Well, I’ve had a little over a week to play this whistle, and must admit that I am in love! The whistle itself is gorgeous to look at. It is louder than the Susato wide-bore. The tone is very open and sweet.
It had its stage debut this past weekend and has now taken over as my official stage whistle.
What I like about this whistle:
It’s all wood except for the plastic plug in the mouthpiece. No metal banding, etc. (metal and I don’t get along…)
Excellent intonation through both octaves.
Volume is excellent across the octaves, with a loud, firm low D.
The upper octave is not shrill. (I’ve been regularly playing up to the 3rd octave G!)
The craftsmanship is top notch.
C natural = oxxooo.
The company that supplies the birch laminate to Mr. Sweet says that the wood is impervious and so doesn’t need to be oiled like solid wood whistles. Mr. Sweet said that he’s not planning on oiling his, so I’m going the same route.
When compared to my other whistles this one has the clearest timbre. Other whistles have a ‘covered’ tone as if something is holding the sound back. The Sweetheart on the other hand has a very open, unrestricted sound. (One of my band mates said that it sounds like a piccolo!)
Anyway, I love this instrument and hope this mini-review has been informative. If there’s something I’ve missed that you’d like to hear about please let me know!
sounds like your deep in love limuhead, that’s the way to be!! it’s about the best review i ever read!
please let us know if you ever post a soundsample of this whistle, or if you come across one on the web. i wonder what they sound compared to a burke composite
Thanks to the same board member, and recent afficionado of WhOAnonymous, I have the blackwood Sweetheart.
I agree with your preference for wooden whistles with a wooden windway, whatever the alledged re***er looks it may give to a Sweetheart, or Le Coant, Swayne, etc. It doesn’t even need to: the Grinters seem to do fine with a narrow walled head sleeve. I’d even prefer Delrin (plastic) to those metal head bandings. At least it doesn’t clog and won’t shock your teeth as much. I wish Abell would offer this option…
The main difference with my blackwood Sweet, compared to what you describe on the newer design, is that upper second octave (above G) gets just plainly shrill. On the other hand, the low end is just booming.
Even as is, I like it more and more, and notably that it allows me to easily half-hole those accidentals which I never played well, like 1st octave F nat. However, the C nat and Bb are easily cross-fingered if wanted.
Also, Ralph Sweet told me the research on the “Professional” windway taught him how to modify the “Killhourny” models and get the same balance. Reportedly, he did it already for a few customers quite recently. Anyone of you around?
One of the other whistles I recently received was a Burke composite D. (How convenient!!)
The Burke composite is also a fine whistle! Compared to the Sweetheart laminate, the Burke has a sweeter tone, but is softer in volume. Intonation-wise they are equal. C natural is fingered oxxooo. The Burke is a little more balanced across the octaves volume wise, but I can’t get as far into the 3rd octave as I can on the Sweetheart.
I plan on using the Burke composite as my recording whistle in the studio. And because of its lower volume I also plan on taking it with me when I travel to play in hotel rooms, etc.
glad to see someone else touting this fine whistle, for a change. just a few comments. it’s not really all wood–it’s wood impregnated with a phenolic resin, which gives it the good sound qualities of wood but the easy maintenance of plastic. for some slow airs i do C nat as oxxxoo to be very in pitch. this whistle allows a variety of C nats, which is handy. i agree entirely about the volume and open quality. it really seems to come into its own in company with other instruments, when you can really notice the great tone and intonation. by the way, what walt sweet did to get more range was this: the older sweethearts (which had a very conical bore) were troublsome above high G, whereas the cylindrical bore whistles were weak in the bell note but had a greater range on the top end. walt says he basically split the difference, making the bore midway between the two–conical, but less so than previously. the result was that the effective range was extended into the third octave but the instrument retained the “booming” bell note. anyone who has $135 to spare really should give it a try–it’s a remarkable instrmument. i would also add that it really benefits from a fair warm up before playing.
Spoke with Ralph this past week, and he says he’ll be making all natural wood Pro models shortly. Frankly, I can’t see a reason to buy one over the other. The laminate looks like wood, sounds like wood, feels like wood, but cares like plastic. It will be more expensive too.
Ralph revoiced my blackwood Kilhoury by working on the fipple. To me the two whistles are entirely different…there is nothing that I would say is similar other than the etched heart of the maker’s mark.
