I am thinking of buying a Burke session whistle or a narrow bore. They cost $190 USD. 
I am an intermediate beginner and I am serious about becoming a better player by practicing a lot. I also want an instrument that is adequate for a session. Does anyone have any thoughts on which bore diameter is better? Aluminum? Brass? Why?
Hi Chuck, If you go for the Burke for sessions, I’d get the session bore. The narrow bore is very sweet, a nice personal and recording instrument IMO. But the session bore’s medium volume and tone blends very nicely I think with fiddles, pipes, etc. It’s what I usually grab for session playing.
Brass, aluminum, your choice of look and feel. They sound about the same.
Of course, for getting serious about practice, I actually recommend working with a Gen or Feadóg or the like. I made the wee mistake of too much reliance on fancier whistles when first starting to get serious, and I think it slowed my progress in mastering some of the details that make the difference between sounding trad and sounding “almost”. Once you can control the chirpy, chiffy demands of a Gen type, it’s easier to pick up another whistle and push it in the right direction. Just my current opinion, of course. 
I have never played a Burke so I am in no position to comment but I did notice one for sale in the used instruments section. Might save you a few quid (sorry, dollars) https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/fs-burke-dbsbt-sold/66492/1
I was thinking of saving my whistle fund money this year and ordering a set of the emperor’s new clothes instead. I’ve heard they’re much in demand this season 
I think we can all own up to that temptation 
PS. lovely whistle though
Wow this is very interesting MT. I’ve never thought about that, or heard anyone talk about it.
When I started out in the mid 70’s there were only Generations- every “serious” whistle player I met or saw, everyone who played professionally, all alike played a brass Gen D with the red top. (There were Clarkes of course but they only came in C.)
So the “which whistle” question always had the same answer- pick through dozens of Gens and try to find that special magic player. It’s still possible to do so: I bought a Gen D a couple years ago that’s great.
There’s nothing quite like the sound and performance of a really good Gen to people like me who grew up in that era and to whom the Gen sound is the definitive whistle sound.
I am a big Burke fan and I have a Burke aluminum session bore high D that’s my session whistle. For performing with a mic I still use my trusty old c1980 Feadog.
What a simple question! I’ll tell you how I answered that one for myself. I bought 'em all - brass, aluminum, composite, narrow bore, session bore. They are all very nice whistles. Mike’s design and workmanship is top shelf. And he stands behind what he makes. Regardless of which bore you choose, all materials will have the same playing characteristics. Just as MTGuru says, the brass and aluminum ones sound similar across the room. The composite models sound a bit more mellow, some say woody. The session bore has a bigger, more open sound. But the narrow bore is not a wallflower whistle. It has enough volume so that you will hear yourself in a good sized session. How much time will you spend playing at home versus playing in groups? Get the narrow bore if playing at home is your primary interest and if you feel you need the oomph get the session bore. You can’t make a bad decision. I play the heck out of both the aluminum and brass narrow bore whistles but if pressed I would say I prefer the brass one. Mike makes a good whistle.
Support a fellow whistle maker and not some faceless factory. 
Crossposted with PCP: I will add that I have also pledged allegiance to one well worn Feadog Mk I for more years than I can remember.
Feadoggie
Very good post and information…because I am thinking about getting a Burke for my next whistle as well.
Rob
Chuck:
Why not use one of your own whistles? They’re excellent!
If you DO go for the Burke, however, I prefer the narrow composite - it’s really plenty loud enough and has a great sound in the second octave (i.e. non-deafening), although the session is nice, too…
Pat
I sort of had the opposite experience. When I started getting serious, I bought an aluminum session Burke. The ease of playing it kept my frustration level down, and I practiced a lot more than I had been doing on the Gen. Now I tend to play the Gen at home, and the Burke in sessions.
Either way, the real point is to practice with a plan.
Chuck, the 2 I got from you , I havent said anything about them , cause I thought you were going to quit making for a while. The narrow bore brass , I got from you, it goes into the 2nd octave easier than any whistle I have. I get it too spitty sometime, due to my own fault, and the Delrin I got is excellent,and 2nd oct friendly. I bet you can get as good as you want on your own whistles.
I vasilate back & forth between the whistles I have , one day I will think one is best & the other is crap & the next day another is best,etc. but its my ADD
your whistles are quite good IMHO. .
Steve
Hello,
I am also a beginning player. However, once I got into it, I wanted the nicer whistle right away. Usually, when I make the wrong decision I feel guilty. However, in this case, I have felt no pangs of guilt over spending this money.
I love my Burke Composite (session bore). It IS really inspiring to play on such a nice whistle and for me it has helped to fuel my interest (it also has far more leeway in terms of adding ornaments and the like). I still use the Carbony and also the Clarke Sweetone-- but there are clearly more rewards to playing the Burke.
$200 is a lot of money. I chose to go without groceries for awhile. Now, I am saving up for a brass one. I figure if I skip my morning coffee shop hop, I can afford one by my birthday.
Best wishes,
Christina
Thanks Pat and Steve. I am currently practicing with one of mine. It is a solid Delrin narrow bore and I like it a lot. However, I need a good high-end instrument to compare it against.
Why not consider a Blackbird? Very nice whistle for 1/5 the price of a Burke. It might be a bit too quiet, however, in a group setting.
Paddy Moloney plays a Burke… 
And Joanie Madden plays a nice big Sassafras Grove bag full of Burkes (and O’Riordans).
From one whistle maker to another, buy a Burke. You’ll like it.
Feadoggie
Contrasting some of the advice above, I find my narrow-bore brass Burke perfectly loud enough for the sessions I attend (4-10 players). Having tried a bunch of Burkes side-by-side, the brass narrow-bore was the standout. Tone, volume, and playability are all just right for me.
Doc Jones has made a very helpful video where he does a side by side comparison of session and narrow bore Burke whistles in different materials: brass, aluminum and composite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_P9GYVKNqQ
Did you take that picture? Cool!
No, Chuck, but I was standing right next to that photographer. I took a picture just like it but I am away from home eldersitting my parents and did not have my photo to post. The photo was taken at Augusta Irish Week in 2007 for one of Joanie’s whistle classes. There were about twenty players in that class. At the beginning of the week there were lots of different whistles being played. I played one of my own. By the end of the week all but a couple of us were playing Burkes. The postal service box behind Joanie’s chair was sent to Joanie by Mike Burke. It was full of new whistles when it was opened. It was quite empty by the time the picture was taken at week’s end. Good time!
Feadoggie
Maybe not so opposite, actually. It’s not just the time spent, but what you actually work on, and the challenges you set for yourself.
For years (pre-serious) I owned basically only Gens. Then I took the plunge on Susatos, and worked with them for about a year. Then a Burke D, which seduced me with it’s smooth-playing siren song. Meanwhile noodling with various cheapies.
One day I posted a Burke clip somewhere. And the reaction was something like: “Sounds great. But it’s also off somehow, not quite right, not quite … Irish trad sounding.” And they were right; I could hear the difference, too.
So out came my best Feadóg, and I spent some months re-learning the details. It made a difference in my playing, I think. Not that I’m happy with my sound yet, or where I want to be technically. But closer.
You know, there are characteristics of a nice, chirpy cheapie that are really important to The Sound. The way that ornaments “pop out”. The way the registers break. The response to breath push. The lazy fingerings that work or don’t. Controlling these features is literally a matter of split-second millisecond timing of fingers and breath. And if you’re working on a whistle that lacks or hides these characteristics, you’ll never develop that timing. The Sound.
Now, the old cheapie vs. fancy whistle dead horse debate is too simplistic, IMO. Ugh. People like what they like and play what they like. But I think it’s no accident that the players we think of as defining The Sound were schooled on Gens and the like. Even if they’re eventually playing a Burke or O’Riordan or whatever, you can still hear the influence, pushing those whistles toward The Sound. Some whistles like Sindt and Overton feature their own sort of chirpiness, and may be favored for that reason. And, of course, the whistle of choice of top players to achieve the Gen type trad sound is often still … a Gen type whistle. No surprise there.
In the past, I’ve given advice to whistle-hoppers to pick one whistle and stick with it, and that still holds. Whatever whistle you play, you need to spend time learning and internalizing its ins and outs (which experienced players can do fairly quickly). But the dual approach can be part of that. You do your learning and technical fine tuning on your favorite Gen or 'Dog or Dixon Trad, etc. Then when you move to your favorite mega-fancy tooter, the reflexes and ear you’ve developed can move with you.
Just my current theory, as I said. I could be completely off the wall.
Like CrookedTune, I usually play my Burke D/C set at sessions. I know them, I like them a lot, and they suit both me and the sessions here. There tends to be some whistle inflation, with Burkes, Copelands, Abells in abundance, and sessions get pretty loud. If you can’t beat 'em, join 'em. If it’s just me and, say, a fiddle, I might switch to Sindt or something chirpier and quieter. And at home, it’s usually a cheapie to work on technical kinks.
As for the Celebrity thing … Paddy or Joanie plays an X, etc. … That thinking leads to confusion, I think, for several reasons I won’t really go into. They’re not you, and their relationship to their whistles and the reasons for their choices may be very different from yours. Yes, I know that cuts both ways. But what whistles did these guys actually learn their whistlecraft on? The last time I saw The Chiftains and CTL here in concert, Paddy and Joanie were both playing Generations, IIRC.
Sorry for the bloviation. Must go work on my double-cut rolls now … 