Hello. My sister is 29 today (doesn’t always act like it), so it got me thinking about her 30th next year. My parents and I would like to buy a really good whistle for her - we’d like to spend a bit more. If my memory serves me correctly, I think she already has some Overtons, an F Alba and various others, including a battered generation that she tried to beat me up with when we were teenagers. I digress.
The trouble is that I am a fiddle player and although I can play the whistle okay, it’s not my first instrument, so I don’t know too much about the more specific brands. I was doing a search for Grinter whistles when I stumbled across this site. I’d appreciate some advice on what type to get her.
If it helps, she’s been playing for over 20 years and the sort of stuff we play is Irish, Scottish and of course Manx traditional music. She tends to do quite a lot of ad libbing, particularly up in the higher register, plus fancy rolls and stuff like that which I’ve never been able to master). Help would be appreciated - thank you in advance.
Very good other whistles are Copeland, Burke (metal whistles) or O’Riordan, Tin Weasle, Busman, Bleazy (wood). Popular and less expensive are Sindt and O’Brien Rover. Look at the following website and find the websites you need: Sassafrassgrove’s whistlelinks. Succes!
The thing is just because a whistle is a big name brand or cost alot does not mean the person is really going to like it. What you need to do is your Homework on the tone she likes. All whistles well to a extent do have a distinct tone to them. As a result it’s hard to pick one nice whistle for a person because what sounds amazing to me, just might not cut it for you. Once you know what kind of sound she wants the people on here are sure to narrow down some good options for you.
Get her a Freeman tweaked Mellow Dog, two whistle body (a D and a C) one head, looks like cheap whistles but crucially plays like expensive ones… £30 from http://www.bigwhistle.co.uk
The Abell is considered among the high end of whistles, costing like 350 dollars. I think it was the whistle used on the lord of the rings song “Concerning Hobbits”. It also has options for multiple whistle key bodies. If your looking for pricey, this is one to consider.
here’s a review site for this and other high end whistles that you may want to check out while you’re considering. (hit the reviews link in the upper lefthand corner.)
Well, that´s a difficult question indeed - since she plays so good whistles, she knows most others - even other two from “big three” (I mean Overtons, Copelands and Burkes).
Since she chose Overtons, I don´t think it´s any good to buy Copelands or Burkes…
I think it would be a good idea to give her something special…I have several ideas.
Vitek Kasparik, a maker from our country does wonderful instruments from wood (but nothing too polished, they look a little bit like shepherd whistles, but surprisingly carefully crafted and damn well sounding).
Or you can give her some special Overton - either that one which can play whole lot of #'s without half-holing, or Low D, if she hasn´t got it, or that D which is an octave lower than Low D…
Thanks very much everyone - I didn’t expect so many replies so soon! I’ll try and engineer a conversation about tone of whistles the next time she’s over (she’s in Aberdeen, I’m stuck on a rock in the middle of the Irish Sea). I know there are whistles that she doesn’t like, I just can’t remember which one it is. The guy who plays on the Lord of the Rings soundtrack was over on the island with his band during the summer. I swapped CDs with him and I think he plays a Grinter on their latest CD. I’ll speak to a few mates too. Meanwhile, all opinions appreciated!
You’ll have to get O’Riordan’s on Thin Weasels on the secondary market as they are no longer taking new orders. I think I just read that Grinter’s have a long lead time, as do maybe Abells. You should probably not dilly dally.
I believe there are too many unknowns for people here to give you any good suggestions. I would recommend you talk to her and ask her about her whistles and her music, then steer the conversation towards what she would is interested in to fill out her collection. Then there is always the “if money were no object” what whistle or whistles would you really like to have. If you can’t get the information from her, then buy an Abell D (with thumb hole) and send it to me.
Then I’d be very wary of getting her a low whistle now, that she could use to administer an adult-sized thrashing.
As you can see, the problem in posing your question to a group of whistle hobbyists is that you’ll get as many different recommendations as there are people.
Fortunately, if she already owns an Overton, then whatever other designer whistle you might choose will likely be different enough to be delightfully distinct. In particular, I’d think that a nice wooden whistle of exotic wood with a beautiful grain and finish would make a lovely presentation gift. Bleazey, Busman, Rose, and Abell are among the many fine choices.
If you mean Alan Doherty of Gráda, he was playing Overtons a few years ago when I had some tunes with him, and I think he played Overtons for his work on the Lord of the Rings soundtrack.
Those wooden ones look nice - I don’t think she’s ever had a wooden whistle. As I say, I’ll have a word with her about the sort of tone she wants. I know that she doesn’t like the whistles that lean more towards the tone of a recorder, but aside from that I am woefully unaware. This website is great by the way - I’m off to search for one for fiddles, so I can spend money I haven’t got on a new fiddle. Cheers for your help.
Thanks very much everyone - I didn’t expect so many replies so soon! I’ll try and engineer a conversation about tone of whistles the next time she’s over (she’s in Aberdeen, I’m stuck on a rock in the middle of the Irish Sea). I know there are whistles that she doesn’t like, I just can’t remember which one it is. The guy who plays on the Lord of the Rings soundtrack was over on the island with his band during the summer. I swapped CDs with him and I think he plays a Grinter on their latest CD. I’ll speak to a few mates too. Meanwhile, all opinions appreciated!