Does anyone know of instrument makers who have made fine whistles
but are no longer in the craft?
And is there a value placed on
these instrument that are no longer made?
Or is the latest always the best?
have a listen at www.tinwhistletunes.com
Sounds like you’re referring to “handmade” or “custom” as opposed to factory produced. I don’t know what the definition of “fine whistles is”, but let’s assume fine refers to some widely and knowledgeably accepted as exhibiting a high level of craftsmanship. That said, I only know of one maker who “disappeared” from the craft - Ralph Cook. His whistles made quite a splash for a while - at the time they seemed innovative and well-made and I got one myself. I later sold it as tonally it just doesn’t appeal to me; but remains a well-crafted instrument, I believe, nonetheless.
Regarding collectability, there are a number of myths in this area. One for example, implies that if a maker dies or otherwise curtails the supply, the value of his product automatically goes up. This is generally really not true, unless certain conditions exist: there had to be enough of the product in circulation to have actually stirred interest and name recognition(trading, selling, debate, clubs, discussion, etc.). If a guy made a few whistles, however good, and then died, there would likely not be any increase in value (probably the contrary). If a well-known maker of really great whistles disappeared from the scene after many successful years, value would likely go up for a limited community.
Sometimes, having a current maker keeps the product interesting and known and allows for changes, contemplated changes, comparisons, etc. - all the things that help make collecting fun. If the maker dies, so may the interest.
My $.02, based mostly on custom knife collecting.
Philo
Thanks for laying this out so
clearly.
It is interesting in such a lively
and eccentric area of music that
there would be only one craftsman who comes to mind,that has stopped making whistles.
Incidently,I have a Ralph Cooke low D # 218
That said, I only know of one maker who “disappeared” from the craft - Ralph Cook. His whistles made quite a splash for a while - at the time they seemed innovative and well-made and I got one myself. I later sold it as tonally it just doesn’t appeal to me; but remains a well-crafted instrument, I believe, nonetheless.
The couple who made Curtis whistles also vanished. And what about Fokey(?) Gruber (?)?
Hohners are also no longer made.
A lot of high end whistle makers are going to die soon, it will be interesting to see what happens to their whistles right after, price-wise.
Jeez! What does that mean? 
" Always look on the bright side of life",Eh Cran,to quote Eric Idle.
Actually this could be a plot for a ‘Ten Little Indians’ style murder mystery.
Ten top whistle makers are summoned mysteriously to a country house.Some event/plot device keeps them there.
One by one they are bumped off- One gets his head bashed in with a heavy duty Serpent,another gets awhistle straight into the brain A La Dale’s avatar.Another gets an envelope addressed to him-when he opens it he is showered with poisonous ‘whistle juice’, etc,etc…
Who is the cause of these horrendous deaths? And why?
I can’t wait for chapter two! 
Come on, you’re a creative lot-someone write chapter two,or dream up some more murder methods.
Be careful if you start to name suspects- we don’t want a REAL crime on our hands!
',E
Cran, you weren’t supposed to say anything! There goes the element of surprise! Da Boss isn’t going to be very happy about this!
Abducted by the Crystal People !!!
As often as it’s been mentioned on the board, there has to be a “Poison Oak” in there somewhere …
Little John
Excellent!! -why didn’t I think of that?
Keep them coming folks!
Ten sessioners Friday 13th (cont’d)
• A tweaked airbag took care of the one who played while driving. He didn’t even make it to the castle.
• The C&F addict escaped, but got disfigured by the implosion of his screen, triggered when he opened his PM’s. However, the others suspect him to be the murderer, and wonder if it’s not a case of identity susbstitution.
• One got poisoned by a wooden whistle. Oh, the outside had been inspected and appeared to be quite inocuous rosewood. Now, who ever cares about the fipple plug material? This was made of a really exotic wood: Acmeia coillotus backfirus.
• The antique Sakuhashi was also a killer gift, with already a long deadly career since the Shogun area. Safe as long as you didn’t attempt oxx xoo C nat, with its “kyai” killer harmonic and immediate paralysis of the player–and him only. Everyone gave it a try, but the killer knew his designated victim just couldn’t half-hole… 
• Of course, one was fokeygrubered by the dart in the drone of a double-whistle aka dvoyanka
• The gorey scene involved a GHP pipe bag loaded with a hydrogen cartridge. It sent the player airborne, hovering up to the iron candelabra of the castle’s main hall, ablaze with 101 candles. The explosion of his lungs ended both his flight and mickey-mouse last cry “Hindenbuuuuurg”. The horrified bystanders were so shocked they still don’t know what’s under a kilt.
• Of course, one got slaughtered while taking his (her?) shower, through the curtain and with a sharpened Copeland. Nothing really spectacular here, if not the music and its shriek 2nd octave cran on a bombarde, repeated at each stab.
There was the whistler who went skiing, only to find that his ski poles had been converted into Low D whistles by Mack Hoover, and unable to steer properly, he crashed into a cocobola tree.
Another choked on his laughing whistle, trying to play it while it was still telecoped.
One chap heard a good bodhran player, fainted, and drowned in his pint because everyone was too busy playing to pay any attention.
A whistler was sitting to the left of a fiddle player in a session. The fiddler had his bow sharpened to a point, and rapidly stabbed the whistler a dozen times while playing Drowsy Maggie.
Martin,Paul,
You have both had me laughing so much I’ve nearly fallen off my chair!!!
Hilarious stuff!!! 
Come on folks-top that if you can! (oops- ‘top’ = old English slang ‘to kill’!) ‘Psycho slip’ or what! 
I think I’ll stay away from the castle, secretly hidden away in my underground whistle silo.
Well, in fact I have recently seen and heard an original Foky Gruber whistle! It was played by Nils Nolte from the brilliant German ITM band “An Tor”. Nils told me that Foky Gruber, who is predominantly known for his r**ers, should now be far beyond 80 and is said to be almost completely blind, so he is understandably out of the business. The Foky Gruber whistle I saw featured a cylindrical metal shaft, similar to Overton whistles. The mouthpiece, which has a rounded windway not unlike Susatos or Burkes is quite peculiar. The top is covered by a plate of wood and is tied to the whistle by an adjustable “muff”. The sound is quite projective and pure. It strongly reminded me of my beloved Silkstone Alloy. Foky Gruber lives near Wiesbaden, Germany. I wish him all the best.
Christian
Hi Christian,
Nice to know that ‘The People’ have returned Foky to dwell with us Earthlings again (they probably just wanted to probe his brain for whistle making technology secrets. ).
That mouthpiece sounds really peculiar - esp. the wooden plate and adjustable muff(!).
Is it like Maarten Helder’s ?
Paul-WHAT is that THING? 
It looks like the miscegenated offspring of a Rc**dr and a Soprano Sax!
It’s the “modern block-flute” made by Maarten Helder and Mollenhauer. They don’t want to callit a rec***er, apparently 
The one pictured is in alto F, with an E below the F. There’s also a tenor in C with the H (oops… B) below.
They say it’s quite loud compared to a baroque recorder, and with a stronger (i.e. balanced) low end. It’s designed for modern music, not baroquery.
The bore is much less conical than on a baroque recorder, even less so than on a renaissance one; I understand it also gets straight (cylindrical) below the D hole.
The roof of the windway is interchangeable, three different wood plates being supplied as standard supposedly to alter the sound. Also the windway is with “variable geometry”, a screw allowing to distort the middle of the block.
Fingering seems based on modern system (aka “German”), pretty similar to whistles beside the odd F/F# and of course thumb-vent.
All accidentals seem to be playable with cross-fingerings as well as half-holing.
There’s also a more complex fingering chart to cover a full 3rd octave.
Given the price (2,000 euros in alto, 2,500 in tenor!) I wish I could at least try one out…