new, improved D bottoms so I can start playing his high D again… I use the Reyburn C quite often and love it.
I use the Reyburn C quite often and love it.