Thornton Whistle Review

Whistle
1

Okay, a lot of people have been asking some questions about Thornton whistles. I got one a little while ago, and have been testing it out, and now I think it might be time to write a review on it. First I would like to say that Tom is a great guy with good communication, he is very friendly and a superb player of Irish woodwinds. I do think Phil Hardy was right when he said that everyone should have one of these whistles, and I think it is also great that a wonderful whistle player decided to make whistles now. This review is for his wooden top, not the plastic. But I am sure the plastic is just as great. It is made out of brass and ebony.

Tone: The tone to this whistle is very nice, it has real nice back pressure and is very sweet, especially in the upper octaves. In the lower octaves, it has a nice traditional sound to it, I love both octaves in it. The higher octave is not shrill on the ears at all.

Volume: The volume is on the medium to quiet side. It is a little louder than a sweetone, but it is great for playing in the house, especially if you live in apartments. I took it to the pub and played it last night, I got a lot of compliments on it, and it could be heard pretty well. But the pub session wasn’t as full as usual, I will let you know when there are more people in it.

Tuning: The tuning is good, you have to blow a little more to get it spot on.

Responsiveness: It is very good, you can play anything on it without trouble.

Breath Requirements: I like the breath requirements on this, I can go a while without taking a breath.

Clogging: This whistle can get wet, especially if you are a wet blower. It does get clogged fairly easy, but that isn’t a problem, it can be fixed easily.

Overall: This truly is a great whistle, made by a great guy, who is a great player. I do enjoy this whistle very much, and love to add it to the collection. It is beautiful to look at, and very fun to play. The back pressure is wonderful on this, it has a good kick to it. The only real problem is the clogging, which isn’t much of a problem to me. So, all in all this is a great whistle! http://www.thorntonwhistles.info/index.html?0.45856922855512094

Did I mention that it is marked #001 :stuck_out_tongue: :wink: what a great thing to have!

I hope this will help who ever was wondering about the whistle. It is my opinion of it.

Jon

2

I think I might also have #001 of the plastic head variety (or perhaps #1 sold on the Internet, but not marked as such). I’ve found it a generally well made whistle and generally well sounding. On the quieter side but with a pleasing mellow tone (a question of personal taste as to what you prefer and mine would probably favour a little more chiff). It’s warmed on me since I bought it, and having not picked it up for a while I was pleasantly surprised on revisiting it, although not necessarily one I’d routinely throw in the bag for a session. The only design comment I’d have is about the little metal rivet in the side of the mouthpiece which protrudes a bit on mine and I did snag my lip on it a couple of times. I guess that’s easily sorted.

3

Jon,

Thanks for the review. Have you tried a Sindt, Hoover wt cap, Narrow bore Burke, Reyburn, or Humphry narrow bore?

Just curious to what comparisons you might make! I am on the Thornton Whistle tour…looking forward to its arrival.

I tend to lean towards narrow bore metal whistles so I think it will be a good one to try one out!

Nate

4

i have tried the Burke and the Humphrey, both are a little louder than the Thornton. they both have less back pressure too. they are very similar in the sweetness in the higher octaves, and the nice chiff in the lower octaves. i think they are all three great. i am dying to try the Sindt, the Reyburn, and the Hoover out.

5

I have never tried a Burke narrow bore…I guess I should have bought one back when they were only 125$ I cringed when they went up to 150 and now they are 170! I still have my Burke brass session without a black tip that was my first high end whistle I bought for 90$ new from Michael. I usually take it to the session because I know it is in tune and it is predictable when I can’t hear myself play!!

My friend “Lisa D” had a set of Humphrey narrow bore’s (e,eb,d) Nice little set and won’t break the bank! More back pressure than a Sindt and not as much chiff. I would like a set to go with the rest of my narrow bores but well, I really need to sell a few things first. It is a finely crafted whistle out of Delrin and looks like a black, cheep whistle. He use to call them the “stealth whistle”

6

Tom’s concern and attention to customers is always refreshing (thanks for the pm Tom, and confirming that the one I have is #001!). I think my playing is stronger now and the Thornton seems to respond better tonally to increased confidence (or maybe just to increased back pressure). Just to clarify my design comment, it’s very easily tweaked and I haven’t actually managed to draw blood on it, in case anyone was worried :slight_smile:

Keep up the good work Tom… once you’ve become a legend my grandchildren will be able to auction #001 for a small fortune! :devil:

7

I received mine last week and I have Ebony #002. I agree with everything Jon said, except I haven’t had any clogging problems yet. It’s a very quiet whistle, and has more back pressure than I’m used and when you look at the windway you’ll notice it is very thin which explains why. The second octave is very nice and octave shifts are a breeze. Overall, a very nice whistle and it’s pretty too!

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i am sorry, but the thing i thought was clogging was that i was blowing at it in a bad angle. the clogging isnt bad on this. my apologies. :blush:

9

Whistle Collector, I’m glad you were able to give a more ‘professional’ review. I’m still figuring out what the different terms mean and when I read what you wrote I kept thinking “Yeah, that’s exactly it”. From a novices perspective, I like it’s mellow tone and that it goes into the upper octave so smoothly, without that squeek I get on a lot of whistles. Airs sound beautiful, but it keeps up with fast tunes easily.