Thanks very much for the very thorough and well-articulated account of your experience with the Silkstone Alloy. I’m intrigued by your description of its unique sound; I haven’t been doing this long enough to have developed any particularly well-differentiated preferences as to timbre. The thing about the tuning slide gave me pause…but I’m a bit of a tinkerer, so I don’t imagine this would be a show-stopper. Still waiting for a reply from Thom at TWC, but they’re closed on Mondays, so I’m not sweating that. I did, however, get a very prompt and courteous reply from Tony Dixon, corroborating my provisional diagnosis based on symptoms. He gave a couple of suggestions about where to look for possible sources of turbulence. I tried them out, alas, to no avail. Still, he seemed glad to get the feedback, and seemed intent on investigating and addressing any potential problems. It was good to be in the position of potenially improving someone else’s experience (good whistle karma points there ).
Anyway, thanks again. I’ll let y’all know how this wee drama unfolds.
A very good idea, the sound clip thing. I will get to searching as soon as can be (anyone with a go-to here would evoke great gratitude from me!). Hopefully, some time over the next year or so, I will be in a position in which my wife will not (quite justifiably) brain me with any $140 whistle (I really like the concept of the “D-Plus”) I presume to purchase (not to mention the need to replace my 10-year-old integrated amp with a proper A/V receiver…). Still, I can always tide myself over with very extensive research (and watch e-bay like a hawk). Thanks!
You can find sound clips of all kinds of whistles, including various Silkstones, on Clips & Snips! Mick’s Virtual Whistle site also tells you what whistle he’s using, but there are far fewer tunes there.
The best thing to do if you really want to give a particular whistle a try is just that…give it a try! Personally, I always hate to return things, but if you find you don’t like it or feel it’s not worth the money, you have that option. All you’ll lose is the shipping charges.
You can find some Silkstone Alloy D audio clips on Clips & Snips. Here’s a quick list.
Jigs
“Jig of Clonmore” played by Christian Roach. Date: 11/9/01 Slow Airs
“Turas go Tir na nOg” played by Mick Woodruff. Date: 4/26/01. (Mick’s unbelievable and could make a rolled up piece of paper with six holes in it sound great). To see what I mean, go the the “Reels” section and listen to him play “Mason’s Apron” on a Susato D! Original
“Ian” played by Claus von Weiss. Date: 8/5/01.
[ This Message was edited by: DRC on 2002-08-12 23:49 ]
Thanks and again many thanks for the links to clips. Indeed, the reason I took so long to reply (apart from mundane things like working and buying furniture), is that I have been mining these marvelous clips. I have since learned a couple of new tunes, satisfied myself that my Dixon, when returned, will be just lovely (and, as predicted, Thom from TWC sent a very courteous and fair letter, inviting me to undertake repairs, if I like, without fear of my return being rejected [I’ve done some very minor tinkering…but I think it’s best not to muck about too much, in case the whistle should find its way back to Tony D, who could discover the fault and thus improve his craft the tiny amount it would take to prevent this in the future]. A true gentleman, Thom is), and more than validated my future whistle purchases (Sindt and Silkstone Alloy). Again, I do thank you for your most tremendously helpful go-to!
).