In the past couple of days I’ve received my seventh whistle (Busman bloodwood w/stainless steel fittings) and my eighth (Serpent Village Smithy). That gives me whistles in wood, plastic, brass, aluminum, tin, and chrome-molybdenum steel (and six soprano Ds). About all that’s left are copper and Delrin, but I’m not in any hurry for those.
The Busman is still in the breaking-in stage (20 minutes a day), so I’m still adapting to it. Once it’s totally broken in, I plan to play it exclusively for a while, since it’s quite different from the Dixon, Burkes, and Whitecaps, both in sound and in how it plays. It’s the first whistle I’ve had that makes clear the meaning of the term “backpressure”.
No need to say anything about the quality of it. Visually, I’m very happy with the bloodwood. It’s relatively dark, but has some color to it, the finish is smooth, and the grain is not obtrusive–exactly what I was hoping for.
So far, the balance between octaves, and the volume going up, seems similar to my Burke narrow-bore aluminum, but I suspect that this will change somewhat as I adapt to it.
On the other hand, the timbre is very different from the Burke (and from the Whitecap-Feadog, as well). I’ve seen the term “reedy” applied to whistles, and that might be close.
As for the Village Smithy, I don’t have much to add to Glauber’s review at http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=14058&highlight=village+smithy
It’s certainly the only whistle I own that I would consider using for self defense against a man with a sword. At 100 gms., it’s the heaviest whistle I own, but being a single length of steel pipe, it’s perfectly balanced.
It probably has the best balance across octaves–and from one end of the upper octave to the other–of any of my whistles. It has lots of backpressure, perhaps even more than the Busman.
It’s relatively quiet and it’s voice is a bit husky. I’d have to say that it’s closest to the Busman in timbre, which is interesting, given how different they are in appearance and materials.
After playing the Busman for it’s alloted 20 minutes, then going to the Serpent, the transition was very easy. Then going to the Dixon, I really felt the lack of backpressure. I could barely play it. I think I prefer the backpressure. Now I’d say that the Burkes and Whitecaps are about halfway between the Busman and the Serpent at one end and the Dixon at the other. On the other hand, the Dixon doesn’t come close my pre-tweaked Clarke Original, which had almost negative backpressure by comparison.
I am interested in the question of rust with the Village Smithy, though. BillW sent me a short length of the chrome-moly steel tubing to experiment with. I’m thinking of sanding off the dark grey coating and applying gun bluing. (I was trying to tempt Bill into the idea of making a whistle from a .410 shotgun barrel, but he doesn’t seem to have taken the bait.)
Anyhow, I’m quite happy with both of my new whistles. Being very busy with work at the moment, I think I can now safely keep my WhOA in check by simply staying away from C&F for a while.
The upshot is, there is temporary respite but relapse is frequent and often. 