Whistle tour: The Oz Whistle

Whistle
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IMPORTANT EDIT:

I CURRENTLY USE ALMOND OIL TO CONDITION THE WOOD IN MY WHISTLES. ALMOND OIL HAS SERIOUS AFFECTS ON ANYONE WHO HAS A NUT ALLERGY. IF YOU HAVE SUCH A CONDITION PLEASE CONSULT WITH ME VIA MY WEBSITE BEFORE USING ANY OF MY PRODUCTS.

NUT ALLERGY SUFFERERS SHOULD ALSO BE AWARE THAT WOODEN WOODWIND INSTRUMENTS, BOTH SECOND HAND AND NEW, ARE OFTEN TREATED WITH NUT BASED OILS BY MAKERS AND SUBSEQUENT OWNERS.

Hi All,

I just got back from the Oz National folk festival where the Oz Whistle got its first official showing in Oz - the reception was encouraging. Now it’s ready to go around and be judged by US members of the C&F community.

The tour whistle was sent today and will be with the first reviewer within 2 weeks. Here’s the list of reviewers (so far) in order:

Shadeclan
brewerpaul
Feadoggie
anniemcu
Aanvil
BoneQuint
Tommy
Dyersituations

The one I chose to send is medium voiced (medium volume, trad sound with some mellow-ness, non-tunable) a good indicator of what I am getting-at.

What I am seeking is your frank and open impressions - this will help me to zero-in on what improvements I need to make before I commit to full production.

C&F got me going - now I look to C&F to keep me on track.

If you want to be included in the tour, please email me at: mitch at ozwhistles dot com and I will book your place on the list.

I can hardly wait to get your reviews!

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OK, The list now stands at:

Shadeclan
brewerpaul
Feadoggie
anniemcu
Aanvil
BoneQuint
Tommy
Dyersituations
sweet potato
Carey

I’d better rule a line through it at this point, otherwise the whistle will start becoming out-dated by the time the tour ends - there’s a tunable and other keys coming up!

As the tour comes to a close, we might look at extending it.

As I mentioned before - this one should find its way into Dfernandez’ next charity raffle - failing that we’ll find a suitable cause for sure! Dfer?

The reviews need not be extensive, but I will ask all those on the tour to post something in this thread once they have given the whistle a good try-out.

Can’t wait :boggle:

(Edited to add: I am moving my home and workshop over this week - this will leave me and Oz Whistles with no internet or email until April 20 - my apologies for any inconvenience - for emergencies, I can be gotten on the mobile number listed on my website)

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Can’t wait to see the whistle, Mitch!

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It’s our baby in two weeks, Paul!

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Amazingly enough, the whistle, which was supposed to take two weeks, got here in 4 days (3 days if you discount Sunday) and in one piece, in spite of the fact that Mitch packed it in an unsealed plastic case inside a bubble padded flexible envelope - If you don’t mind Mitch, I think that I’ll send it on in something a little more rugged.

Now, I promised Mitch that I’d post some pictures, because he didn’t get the chance to do so before he sent it off. Hope they do justice to this beautiful whistle.


A picture of “number 7” toweling off from its shower after its grueling journey from down under. The wood from which this whistle is made is truly beautiful.
Mitch coated this whistle with quite a bit of oil before he sent it. He also included a small vial of oil to keep the whistle in high polish. I assume that this is going to be standard issue when purchasing an OZ whistle.


A scenic window view.


The fipple is held on, Frankenstein-style, with two small brass fittings on either side of the head.


The loud end. I’ve only had the whistle for less than a day, but I can tell you - this thing is a session whistle!


The business end. It seems to frown at you.
I especially like how the wood frames the fipple plug.


Number 7’s moniker, tattooed on the business end.


Tucked away, ready for bed. As we can see, 6 hole theory holds true, even in OZ.

I haven’t played it enough to give out any opinions yet, but I’ll edit this post or post anew when I’ve given it the once, twice, thrice over.

Paul, when do you want to get together to see this whistle?

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If it were my whistle I would be sure to get Wanderer to review it. He has a great website with many professional reviews and I know I am not the only one that listens to his opinions on whistles. I’ll bet he would be happy to review it and post it on his site.

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He’s in the process of moving - I doubt that he’ll have the time to take a look at it.

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Much as I love looking at whistles, I’ve retired from reviewing them. I want to stay away from any possible appearance of bias. :slight_smile:

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Paul, when do you want to get together to see this whistle?

Hmm-- are you by any chance free at all on Sunday? Email me and I’ll send my cell # so we can talk. Lost your e-mail due to an overly zealous "delete"finger…

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Hi Mitch,

Now where did you get your inspiration from…?! :smiley: This could be one of mine!

What is the fipple made from? Is that wood or plastic? Nice thin wall and a lovely neat windway.

Nice looking job, when are you going to send one over to the UK for a Tour?

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Woody (aka Shadeclan) stopped by yesterday with the OZ whistle and a nice chat. Funny cooincidence that the first two names on the list were within a relatively short drive of each other!
First impression: I am very impressed with this whistle. With no metal fittings and a thin tube it is very light in weight despite the fact that the wood it looks like (Cooktown Ironwood?) is quite heavy. Light does not mean flimsy though-- the whistle feels nice and solid. The machining is all very accurate and beautifully done. It looks like it’s been lacquered inside and out, which is a bit unusual but shouldn’t be a problem.
The sound is very nice and clean up and down the full two octaves with good solid bottom notes. The upper notes take a bit of a push but nothing unusual. Shadeclan originally thought that the upper notes sounded a bit harsh when he played them, but changed his mind when I played the whistle. Having a whistle that close to your ears will do that!
I haven’t played the whistle into a tuner, but it certainly sounds in tune.
In summary, this is an excellent no-frills wooden whistle which shows off the wood very nicely and plays just great. Congrats on your efforts, Mitch. I look forward to seeing further developments.
One suggestion-- you might consider making a Delrin ring for the foot for strength. If the whistle is going to crack anywhere, an unprotected foot is where it will do it. A quarter inch band the same diameter as the head ferrule will do the trick.

Oh, Shadeclan brought along an O’Brien low D and a D Traveler. For the price, the low D is a good option for potential low D players to consider. It’s not extremely loud and plays quite easily. The Traveler is a really nifty design and is truly pocket size. One note (G?) was not well in tune with itself in the upper and lower register, but I suspect this has something to do with the telescoping design and may not be fixable. With a bit of playing I was able to “blow” it into tune fairly well and would probably do better with more play time. If you want a pocket sized whistle, this is very cool. I may consider one myself.

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Ditto on what Paul said. The whistle was a little harsh to my ears, but in Paul’s much more capable hands, it sounded great. It really is a gorgeous whistle in appearance and tone - no one will be ashamed to own one of these beauties. You can tell that Mitch must have put a great deal of love and effort into producing a whistle as nice as this on his first try.

Paul said that the secret to getting to the last two notes was “tonguing” into them - he obviously knows what he’s talking about since he had no problem playing the whistle - no squeaking or difficulty in flipping between octaves.

With my own playing style, I noticed that it was easier to hit the middle “D” the “lazy” way with all fingers down rather than raising the upper index finger. Others may find this untrue.

This is not exactly an “easy play” instrument and I’m not sure that I’d recommend it to beginners such as myself, but it is a beautiful whistle in the hands of somebody who knows what they’re doing.

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That Oz whistle does indeed look good. Yet another to consider as WhOA continues its insidious grasp…:slight_smile:

I’m also glad to see that the tour O’Briens have got that far down the list - I had wondered where they were (since I had 'em first). I’m also glad that Paul got a chance to take a turn on them.

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Mitch,

Paul and I forgot to ask you - the bottle of oil that you sent along with the whistle - how are you supposed to use it? Paul said that it looked kinda like the sort of bottle you’d stick a syringe in, but syringes are not available over the counter in the USA.

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Here’s an update on the tour:

Latest tour schedule:

Shadeclan (complete)
brewerpaul (complete)
Feadoggie (Do you have the whistle yet?)
anniemcu
Aanvil
BoneQuint
Tommy
Dyersituations
sweet potato
Carey

Answers to questions:

… Now where did you get your inspiration from…?! This could be one of mine! … What is the fipple made from? …

Now now Simon - Westwood whistles are much more sophisticated - I wouldn’t know where to begin! The fipple is Delrin.

… the bottle of oil that you sent along with the whistle - how are you supposed to use it? …

HI Shadeclan, I use the little old-fashioned syringe bottles because they are kinda cute. The black seal on the top is there to prevent the cork popping at high altitudes in airplane cargo holds - just cut it off (careful not to cut the plastic cork) the bottle contains my own mix of organic almond oil plus another wood-oil that is anti-bacterial and won’t degrade woods or plastics. Once unsealed, the bottle will need taping to keep the lid on in warm weather or being sent through the mail. There’s enough in there for 4-6 treatments.

…(Cooktown Ironwood?) …

Hi Paul, The wood is rose alder (Caldcluvia Australiensis) which is similar to, but not quite as dense as Cooktown ironwood (Erythrophleum chlorostachys) - this is a wood that Mark Hoza uses extensively in his flutes - I must get some soon!

Some news:

To kick-off an Australian leg of the tour, I have sent #2 (kwila - Intsia Bijuga) from the same batch to C&F member hup2149. Anyone in Australia or New Zealand wishing to join the tour - please email me → mitch at ozwhistles dot com.

I’m considering a UK tour and will get it going as soon as I can.

Some more news:

First batch of tunables will be complete in the next few weeks - I’ll post some pics whan they’re done.

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Hey Mitch,

I met the boys (and girl) from Gráda at their concert in Dunedin, and Alan couldn’t stop raving about your whistle. I believe he also forgot to pick up his SYN set when he was there?

Anyway, is there going to be a New Zealand leg of the tour? :smiley:
I’ll be back in Perth in July if there isn’t anyway :laughing:

B.

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sorry for the delay in sending the OZ whistle on it’s way. I want to play it a bit more, but I have nursing finals coming up next Mon and Tues. I’ll get to it right after that.

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I noticed that my pictures are gone. I looked out at where the images are hosted and it appears that the server is down. If it is not up by tomorrow, I’ll re-host the images somewhere else.

Edited 3 May 07: They came back - technical difficulties, false alarm and all that. . . :blush:

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Wanted to say how much I respect that position, BTW. :slight_smile:

However, I’d say that you have long proven your objectivity. I would still value your opinion on others’ work.