Hi everyone,
I stumbled across something quite by accident that proved to be the answer to a long-lost mystery of mine. At the Enumclaw Highland Games in Washington state, I stumbled across a booth selling what I then described to my friend as “Kevlar recorders,” but I didn’t have the time to inquire as to what they were. During my internet search for their origins, I discovered the pennywhistle community and dug out my dad’s old Generation D and never looked back. As I was googling “whistle chanters” as a gift for my GHB-playing brother, I stumbled across this site: http://www.carbony.com/Products.htm. Apparently the material is carbon fiber weave, and the price seemed outrageous for an unheard-of (or at least, little-mentioned) “precision whistle” brand, especially for a machined product as opposed to handcrafted one.
Has anyone tested/owned a product from this company? It’s such a futuristic and neat-looking design, so I’m curious as to your thoughts.
Cheers,
CS
PS- In all likelihood I’m using Guido Gonzato’s info to make the chanter myself, since I’m the PVC wizard of the family. I make camera mounts, practice swords, airsoft guns, but never a musical instrument, so wish me luck. I’m thinking with the designs I’ve looked at I’ve got a good idea of where to start, but I’d welcome input if anyone else has made one with GHB fingering.
There have been quite a few discussions that included Carbony whistles. Perhaps you can get another browser? You’re allowed to have more than one. I use Firefox and the Search works fine with it.
Re-routed the search through a Google site-specific one. Apparently Carbony reviews are mixed. One person described it as “The worst whistle they ever played” and another as “The most pure and beautiful whistle I’ve ever played.” They used to be around $75 and then underwent a massive price bump to $185. Most people seem to think they’re a decent whistle but overpriced.
Yes, that’s the way it goes. Same with the flutes. You should also note that the Carbony design has changed over time as well. You’d probably want to heed the more recent reviews over the earliest ones. But as always - caveat …
I haven’t made a whistle with GHB fingering. I have made a couple chanters which got me banished from the house last summer. Guido’s design should work if you use a pipe with his specs. You may have to make some small adjustments to the hole positions if you can’t source the same size pipe. Let us know how it turns out.
Nothing wrong with Sandy’s chanters. If you’ve got the inclination, it’s really fun to use Guido’s method too. I made an A whistle from Guido’s plans that I’m quite proud of.
You probably saw my statement about my experience with a Carbony C that I bought two years ago. I won’t be quite as harsh as I was then but I gave it away to a friend who didn’t have a C whistle. He gave it back. I tried to sell it at 1/2 what I paid for it. No one took it. Someone may love it though. I found that it was not only too quiet, but it switched octaves inconsistently.
I’m sure Sandy’s a fine whistlemaker. I was just giggling that so many of my favorite craftspeople choose silly names for their sites. Darksword Armory, for example. Fantastic stage swords, dippy name, and I never order broadswords from anyone else. Back to Sandy though, I don’t see that she’s currently selling a chanter in A475/Bb, though I like what I hear from her on YouTube; I think the adjustment to D may not exactly gel with my little brother’s “piper’s ear.” Geeze, when I was a freshman in high school I didn’t spend hours tuning and re-tuning my instruments. This kid’s gone through two rolls of tuning tape in as many months…
Ecohawk- I’ll have to test one of those Carbony things next time I’m at the highland games this summer. Thanks for the info; oddly enough other threads said the Carbony was too loud… Maybe it’s because they changed the headjoint (and the price). And ha, that was the first thing that jumped to my head looking at Guido’s site; making an A whistle. Not too high, not too low. I’m curious though- how’d you tune yours? He cautions that you have to “spread out” the natural tuning discrepancies over the whistle, and that it is inadvisable to use a chromatic tuner for anything but the lowest note.
And a very nice serious name you chose for yourself there too Madman. There is a saying 'round these parts. “When you point your finger at other people, three fingers are pointing at you.” (ps. I have no room to talk.)
Why, it’s almost as if people aren’t afraid to laugh at themselves!
There’s nothing wrong with having a silly name, nor is there anything wrong in pointing out that something has a silly name. I would think someone who links to pictures of dogs in tiaras and superman outfits would be more… well, silly.
I played several of the Carbony instruments a couple years ago at the Austin Celtic Fest, though mainly the flutes if I remember correctly.
I’m not sure what my opinion was of the whistles, but the flutes were quite nice. I’d planned to talk with the maker about trying a Bb flute, but never quite got around to it…
Interesting. I hear the material is extremely light, did that affect playing in a positive/negative way? I’ve never considered carbon fiber a particularly musical material, outside of a few oddball uses in concert strings.
Carbon fiber is not at all unusual or odd in guitars - electric or acoustic. Steinberger anyone? Maybe Rainsong? And not at all odball in anyway to winds. Have you played the Matit flute?
And the Carbony whistle was not the first whistle made from carbon fiber tubes either. It is, AFAIK, the first offered commercially.
There is a lot of myhology about the tubing material effecting the tone of the whistle. Unlike guitars or cellos, the whistle tube is merely a container for the vibrating air column and I would submit it has little direct effect.
Also keep in mind that the carbon fiber weave is more of a filler material meant to provide structural strength with light weight in the resulting tube. The carbon fiber is soaked in resins. The resins can be a variety of polymer mixtures. And there are a lot of resin whistles out there. Right? But the resulting composite carbon fiber and resin tube is, as you observe, very light weight, more so than a solid resin tube. One property of most carbon fiber tubes I have worked with is that they are pretty much dead sound wise. They absorb sound and shock waves pretty effectively.
As for light weight whistle, you might look into the composite whistle made by Mike Burke which are also eerily light weight.
I neglected to mention this in my earlier post but the price jump might have had to do with a re-design whcih included making the whistle head. The earliest Carbony whistles used a Sweetone type of mouthpiece, I think.
Great info, Feadoggie, thanks. I personally prefer heavier whistles because I like things that feel substantial in my hands. However, the resin/carbon fiber combo is an interesting structural idea. I’m working on a build right now that might benefit from that layered look. Just have to find something that’s heat resistant.
