Thoughts on A Whistles...

Whistle
1

Hello All! It’s been a while. :astonished:

I’ve come seeking the collective smarts of the whistle community. For the longest time I have been using a Susato medium bore A for my A whistle needs, but want to upgrade. I’m looking for something with nicer tone and tuning as well as better control between octaves.

Long a fan of Burkes, I got a Brass A. Lovely and does what I expect as mentioned above, but it is too soft to play at session. Just no presence at all. I may end up doing some recordings with it, but likely not.

I have recently been impressed with McManus C/D set and I see that Misha is making an MK- A these days. The videos all sound good but I need something that is going to have some presence to it. “Susato loud” but without the warts.

What are all of you using for a nice sounding loud and in control A Whistle these days.

Best
Scott McCallister

2

I have a Colin Goldie Overton A that I like a lot. Mine is non tunable, but it’s right on the mark. I used it for several years in an Irish band with no tuning problems.

3

Alba A vs MK A:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkL_owJ5r0s

4

You might want to consider a Reyburn whistle.

Very pleased with the three keys I have and all are on the loud side compared to other brands I have played. While I don’t have an A, I strongly suspect that his A whistle will follow the trend.

Ronaldo Reyburn was very quick to respond to all my questions and you can post questions directly to his website.

5

Yes there’s something about the tone about Susatos I just don’t like. It’s not just the tone, it’s something more that I can’t put my finger on, something about the voicing maybe. I do feel that Susatos get better as they get bigger, and the Low D and Low C are very nice.

I used to have two different Susato A’s, one was an early one, the sort machined out of ABS stock, with a wooden block. It was a wonderful player, much nicer than the current Susatos. Its bore and the balance between strength in the low octave and ease in the 2nd octave was just right. It was rather loud.

The other Susato A was their more recent style with injection-moulded head. It had a very narrow bore, like their High D’s. Its tuning and voicing were spot-on and it was a very sweet player, on the quiet side.

I had a Burke A, aluminium, which was very nice. Great tuning and voicing, with a strong loud low octave but a reasonably civilised 2nd octave. Like all the Burkes I’ve had the responsiveness of the 2nd octave was a bit stiff and it took a large quantity of air. Like all Burkes it was a high quality professional instrument.

If the MK A plays anything like the several MK D’s I’ve owned, it will have a unique dusky tone, be rather loud, have an easy light responsive 2nd octave, and be extremely air-efficient.

I’ve owned Albas in three different keys (not A) and each was voiced rather differently, one having an exceptionally wide bore for its pitch, another having an exceptionally narrow bore for its pitch, and one being just right (like the three little bears).

Hopefully somebody will chime in who has experience with A’s from Susato, Burke, MK, and Alba and give some insight into how they all compare.

As to what I use, I got a Sindt A/Bb/B set that was supberb. The A far outplayed my Susatos and Burke and I got rid of those.

Slightly better than that Sindt, in my opinion, was my home-made A body on a Freeman Tweaked Generation Bb head. It’s the best A I’ve played, and that’s what I use now. It’s not very loud, though. I chose quality over volume.

6

Several months ago I changed the bore of the tweaked A Generations. They are now a standard bore, which should improve the volume. The earlier version had a larger bore tube than the Bb, so the one you converted from a Bb would have been even narrower bore than my old, narrow-bore A’s. Richard, I’ll be happy to send you a current model if you’ll PM your mailing address. I believe I owe you some whistles from an old transaction, so I won’t charge for it.

7

I have both Burke Brass and MK whistles in “A”. I love both of them. I have heard that the Carbony whistles are loud. You might take a look at them as well.

8

Thanks for the offer! PM will be sent.

I made my “A” body from hobby tubing which is slightly larger ID than the Generation Bb tubing. I soldered the two together to get a nice fit to the head. It has a very sweet 2nd octave and full round low octave, which as I said I liked a tiny bit better than the Sindt “A” I had.

Here, on the left

I wonder what bore for an “A” would be considered standard. I’ve seen Susato A’s with four different bores (three on the new model and one on the old) and the Sindt’s was much narrower than the Burke’s, and on it goes. Probably if you got those four Susatos, the Sindt, Burke, and MK together they would have seven different bores, it wouldn’t surprise me.

9

I would love to hear about your impressions, comparing those two.

I had a Burke “A” and it was loud but with the slightly stiff 2nd octave and huge air appetite which characterises Burkes.

I would expect the MK to have an easier, more nimble 2nd octave and be more air-efficient as well as having a more complex tone, by analogy with my comparison between the MK and Burke Low Ds. But such analogies are often false, I’ve found.

Is that your impression of your two A’s?

10

Not to hijack the thread, but I’ve seen an A whistle by “Shearwater” with a pinky hole for low G natural, which seems pretty handy for Scottish music especially. Does anyone have any experience with either that make or other whistles with that feature?

11

I know what you are talking about with Burke Whistles and Air. My Burke Low D puts me to the test every time I play it. Neither of the Mezzo A whistles are like that. They both seem stable in both octaves. The Burke and MK have distinctively different tone, especially since my Burke is brass. I like them both!

12

5/8 inch inside diameter is about right for a standard bore A whistle. I use 21/32 outside diameter brass tubing with a .014 wall thickness. That makes the inside diameter 5/8 inch plus about three thousandths.

13

I know this is an old thread, and I actually recall reading it around the time it was first published, but I wanted to add that if you’re going for PRESENCE, the Reviol A is hard to beat. It shares the same tubing as the Reviol G, F, and E. To me, it sounds and feels like Brian Finnegan’s Goldie A sounds. It’s got that “scraping” characteristic and a full, rich first octave. In comparison, the first octave on the MK is disappointingly small sounding. However, the MK probably plays a bit more easily as a result of the smaller bore.

Here’s an older video with the Goldie, MK, and Reviol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnPbk4vhEXo

And the Reviol makes an appearance in my more recent video around 10:56:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-sh0KzcO6w&t=597s

Someone also mentioned Carbony whistles being loud. That hasn’t been my experience with them (I own an alto G, F, and E, and they’re softer whistles). I think Rob Gandara makes a session bore soprano D that is pretty loud, but I would count on the alto A to be more in line with the G. Probably similar to the MK.

14

Hello Scott,

I have a McManus wide-bore A in mopane … and it is wonderful. Solid tone, great carrying power, accurate intonation – a delight to play.

Just to give you an idea of the loudness, I have a wide bore African blackwood McManus in Bb that is too loud for some purposes. So I have a standard bore McManus Bb too. Even the standard bore is perfectly fine for most outdoor applications.

I’d recommend acquiring both: wide-bore and standard-bore.

Why not email Roy himself for advice.

Warm regards,

Seán.

15

I too have a Roy McManus whistle but its made with Chacate Preto wood Big Bore A. I only recently received the whistle in March 2019 so I haven’t quite got the full intricacies yet. And I have not played the big bore A out in any session so I cannot speak to the presence with other instruments. The big bore does use more air than I’m used to at this point, but, my experience level also is a factor with any whistle lower than Bb. I do have McManus ebonite high D, blackwood high D, mopane C, and blackwood Bb that I deem to be loud and with presence among the other instruments. I love playing the McManus whistles anytime and anywhere. I do prefer wooden whistles but that’s just me. I had a very short wait time from request date until delivery which I considered fast and immediate service. Yes, I agree with contacting Roy McManus to discuss your particular needs.

The Chacate Preto wood Big Bore A is on the bottom here:

Dang pretty too! :smiley:

16

I have 3 ‘A’ whistles, & would be interested in how people think they compare to whistles such as the MK, Alba, Susato, etc - as I am trying to comprehend why these types of whistles are considered to be the best.

Mine are :-
Tony Dixon Trad brass
Tony Dixon tuneable aluminium
Thunderbird aluminium non tuneable

Would you consider these to be loud whistles?

17

My Thunderbird A is a very quiet, delicate whistle (especially in the bottom of the first octave) when compared to Reviol, Goldie, and MK. I haven’t played the Dixons you mention.

By contrast, the Thunderbird G is much more powerful. Even the Bb is a stronger whistle.

18

I only have one A whistle, but maybe there is something about that key? I have a Sindt Bb and A, both bought at the same time, same size tube (each has their own head). I like them both, but they are different, and the A is quieter. I don’t have one of his A’s, but if someone was interested in loud whistles, the loudest one I have is a Humphrey.

I’d like to hear an MK A, but haven’t found any videos. Side question, I wonder why MK doesn’t make an E or Eb… .would have thought the pipers would be asking? They do make an F#.

19

See the video I posted above. I’ve got the MK Alto A in there with the Goldie and Reviol. I think it’s hard to search for A whistle videos because the search easily becomes “a whistle”, which won’t give you good results. I try to say “alto A whistle” or some other modifier to make them searchable.

20

Thanks for the good review. I like the MK best. How is the OXX OOO on those whistles? I mostly play the Freeman A which I really like, but I am thinking about getting a Susato A because I enjoy the Oriole D, C, and Bb very much. However, the Susato G I used to have was shouty at the top end which I never warmed up to. Does anyone have the Susato A?