Volume. This is a very soft, easy on the ears whistle. Subjectively, slightly softer than a Clarke original. Comparisons will follow later, probably this coming weekend, when this can be explored in greater length.
Purity of sound. The purest whistle I own. Sweet, achingly pure sound, very slight huskiness, almost no chiff.
Resistance (back-pressure)!!! You have to blow this sucker with one firmly supported column of air, especially in the second octave. The flip side is the second octave is not shrill or edgy, and you’d think it would be. This whistle has more resistance than any other whistle I’ve yet played. Soft-blowers will definitely have an adjustment period.
Intonation is good through both octaves. Some whistles blow sharp on the octave; this one doesn’t. The whistle is very slightly sharp to A=440 with the slide all the way closed; I consider this ideal.
Appearance is striking. Looks very high-endish. This is a whistle that looks like an instrument, not like any kind of toy. One complaint on appearance: the tone holes are not quite round, a bit more like very smoothed hexagons. This is not a major complaint, and is barely noticeable.
Weight–or lack thereof, to be more accurate. It weighs less than a Clarke original. My Walton’s Guinness is heavier.
This is a good whistle, well worth the money. I am very pleased with it.
This may not be the best whistle out there for traditionalists–if you like that chiffy-pop sound, get yourself a good Oak or a Serpent instead. This is a pure-toned whistle, and has more of a high-end whistle sound. It is responsive, though, and is very chromatic, responding well to cross-fingerings.
I don’t think anyone (except maybe a beginner who’s not ready to support the airstream quite that well) would be disappointed in this whistle.
I love instruments with resistance, so I am particularly delighted.
Hummm…I’m not sure that I would agree that the Syn is softer sounding or lighter than the Clark original, though it is indeed soft and light (on edit, someone could weigh them and find out, it is subjective on my part). I certainly agree with peeplj that the tone is special. The tone is (to me) very round and rich like is was a velvet brocade, and it is not a weak sound but has real carrying power if you want it to. The chiffers will be dissapointed as it does not have much if any, but the clarity of the sound makes for beautiful ornamentation. It is incredibly responsive.
This whistle is already one of my favorites. Since it comes from Australia, I’m thinking of giving mine an Australian name…but have not figured out just what yet…
That sounds like a whistle I’d like. If somebody would PM me and tell me who it actually is making them I might buy one. But I’m not going to if I don’t know who it is.
The syn is definately my favorite whistle. I think of it as a working class high ender. To me the sound is authoratative but not overpowering. I havent picked up any of my others since it arrived…
Does anyone have the ordering information, or a link thereto? I think I missed it. Sounds like a nice whistle, and it is just within my price range right now.
Cranberry, I don’t know what your worry is—do you know the name of the person who grew the carrots you buy—but I can assure you that there is nothing sinister or dangerous about entering into a transaction with Mr. Syn that would be removed by knowing his name.
His identity is known to me and, I think, also to several other people on the board. You can work it out if you read the initial thread carefully, and with cunning, and you can also see that he knows me personally from some of his posts. Since you probably won’t know who he is when you learn his real name, as you might well do if you email him, there is nothing further that you need to know that should prevent you from ordering. He gave his reasons for keeping this enterprise separate in a post on the initial thread and I’m going to respect his wishes in the letter, if not always the spirit.
I’m posting this reply publicly, rather than in a PM, just in case somebody else is holding off for the same reasons. But I’ll tell you two things. First, this is a genuine business concern run by an honest man who really does make and market good whistles, even if he does make scandalous remarks about how hard I work. Second, if in your dealings with him you have a legitimate complaint, I’ll investigate the matter for you personally and, if necessary, reveal his identity to you then in a PM.
So, what are you waiting for; it’s time to indulge in original Syn?
Truth is, even when I know the names of the makers, it’s not like that actually means I know them.
This is someone who has been making musical instruments for quite some time. He will deal with you politely, and honestly.
And quite frankly, if he’s got any of these left, they’re an absolute steal. Yes, they have a couple of surface imperfections due to them being prototypes rather than full production. However, they’re really quite nice looking, and the sound is stunning. I’ll keep using my Chieftain, especially when I need extra volume for slower pieces. However, my new Syn high-D has overwhelmingly displaced the other high-D whistles.
Mr Syn, it would be really, really cool if I could get an Eb and a C tube for this whistle… hint, hint.
Hi folks, thanks for the reviews, I’m glad you liked them! It looks like I achieved what I set out to do and I think Syn Whistles will survive past the first production run.
Tomorrow morning I leave for the National Folk Festival in Canberra, and will be away for about a week, so apologies in advance for not answering any email until I return. All orders recieved by Synful Sue to date have been passed on and mailed out, any orders that arrive while I’m away will have to wait until I return I’m afraid, but will not be delayed any longer than that. Happy Easter all, syn.
Well I better jump on the band wagon on this one. Got mine on Monday and couldn`t be happier. What a nice whistle. Everyone has pretty much said what I would have said except that its not all that quite. So I will mention a negative. The metal at the back of the fipple makes me feel like I am drueling.
Second, if in your dealings with him you have a legitimate complaint, I’ll investigate the matter for you personally and, if necessary, reveal his identity to you then in a PM.
