Last week I visited The Bournemouth Violin Shop, a fantastic fiddle store. Inevitably we got talking whistles. Geoff, the proprietor, gave me a demo on his own Sweetheart. What an amazing sound !
I am sorely tempted to get one, but £155 is alot of money. To help me make my dcision I would be interested in anybodies views on these woodn whistles. Additionally where can I find any sound clips ?
Thanks
Go to the source:
http://www.sweetheartflute.com/whistles.html
The Sweets make very nice whistles and flutes indeed.
I can’t speak to the wood version but I have a Sweetheart Pro polymer and it instantly became my favorite whistle. Beautiful sound and excellent quality!
I can’t speak highly enough of Sweethearts. I have one of the older rosewood Ds that I’ve played as my primary whistle for almost 20 years, and it just gets better and better. In the beginning I agreed with all those who thought they were rather recorder-like. But with time and playing their character changes quite dramatically.
Have you ever sat in the pub while the young bucks are throwing their expensive, high-tech darts? From time to time an old hand will come along with those darts made of wood and feathers with a ten-penny nail sticking out the front. He almost invariably cleans house, right? The Sweetheart whistles are like that. For me, they represent the concept that it is better to find one whistle you like and play it forever than to go from whistle to whistle to improve your music. The Sweetheart takes a bit of getting used to, but it gets better with age and so does the player.
So do wooden whistles change characteristics over time like guitars and fiddles, or do whistlers learn to get the most out of the whistle over time?
Curious in Massachusetts,
Steve
I tend to think the player changes more than the whistle.
Actually, I think it’s a bit of both. My whistle is a very old example, and I’m quite sure the wood has mellowed with time, but then again, so have I. I know my older (20-ish years) metal whistles seem to sound about the same as they did when new. But maybe I just expect them to and don’t hear any change. There’s only one good test: get a good wooden whistle, play it for a loooong time, and see for yourself.
Gee, now where am I going to find a good wooden whistle? 
Well, Ralph and Walt do make a nice one, but I hear there are others. 
But I think too that part of my experience is that this one whistle has been my primary one for so long. It has hundreds of hours on it. I think that’s an important part of the equation. I also have a Sweet C that matches it from the same time period, and it doesn’t have the mellowness of the D. But I hardly play it at all. It has sort of stayed the same over the years. While they are both rosewood, the D has turned almost black over the years of playing. In fact, it’s so dark now that in the dim light of the pub it can be mistaken for ebony. I’m sure that must have some effect on the tone.
Tim
I think your comments have won me over ! Just got to decide what I want most, a replacement fiddle or a Sweetheart. At least with the whistle I will get a top quality instrument for a fraction of the price of a good fiddle.
Clive
Well, good luck with that Clive!
I just want to be plain that my experience is with the old style Sweethearts. They were solid wood and not the new synthetic (Diamondwood? Durawood? Something like that). I have no experience with the new ones, although I did own their new Resonance model flute for a while.
The old type sometimes show up used at a good price, so maybe that would help you have both instruments.
Best of luck!
Oh, and should you get one of the old wooden ones, know that they do take a bit more care than the synthetic ones, and much more than a metal one. The flute forum here is chock-a-block with information on the oiling and proper care of wooden instruments.
When I last checked, there were a couple of them on e-Bay… [I’m not selling either so not trying to stampede the price up.]
Best wishes.
Steve
Yeah, I just found this one. It’s the same era as mine and looks to be in good condition. Even has the original caulking. Fair price and no bids yet.
Sweetheart was my first high end whistle. I love it. It is loud and pure, and can produce nice, crisp ornamentation on it.
BUMP
Hey Clive, did you ever get one?
Yep, I know my Generations have changed… 
I recently bought the older rosewood Sweetheart on Ebay. I have to say, it’s incrediable. I find many whistles to be weak in the lowest note. But this high D, the low note really sings out. And the second octave is very sweet sounding. I read these reviews after I bought it. Now I realize how lucky I was too take a chance on buying it. It’s nice to read everyone’s reviews since I now have one myself.
Congrats! It’s so much nicer to hear a ‘you guys were right’ post than a ‘you guys screwed me to the wall’ post.
I wish we could compare them. If it is the one in the link above, it’s at least 20 years old and appears to be in near mint condition. If we could compare them it would be interesting to see if the passage of time has really done something to the wood. That’s sort of the gist of this thread.
Just out of curiousity, and if you don’t mind, what did you bid to win? The opening price was $25 less that the whistle sold for new 20 years ago.
At any rate, congratulations on a fine instrument. They are becoming more rare every day.
Tim, I think you asked me how much I paid for it. It was $153. I thought that was a little high. But it’s like new. It’s really a strong player, especially in the low octave. I love it so much, I sleep with it. And my wife now sleeps on the sofa.
Well congratulations again. I think you’ll grow even more fond of it with time as it mellows. If I could make a suggestion, you might want to go ahead and put some proper cork on the joint. I found the thread caulk to last only a couple of months at a time, and it was a real pain to keep rewinding it. That thread certainly looks like original equipment (Ralph’s wife used to do the windings), and if that’s true then the cotton is about 20 years old. The thread caulking is traditional I suppose, but a proper cork joint will improve it noticably.
And I don’t think you paid too much at all. I’d gladly pay that for an original, as I’m frankly not fond of the new design. On the outside chance that you tire of it some day, drop me a note.