I saw it under the “reviews” section of Chiff and Fipple. Does anyone have any of these (high D telescoping whistle)? I’m very curious about it, it looks fascinating! How is it to play, and is it subject to WhOA?
I don’t own one, but I have had one in my posession for several weeks. The telescoping feature didn’t seem very valuable to me because it takes a bit of time and effort to get it set correctly, and once you have it right you don’t want to disturb it.
It’s by no means a sturdy whistle, either in construction or sound. The sound is very in-tune, very sweet and pure, and low volume.
It’s a good whistle for playing alone, especially if you have a spouse or cat. To me the price seems high for what you get. I’ve never played an O’Briain improved, but I gather it’s a similar sounding product (maybe a bit quieter than the Laughing) and costs a lot less. Even one of Mack Hoovers units will cost you less, and it comes with impeccable credentials for sweetness and purity of sound.
Tom.
I tried a laughing whistle recently and was really impressed with the sweet tone. One of my customers had one in his pocket and let me have a go. He mentioned that he seldom collapses his because it does take some work to get it right again. It had a really pretty blade design, almost a V shape. I found the second octave to be slightly harder to play because it seemed to have too much backpressure. My guess was that the blade needed lifting a tiny bit. This is probably limited to this one whistle and would not be a concern to me. As the other person mentioned, it was quiet but quiet whistles can be a real bonus sometimes!
Again, I thought it was a really sweet little whistle and I am surprised I haven’t seen or heard of more of them!
Sandy
Edited because I can’t spell!!
[ This Message was edited by: Sandy Jasper on 2003-01-10 19:47 ]
There is some variety of ‘quality’ - and also some variety of what people look for in a whistle’s sound - but when you find an excellent one, nothing compares, in my opinion. I’ve talked to people who love his work, people who are ambivalent, and people who didn’t care at all for their laughing whistles. And more often than not I end up buying the laughing whistles of owners who are willing to sell. 
I got my first laughing D a year ago this month, and it is my favorite whistle in the world - quiet, sweet, pure throughout the second octave, forgiving of my fingering bad-habits, easy to half hole. I would hate to have anything happen to it and have been trying to locate a “spare” that I can bring traveling and so forth. To that end, I’ve bought four additional laughing high D’s in the past year, some new and some used, and they all sound different. Intriguing and frustrating at the same time 
In the next few months I’m going to try to decide between the three possible spares I currently have, based on the sound I am most looking for personally, and sell the other two here on the board (with sound clips!).
For a whistle with definite variation in sound from sample to sample, it’s very expensive, currently priced around $75 I believe - his website wasn’t updated as of my last visit this summer. You generally need to cross finger c natural as OXXXOX to get the most in-tune pitch.
Any other questions, feel free to contact me here or by email.
On 2003-01-10 18:55, avanutria wrote:
I got my first laughing D a year ago this month, and it is my favorite whistle in the world - quiet, sweet, pure throughout the second octave, forgiving of my fingering bad-habits, easy to half hole.
I have one that I carry in a fanny pack whenever I go out. Mine is definitely one of the good ones, with the principal problem that the segments are a little loose and when I’m playing they sometimes telescope out of tune inadvertently. It’s particularly even in volume from octave to octave; the first octave is a shade quieter than my Sindt (i.e., fairly quiet but not inaudible) but the second is noticeably quieter than the Sindt’s. It does have a tendency to clog.
For a whistle with definite variation in sound from sample to sample, it’s very expensive, currently priced around $75
If I recall correctly (which is questionable), when he semi-retired from his whistle-making to devote his time to school he posted to the board that he was raising his prices to cut down on the number of orders.
John
There has been a LOTS of talk about laughing whistles on the board in the past, just not recently.
I’m surprised to hear some people say extenting the whistle to play it is difficult or time consuming: Didn’t take more than 30 seconds to uncollapse mine and start playing, never had any problems with that, and the sections all stayed put till I wanted to collapse the whistle again.
Downsides for me were the colgging and unbalanced octaves - the second being much louder than the first, to my ear.
I sold mine, never really cottoned to the sound and octave thing.
Loren
One of the ones I bought used, used to be Loren’s.
On 2003-01-10 20:31, avanutria wrote:
One of the ones I bought used, used to be Loren’s. >
Just out of curiosity Beth,
How does my old one sound and play compared to the other ones you’ve played?
Loren
Good enough for me to want to buy it!
I’ve been doing some frankensteinian stuff here, swapping parts from whistle to whistle. I’ll try to figure out which was yours, reassemble, and email you
Cool. Although no need to go to any trouble for me, I’m just curious. How do you know which parts are from which whistle? I’d have lost track as soon as I started swapping things around, LOL!
Loren
Loren, check your private messages.
This one came through me. I would have kept it but was paring down my inventory. I have another Laughing Whistle that’s not for sale. It was my first “high end” whistle although looking at what I’ve recently been acquiring, “high end” certainly seems relative.
My laughing whistle, the one I kept, no longer has the little clay stuff or what ever it is that Noah uses to narrow the windway. I wouldn’t have it any other way. It gives a softer sound that I absolutley love. This is the whistle that taught me how to be patient and helped get me through some particularly bad times in my life. It hangs out near my “little Buddha dude” statue.
jim
jim
You see my problem! LOL
Actually since I got them one at a time, it’s been ok. I make note of the shape of the wax over the mouthpiece, then I know which top is which, and match up the tarnish! lol
Beth,
I got my new Abell set this week. They are worlds apart in so many ways but the Abell D puts me in mind of my Laughing Whistle soundwise. Someday maybe we’ll be in the same geographical place and you can give it a try and let me know what you think. (my Metloef bodhran is due in tomorrow or Monday)
jim
Oops. Glad you posted, Jim, I had thought that Loren’s was the one I got through Greg.
I will be coming through your way again in late May, Jim - if you’ve got couch space for a whistler or two maybe we can trade a few tunes that night?
Edit - and did you ever get your Halpin?? Send me a review!
[ This Message was edited by: avanutria on 2003-01-10 21:49 ]
Keep in touch Beth and I’ll see what I can do. I may be in Texas visiting my folks around Memorial Day…but then again I may not. Would love to meet you, and any others traveling with you, in person. I do know that I’m needing a “Colorado fix”. I’ve missed my annual trip for the last two summers. Utah isn’t that much farther, is it?
jim
Jim, I got and replied to your PM.
Geeze, some of these whistles really make the rounds!
Loren
Well, I’d be hitting the road either Sunday or Monday of memorial day time frame, and depending how much farther past Des Moines you are I can get there in a day, though it might be really late. We’ll talk closer to the date - but I don’t plan on being back east after that date, so it’s our last chance!
(You might have missed that I asked you about the hallin in my above edited post)
Loren - yeah I love whistle genealogy I have several of yours, I think.
[ This Message was edited by: avanutria on 2003-01-10 22:00 ]
I’m 2 1/4 hour southwest of Des Moines and 1 1/2 hours from Omaha so contact is definetly doable. I did get the Halpin. It’s big!!! Beautiful sound, now if I can just learn to play it.
When it came in at work just before Christmas, I took it around and showed my co-workers. I told them I had given it a name ie I named it “A Different Drum”. I mentioned that it was common knowledge that Jim Durdin boogied the beat of a different drum and I just wanted to confirm that it was true. They shook their heads. BTW, I’m a social worker on an acute psychiatric ward at a state institution. My patients/clients seem to appreciate that I don’t “put on airs”.
I’m still going to get you a copy of that bodhran video. Where should I send it? How’s your drumming coming?
jim
[ This Message was edited by: livethe question on 2003-01-10 22:18 ]
Thanks for all the input, guys! I’ll keep it in mind when I get a bad case of WhOA (and Beth, let me know if/when you want to sell one)…
By the way, I’m loving my Dixon D more each day, I think it needed to be broken in. It’s getting easier and easier to play above high G (or maybe I’m just improving…nah…). I haven’t stolen back my daughter’s Sweetone, so I need to get around to that sometime and see if it just needs more play time. Anyways, the Dixon has such a nice tone, it makes me want to try another key…
Those Dixon Ds are nice whistles. My teenage daughter just “borrowed” mine. It actually tickles me that she is interested. But now I guess I’m going to have to get another one. I’ve always thought they were one of the best buys in whistles and after the brass slide model came out they got even better…IMHO.
jim
[ This Message was edited by: livethe question on 2003-01-10 22:25 ]