I am interested in purchasing a high end whistle in the near future and would like some opinions. The kind of whistle I play now is a Dixon high D tuneable and I like its sound and volume. I know I won’t be able to try many of the high-end whistles out there so your input is greatly appreciated.
My price range is $75-150.
Burke, hands down in my opinion… but there will be those who disagree. 
Here’s another vote for Burke – great sound, low maintenance, you can play it all day and it will never clog.
Steve
Which type of Burke do you own?
Burke. AlproD and Brass ProD, Brass pro C and E.
For $110 total each, enough left over to buy something else. But I say save on postage and get a couple.
I own Burke AlPros and Brass Pros. There will be no unpleasant surprises with a Burke. They are well-made, excellent sounding, pleasing to play, and throroughly dependable. When Mack Hoover returns to us, healed, please check out his offerings. They are wonderful instruments, also…
Cheers.
Byll
What kind of features in terms of sound do you want? Loud, quiet, lot of chiff, none? A metal sound or soft and recorderish?
I have a Burke wide bore brass that sounds very nice. Has good chiff. I’ve heard Sindts that are very pure sounding. Actually, a narrow bore brass Burke is fairly pure sounding, too. Hoovers are highly regarded for very quiet whistles. The wood whistles tend to be over $150. Their sound is not the traditional, metal sound.
Tony
Tony is accurate in his assessments. If I may add: Before Mack’s illness, he had started creating a series of whistles that produced a higher volume level. I own a set of aluminum Hoovers, and their volume level is in line with my Burkes.
Cheers.
Byll
The two high end whistles I use the most are a Sindt D for quiter sessions and practice and a Copeland Brass D for when things get rowdy. The Copeland is of course out of your range but the Sindt isn’t… Not sure the current prices… I’ve owned a Burke Alpro D and thought it had a great tone and was intonated wonderfully… it just lacked character. The Sindt has just the right pinch of character for me… As noted on previous discussions, you’ve got to get used to half holing to really be able to utilize it for tunes in the key of G. Another whistle that I really dig that doesn’t have much of a wait is the Silkstone Alloy D… I sold mine a while back to be able to afford some other whistles but I may save my pennies and get another one again. It’s fairly loud on the top end… Not as much as a copeland but loud still… I’ve played the burke wide bore brass and liked it alot.. Not too loud or quiet and had a really mellow tone to it…
This might seem like blasphemy but even though I own an O’Riordan C/D set… I’ve taken them out of their case and put my Sindt & Copeland in it! My O’Riordans have their place… I usually use them when I’m miked as their bottom end is quiet…
So, that all said… In your range…
Silkstone Alloy D… Nice…In Tune with itself kinda loud… No Chiff … Strong Bell Note…
Burke Wide Bore Brass… Mellow… Nice moderate volume… Well intonated… Little more chiff…
Sindt… 6-8month wait… My favorite of the three… You have to halfhole… Sweet tone with some chiff… Low Air requirement… Cheapest of these three… Very responsive… This is a quiter whistle than the above… The low end can get lost in a session… That’s when I pull out my Copeland…
Bla Bla Bla…
Thanks for the reponses so far…, suprised some of the whistle makers haven’t plugged there works yet.
On 2002-05-24 14:02, cerrabus wrote:
Thanks for the reponses so far…, suprised some of the whistle makers haven’t plugged there works yet.
I’d be glad to oblige, but mine are just a tad out of your budget..
YOu can get some terrific whistles for the money you want to spend. I have Burkes and a Sindt, and love both of those. Very nice guys too.
Thanks Paul, maybe someday I will be able to afford your whistles.
for really pure tone: Water Weasel
overall good whistle: Sindt
if ya got 2 years to wait: O’Riordan
for raw session volume: Copeland
if you like copper: guess…
of course, all of these are assuming a high D whistle…my opinion changes a wee bit with different keys.
In your price range and assuming soprano D, I’d recommend Burke Al-pro, SIndt, Silkstone Alloy, and Parkhurst. The Burke is my favorite for a number of the usual reasons (physical comfort, playability, transitions, consistency, tone) and the Parkhurst is sometimes underated - it’s uniquely beautiful, relatively inexpensive and plays well too. Philo
If you want a killer A whistle, try a Water Weasel. Philo
As wooden whistles go, Sweetheart has been around quite a long while, if longevity speaks anything.
Like many whistlers, I’d be glad if I could afford any high-end whistle.
Copeland seems to be about the most admired make of metal whistle. I’d say he got the ultimate endorsement when the premiere pennywhistle company, Clarke, asked him to design the mouthpiece for the Sweetone.
I’ll ring in with another endorsement for Burke wide-bore brass with a few extra comments. I also have a Burke AlPro high D, and I agree with Blayne: it plays well, is perfectly in tune, nice even volume and breath requirement, but it’s just a little too perfect. The WBB has more character.
If you’re not going to get any more mid-high end whistles for awhile, you might want to consider a Water Weasel C-D-Eb set (three barrels with one mouthpiece. It’s within your range, and they’re great whistles. (Does Sindt do sets too?)
Charlie
I recently got a Burke Brass Pro Sessions D and I really do love it. Plays IN TUNE, is no fuss(as in tweek), pick it up and PLAY. I highly recommend Burke’s based on this one.Since this is my only high end whistle and I knew I would not be getting another one in the forseeable future here’s something I did when trying to decide which I wanted(Brass vs. Aluminum), I went to Snips and Clips and listened to the different whistles made notes as to what I liked and the Brass appealed to me more. You might want to try this .