I stumbled on this website… a person by the name of Tryone Head seems to be making very high end wooden Whistles… does anyone know anything about him, or have any of his Whistles… they look very nice and market for under $300
here is his website
Cheers ,
Ben Shaffer
Greensboro,NC
I went through the “tutorial” section, which details how the whistles are made. Seems like he’s got quite a bit of time, effort and money invested in tooling and locking down the process for making whistles. Seems to be a pretty serious effort. I guess the proof would be in the playing, though…
There’s also some very inexpensive, non-tunable, whistles listed, too. Has anyone tried one of Mr. Head’s whistles?
Nice work, Thin Weasel inspired.
I just wrote to him with a couple of questions/comments.
Makes me wonder if hes related to TyroneShoelaces
Or would that be “Tie Yer Own Shoelaces”?
I couldn’t resist. I’m getting one of the $35.00 ones. The tutorial is pretty impressive. You know you’ve got a whistle acquisition problem when, on the one hand, you are debating which high end whistles to get rid of because you just don’t play them and, on the other, you can’t wait to get your hands on a new (and reasonably priced) handmade one.
Wow, it’s good to be back!!
Tom D.
We await the feedback; almost bit (at it) myself
Philo
Hmm, I’d not expected to see wooden whistles around £30 like that! If they’re any good…
That said, I’d prefer a tuneable one, and his tuneable whistles are too expensive for me. Anyone know of any other makers of low-cost wooden whistles? I’m thinking of getting myself a new whistle, probably spending around £30 you see, but I’d assumed fancy wooden ones would be way over my budget (like his tuneable models for example!).
Note that the $35 whistle is polymer, not hardwood - though there are a couple of non-tunable wood ones for $49.
The $35.00 PVC arrived a day or two ago. It is a fine whistle. It deserves a Philo-level review. However, I lack the requisite insight and erudition so will say only that it a fine whistle for that price and more. Workmanship, weight, feel, sound, bottom, top–all that good stuff is there is good measure. I did not see the $35.00 non-tunable PVC D up on the maker’s page when I went there a short while ago. I think it would be considered a narrow bore whistle. The sound is neither shrill, harsh, brash, breathy nor soft, if that makes any sense. I have not checked it against a digital tuner, but it sounds right to Old Tin-Ear here.
Tom D.
My whistle arrived yesterday. Having it for only one day, I offer this review…
Whistle: The Flute Maker (Ty Head) Key of D Non-Tunable
Materiel: Silver/Paduk
Purchased new from maker. Price: $49 USD Delivery took exactly one week.
Tone: Pure, bright and sweet with very little air sound, even in the second octave.
Volume: Quiet – Medium
Air Requirement: Very little. Easy to over blow.
Back Pressure: Little – Because of the low air requirement, back pressure seems to be less of an issue. Still easy to bend and slur notes.
Tuning: Measured with a Korg CA-30 Chromatic Tuner. Both octaves play in tune, however, I found that when playing to the maximum volume, the whistle plays slightly sharp. C natural plays in tune using oxxooo.
Construction: Wood is smooth and polished. Tone holes are perfectly round and edges smooth. The fipple is brightly polished, almost a mirror finish. Edges are smooth with only slight tool marks at the bottom of the curve on the mouth piece.
On this particular whistle, there is a gap between the wood and the metal at the very end of the mouth piece on one side. I will need to discuss this with the maker as I fear moisture will get into the gap and cause problems later on.
Comments: This is a nice little whistle. When I took it out of the box and played it, I immediately over blew it. It requires so little air. Barely a breath at all. First reaction is that it has a weak low end, but this is not the case. Keeping the low air requirement in mind, it plays well right into the third octave. It plays very easy in the second octave with no shrillness at all.
It feels comfortable and is extremely light weight. The shaft dimension is neither too thick or thin for my longish fingers. The fipple is not heavy on the lips and the mouth piece is neither thick or thin. It’s comfortable.
The tone holes are a nice size, not large at all, with smoothly sanded edges.
Overall: Once I became accustomed to the quietness and low air requirement, I really started to enjoy it. Beautiful, easy to play second octave. $49 for a nice wooden whistle is a true bargain. Being on the quiet side, I most likely will not be playing it in session, so the fact that it is non-tunable doesn’t really matter. Wood whistles normally make me nervous with regard to cracking. With only $49 invested, I won’t loose any sleep over the issue.
I would definitely recommend this whistle.
Thanks to Ben who found the site and to those of you who took the time to post a review, I just ordered the maple. I’ll follow up once I get it!
My prior post should have indicated the need for a Philo- OR a Slow Air-level review of the whistle. I am reminded of Slow Air’s excellent review, including photos, of the Hudson Winds Conical whistle a while back.
Just thought I’d follow up with my very non-professional input about the maple whistle I bought from TheFlutemaker.com. I got it this past Friday. Very fast service considering the Monday holiday (I believe I ordered it on Saturday before MLK day). It came Fedex and the price of shipping was included in the price of the whistle.
The whistle, though quiet, has a very lovely, painless sound, even on the highest notes. Not breathy at all. Like Slowair, I overblew it at first but this is not really a problem once you’ve played it even for one song. It is nicely in tune with itself, although its entire range is below concert pitch. I don’t have a tuner to tell you precisely how much, but I’d say close to a quarter tone. I just glanced back at the site & didn’t notice that the maker advertises concert pitch. I mostly play for myself or with my guitar-playing offspring, this is not too big of a problem. Really, since it’s not very loud, it would probably not be the whistle to play with others, anyway. This whistle is really nice for playing in the house and not irritating others.
It looks and feels great and is really a pleasure to hear. I know you’re going to say, “Give us a sound sample!” But I’ve heard how brutal some folks on this forum can be and would rather not expose my playing to that sort of criticism! No offense! Collectively, I love you all, but individually . . . . ;^)
Slowair said it all better; this just gives a little bit of support.
A follow up on the gap I found on the mouth piece. I brought this to the attention of the maker. He offered to repair the whistle and pay for shipping both ways. It was repaired and sent back very quickly.
I’ve played a great many whistles in the past eight years and this one is going to get a lot of play time. Ty is a decent person and produces a very nice whistle. I wish him well and hope he stays around for a very long time.
Folks, you may want to seriously consider one of these whistles. It won’t be long before he realizes he can ask for much more and get it.
I do not stand to profit in any way from this review. This whistle was bought and paid for by me. If it helps the maker to sell whistles, terrific. Hopefully it will also help you to decide whether or not to try one. If you do, may you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine.
Mike
I am loving mine as well, slowair.
I hope people will read that these are truly desirable whistles–last time I posted to this thread, the little bell that says something new was written never “rang.” Am I posting incorrectly? I thought when someone wrote again on a topic, people could tell. But this morning, I only knew you had added to this because I saw your name as the last person posting rather than my own. The little notification was still . . . still! (No pulsating action.)
I’m brand new to the world of the whistle, and my wife is still pretty sure I’m crazy, but I just ordered a whistle from Ty. The tutorial he put up told me that I like the look of his product and how he produces it, he was super responsive to my emails, but what pushed me over the edge to hit the “buy it now” button was Ty’s VERY generous offer to donate 100% of the price of the whistle to a charity of my choice. In my book, that’s pretty fantastic and businesses that do things like that deserve to be supported.
Anyway, I’m very excited to try this product and the whistle in general.