Besides a sizing difference, what’s the difference? Tone, volume? I’ve been doing some homework…
One more: Can you play an ‘A’ whistle to Highland music? Along with Scottish smallpipes?
Thanks…Jack
The VSB’s my new favorite whistle. It’s a shade quieter, not nearly so gawdawful shrill on the highest notes, and blows more easily. Very nice pure tone. IMHO it’s an enormous improvement on the older model.
In Clips and Snips, someone plays Donnybrook Fair using first one then the other, so you can hear the difference. (disclaimer – the clip used to be there – I haven’t looked for it lately)
On 2002-12-04 15:09, FJohnSharp wrote:
In Clips and Snips, someone plays Donnybrook Fair using first one then the other, so you can hear the difference. (disclaimer – the clip used to be there – I haven’t looked for it lately)
I’m glad someone remembered me. 
The clip is still there, I just checked.
http://www.tinwhistletunes.com/clipssnip/Audio/jig/DonnybrookFair-GaryHumphrey.mp3
Jack, you can use the search engine to find previous discussions about the VSB. Here are some:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?topic=4447&forum=1
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?topic=5360&forum=1
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?topic=5104&forum=1
btw, I really like my VSB – have never owned a regular bore.
Are you kidding Gary, it was because of that that I went and found the music to Donnybrook. I like it a lot. In fact, I was meaning to ask you if you have your setting written down. I’m not too good at picking up by hearing yet and I cannot tell some of the ornamentations.
If you do, you can email me at fjsharpjr@aol.com
I have both the SB and the VSB. The SB has a fuller, rounder tone (predominantly even harmonics), with a slight touch of breathiness. The VSB has more odd harmonics ,resulting in a slightly reedy and somewhat thinner tone, and it seems to be a bit quieter, with almost no chiff or breathiness. Also, the VSB seems to have quicker response, with much smoother octave transitions, plus it requires much less breath in the second octave. For tone, I really like the slightly astringent quality of the VSB, but the SB is nice too, a little more traditional sounding. Moreover, I don’t think the SB is shrill on the higher notes, just very loud. However, for playability, the VSB is definitely superior. I rarely play the SB any more.
I recorded a comparison using an air (Boolavogue), first on the VSB, then on the SB. Same distance from the mic (Shure SM57) and no electronic enhancement. If you are able to overlook the crappy newbie performance, you can hear a dramatic difference in tone between the two instruments.
http://pw2.netcom.com/~ridseard/boolavogue.mp3
Thanks Ridseard! I enjoyed that. Very helpful, I imagine, & good job.