That, or walking into a door…
Best wishes.
Steve
Well I pulled the trigger and I have emailed Chris about putting me on the waiting list for an Abell D Whistle in African Blackwood. I have been corresponding with him the last few days and decided to get one. I’ll probably call him today to confirm he got it.
I asked for the D. I didn’t say “Standard D.” I hope he understands I want the standard D not a low D. Does he even offer a low D?
I called and he told me he doesn’t make a low D and I confirmed I wanted the regular D tin whistle haha.
Now the wait…
I will point out that, at least with Low Whistles, where you place the beak can affect the internal tuning.
I, too, tend to play whistles with my lips on the very end of the mouthpiece.
But with some Low Whistles I noticed that the one-finger note (B or its equivalent) was flat, and putting the mouthpiece further in the mouth, so that the lower lip is right up against the cutaway on the bottom side, corrected the flat B.
In other words a whistlemaker is tuning his whistles so they play in tune when he/she plays them, and if you play it differently it might not be in tune.
Sorry I’m a bit late to the party. I’ll throw in some late comments, possibly prejudicial to somebody.
I think that Busman, Milligan, McManus & Abell D whistles are all of good quality. Of the ones I’ve owned, the latter 3 had better quality wood selection & machining. The Abells (I’ve gone through 2 in blackwood & 1 in Delrin) were the most consistent in voicing, although still minor differences between them. McManus & Abell sound almost identical to me in tone. I sold my 2 blackwood Abells & have kept the Delrin. They sounded the same & I wanted the easy care. Still, I do not like the short beak (pretty sure all the fittings are sterling BTW, not stainless) on the Abell. I believe the Busman also had a short beak (not as short as the Abell), and I had Jon Cornia scoop the back out a little more for me. Sold it as I felt the others are better made.
Does your next whistle have to be wood? For a relatively affordable option you might consider a Killarney. I like mine as well as my Sindt brass and Burke aluminum high D’s.
I also think the killarney whistles hit a sweet spot between traditional sound, cost, ease of playing and quality control.
In general I dislike fussing too much with instruments and tend to treat them as tools. I like whistles I can keep in the door pocket of the car or throw in a bag or pocket with minimal worry
But certainly the value of hand made, beautiful objects is a real thing and a source of pleasure, so why not?
I apologize for the delay. I have a Burke D in Brass currently and it is a good whistle. That’s what I practice on every day. I just wanted to add a wooden whistle to my collection. Plus, the Abell seems to be of high quality. I’m not against a Killarney and probably will get one in the future.
From the viewpoint that the Generation or Clark represent the original or “standard” tin whistles, I’d say the Abell and Busman whistles diverge significantly. In my (very subjective, grouchy) opinion, both are loud bordering on inappropriate for a mid-sized session of around 7 people. I have rarely, if ever, seen a highly competent player play one at an Irish session (although a few great players use them for concerts), and I think the reason is due to backpressure.
They’re just hard to blow, and the differential between the low notes and high notes is extremely wide, leading to squawking at some note transitions as the airstream changes speed. Is it possible to play these instruments with the grace and speed associated with Irish traditional whistle? Usually. Is it an enjoyable experience? For me, no (and I think for many others as well). Wooden whistles in lower keys, however, (A downward) are often highly playable and very useful. If you just want a wooden whistle, why not consider one of them?
There are few absolutes in life, so I’m sure there are strong players who do prefer wooden high D whistles, but (perhaps tellingly) when a new face comes to my session and pulls out a wooden whistle, my first thought is, “Oh sh*t.”
They’re just hard to blow, and the differential between the low notes and high notes is extremely wide, leading to squawking at some note transitions as the airstream changes speed. Is it possible to play these instruments with the grace and speed associated with Irish traditional whistle? Usually. Is it an enjoyable experience? For me, no
About a decade ago we had visits from a musicologist doing field work for a book she was working on. She had an Abell, which she thought the bee’s knees. Problem was, the whistle was, as you say, very loud and she just wasn’t used blowing it and for that reason played her octaves extremely out of tune. But ofcourse she was the one with the most expensive whistle so when things sounded horrible, the rest of the company got the dirty looks (from her). Two years later she returned and had settled into playing the thing and played it in tune but was still obnoxiously loud.
Something similar could be said about an old local whistleplayer who had emigrated from here to the US during the late forties. His local comhaltas branch over there gave him an Abell to record him with (some fifteen years ago). The results were not very nice at all. Octave transitions were a struggle, tone and volume didn’t suit his music at all. He did well on the Generation and the flute though.
There are few absolutes in life, so I’m sure there are strong players who do prefer wooden high D whistles, but (perhaps tellingly) when a new face comes to my session and pulls out a wooden whistle, my first thought is, “Oh sh*t.”
There are a few people who can make them work, playing on their own. But in my experience the majority of wooden whisltes I get to hear have an edge to their tone that for some reason makes them unable to blend with other instruments. I was at a concert a few weeks ago where someone played a wooden D, the player could play but the sound of it was just obnoxious.
Part of the charm of the pennywhistle to me is that just a relatively cheap, simple instrument can make some of the most spellbinding and powerful music in the world. The more battered, the better in many cases as it’s an indication of much use!
So would you say the air requirement is higher for the Abell? More than a Burke Brass D?
I’ve seen this guy play an Abell appropriately in session:
The more battered, the better in many cases as it’s an indication of much use!
I would sooner think it’s a sign of someone being careless with their instrument. There’s no benefit in having a dirty, dented instrument.
Some of the people above have hit on my very thoughts about wooden whistles, which I was hesitant to state.
I like whistles with very responsive/light/easy 2nd octaves, in other words the slightest possible “break” between the octaves.
The whistles I own/have owned that play like that are old Generations and Feadogs, and new Killarneys and Sindts.
I do have some Burkes, and they have 2nd octaves that are just a tad too stiff for my liking. I can manage them well enough, but I’d prefer easier response. Ditto the high Susatos.
As I’ve mentioned here before it’s a taste preference, with many Americans I’ve met, especially from non-ITM backgrounds (Boehm players, sax players, etc) preferring whistles with a strong low octave, stiff 2nd octave, and loud overall.
When I’ve picked up and tried wooden whistles they’ve invariably played like that, a loud low octave and unacceptably stiff 2nd octave.
I’ve mentioned that a couple years ago I was at the National Flute Society’s annual convention and a famous wood whistlemaker had a booth. His whistles were amazing looking, exotic woods and sterling silver fitments, and cost several hundred dollars each. He invited me to try them. I did. He asked “what do you think?” I told him the 2nd octave was too stiff for my liking.
He said “Mary Bergin told me the same thing.”
But people like Mary Bergin aren’t his clientele. His clientele are people who don’t want a whistle that plays like a traditional whistle plays.
people who don’t want a whistle that plays like a traditional whistle plays.
I sometimes wonder how much the ‘magpie’ factor plays a role in this. People who want to be seen to play an instrument that is (very) expensive. And if it is, it must be good (the best surely)?
This is a topic that really irks me. When I attend (in the states) Irish music retreats, festivals, and the like, the hoarding of instruments I see is unbelievable. For example, one guy had FOUR Olwell flutes (and, of course, could barely play a note). They looked identical, and I asked him what the difference was.
“They’re in different woods.”
It completely didn’t register for him that because he had to have four, three other people couldn’t have one. I remember when I was first starting out, it was difficult to get a hold of a good instrument because the most highly recommended makers had waiting lists of several years. New players often do not have the connections to buy a flute secondhand, and buying a flute sight unseen online if it’s not from the maker is always dicey (and some could argue even from the maker it’s dicey if you haven’t played it).
This is more of an issue with flutes than whistles, but it’s the reason that I will not take reservations when I open my store (and I intend to make flutes and bagpipes as well). It’s far too easy for rich retirees to sit back and park deposits on instruments, tying up the supply for no other reason than that they want more. I will maintain a stock, I will make some one-off “art project-y” ones, but folks can check my newsletter when the next batch is in if they really want one.
Of course, I have to acknowledge that this is an extremely cynical view, and that I cannot KNOW that this is the reason for long waiting lists, but being bound to a waiting list sounds miserable and my experiences with Irish music in North America only reinforce that.
But yes, to your earlier point, magpie-ism.
No dents or dings in the whistles of this man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6gaU61O9-w
He also has a wood whistle.
https://youtu.be/lZIDzoTAh8I
James Galway
If anything, this only reinforces my point.
I am pretty certain any saxophone/clarinet/accordion player will only laugh about the price of an “oh so expensive whistle”. Even the most expensive whistles are laughably cheap compared to many other instruments. So I highly doubt that bit about “magpies”. And if that should be true then it is a rather stupid way to try to impress people. But this debate rages on through every hobbyist forum I know.