This whistle is a gem! I love the tone, which has a nice reedy edged chiff which I suspect will mellow beautifully as it is played. It is extremely agile, although changing up octaves requires moderate push. The tuning is excellent. It is extremely comfortable, light without feeling unsteady. In fact, I love it so much I am going to buy the company! Well, not quite, but I will be buying the whistle and will also eagerly await Mitch’s tuneable variety. Well done mate - it’s a winner!
Ummm-- what whistle are you talking about? I still have the tour whistle, unless (apparently) there are more than one out there. Took my nursing final last night, so now I have some breathing space to go get a postal mailer and send it reluctantly on it’s way.
Mitch, you’ve done a heck of a job, especially for your first effort. I really find it hard to find fault with the whistle. Just for completeness I’ll check it against a tuner, but I don’t hold a lot of stock in that sort of thing-- if I can’t hear a slightly out of tune note, I don’t worry about it very much.
Yes I do have the other whistle - as Mitch said, there is an OZ tour as well.
And I stand by my statement - -the whistle is a gem!
Yeah-- I wasn’t disagreeing with you. The one I have is really terrific too.
I would love the chance to trial this beauty,
i have sent you an e-mail mitch,
Question
Are you likely to make a tunable version in the near future?
as this is almost essential for performers, with extreme chimate variations
Regards
David
Feadoggie-- keep an eye out for the OZ. I posted it yesterday afternoon.
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 bdh, Yes, the tunable prototype got a good workout at the National fest. Alan took it to the kitchen session and showed us all what a whistle could do - talk about jaw-dropping! I won’t need to shave my chin for quite some time! Seriously though, that was one hell of an opportunity to hear a few great players put a whole range of top whistles through their paces - I leaned a lot.
The prototype is made of ebony with nickel-silver fittings and brass tuning-slide. Unfortunately, the ebony fell victim to the harsh, dry air in Canberra and develped a warp - beautiful wood, but not very suitable for whistles. The production model will be made of African blackwood or gidgey and have cast sterling silver fittings. I am currently working on the first production run, learning how to deal with the challenges of cast silver (which has slowed things down a bit). They’ll be ready in a week or 2.
As you said, Alan’s schedule kept him too busy to pick-up his Syn set from Erle, but I imagine Erle has sent it on to him since.
Hi boomerang, got your email. I agree with the climate extreme thing. That’s why I seal the wood inside and out. The wood still seems to assert its character and still benefits from oiling. From the last run of non-tunables, I have 3 that are firewood and 1 that’s a little experimental. hup2149 has nabbed #2 so it might be best to re-start the OZ/New Zealand tour with a tunable.
Feadoggie-- keep an eye out for the OZ. I posted it yesterday afternoon
Paul, thanks! I will be on the lookout. A package arrived with the mail today but it was from a Mr. Dave Copley. I’ll wait by the mailbox tomorrow for the whistle from OZ. The weather should be nice enough for that. I’ll post my impression once it is here.
Feadoggie
Mitch-- ebony is nasty stuff. Pretty, as you say, but very prone to cracking. That’s the “regular” all black ebony. There are also Macassar and Mun Ebonies which are a lot more stable. Both are similar: very dark brown with black streaks. Nice woods.
So, the Oz whistle made by Mitch got to Pennsylvania about two weeks ago and of course I have had little time to spend with it. Yesterday however was a beautiful day and I spent a couple hours playing it. Here are my impressions. First off, this whistle smells terrific. It must be the bottle of fragrance Mitch included in the case disguised as bore oil – LOL. Really, the rose alder smells like an exotic mix of spices.
The overall look of the whistle is straightforward and functional. Handsome is a word that comes to mind. The rose alder has a nice redish-brown color. The black delrin mouthpiece collar and fipple contrast nicely against the wood and the brass pin holding it all together is a nice touch. The whistle is well crafted and offers no evidence of its manufacture. Yeah, it’s clean as a whistle. The feel and balance of the whistle is nice and surprisingly light. The finish on the outside of the body is nice, a satin finish I would say, although showing some signs of wear. I favor oil finishes on wood but this finish is not overstated.
The design of the whistle is a very good one. The bore diameter is about a half inch, like many other high D’s. The wall diameter of the tube is thin and makes for a familiar feel in the hands. Tone hole spacing and sizing is quite comfortable. The tone hole edges are nicely finished - not too sharp or too soft and provide good feedback to the fingers.
The OZ whistle has a very sweet voice. Response is good. It took everything I could throw at it without a squeak or squawk. It does take a bit of push to get the high A, B, C# and third octave D out, as has been stated by others. It’s not difficult to get used to supporting those notes though, like many other whistles. Those upper notes are noticeably louder than others but not shrill. Volume is good, nothing quiet about it. Again, it is a very sweet sounding whistle, pleasant in every way.
The tuning is good, I checked with one of my tuners, nothing unusual there. C natural is right on with OXXXOX. OXXXOO is not much sharper and works well too. OXXOOO is a bit sharp but works fine for passing notes in dance tunes. I would use a half-holed C natural or the OXXXOX for notes that need to be held. Other cross fingerings worked ok too. Half-holed Eb’s and F naturals work well too. I couldn’t find anything to be cranky about with this whistle.
What can I say, this is a good whistle. I am sure Mitch will have his hands full making more. Great job Mitch! So, the whistle from OZ will be on its way to Anniemcu as soon as I can pack it up and get to the post office.
Feadoggie
I received the Oz D today. I noticed immediately it resembled the WW in tone and playability. I love my WW, preferring to learn new tunes on it and to grab it most when playing at home… Its sound is my favorite on high D wihistles… or at least it was… I haven’t put the OZ down since I got my hands on it, except for this moment to acknowledge its arrival and for one tune on my Water Weasel to compare it to.
I really like it so far. Easy to play, easy to control (well… as much as I am able to control any whistle 
) and sweet sounding. Though louder in the upper second ocatve, it is not shrill… neither kids, hubby nor cats left the room. 
I will give it the session try-out Monday night, and write more later. The queue of friends and neighbors are already lining up to try it. 
WEEEE! I’m next!
(Make sure you swab that baby out. 
)
Hi All,
An update on the tour.
Firstly - Aanvil - have you got the whistle yet?
Nextly - As promised, here’s a few pics of the tunable Oz Whistle. My range-name for these cylindrical jobbies is “Vambrace” - additional keys will be added as I develop my workshop - all takes time
The influences in the design are obvious - Although similar in many respects to whistles made by Paul Busman, Chris Abell, Greg Mahan and others (for whom I have the greatest respect and admiration) the voicings and dimensions are my own and have taken quite some time to arrive at. Within those parrameters I can adjust voicing and characteristics such as volume, air requirement and tone on request.
It has taken me a lot longer than anticipated to get my workshop ready to be able to produce this whistle, but things seem to be working well at last.
Here’s the beastie - African Blackwood with sterling silver trim and a brass tuning slide. I’ll be doing these in African blackwood or Gidgey as a standard - I can do them in other woods and metals on request with some limitations. Voicing will be standard unless other voicing is requested - standard is medium volume, sweet sound (somewhere between “pure” and “reedy”). The example shown is on the “pure” side.
Head and beak profile.
The tuning slide is brass. the top ferrule has a serial number on the back while the lower ferrule shows the key of the body.
In this example, I have made the fipple assembly in delrin with sterling silver outer-ring. The assembly is pinned to the head-tube by 3 silver rivets and glued. This configuration is suitable for those who prefer not to have wood in contact with their lips - a requestable feature - the standard model has the wood continuous through the beak with no need for the additional pins.
Here are some sound samples played by Paddy O’Connor, “Cliffs of Moher” followed by “Planxty Irwin”. Recording was via an AKG D 3800 dynamic cardioid microphone directly into Cool Edit Pro 2 via M-Audio Firewire Solo with no FX or filters:
http://www.ozwhistles.com/files/CliffsofMoher.mp3
http://www.ozwhistles.com/files/PlanxtyIrwin.mp3
Once I get ahead of the current order book, I’ll get an additional tour going.
Inquiries are welcome.
Ooooo, I want one! Oh, and be sure to add me on any future tour.
Very fine whistle Mitch.
The tour whistle is on its way to Aanvil… sorry about the delay… part circumstance, part not wanting to let it go… 
That new one is just plain drop dead gorgeous!!! the detail on the silver is very nice indeed. I am drooling.
Ok, Mitch, that’s just plain gorgeous! That’s the first stirring of WHOA I’ve had in quite some time…
Philo
Uh, Mitch, you need to send me one of those right now so I can get up to speed with it to show around at the upcoming (July 29) NE Gathering.
Philo
I haven’t got it yet but Annie told me it has been sent.
To arrive well humidified by Annie’s parting tears no doubt.
I’ll let you all know when it shows up.
Yeah, send him one pronto! I want to play with it myself at the Gathering.
Very beautiful work, Mitch. I’m much impressed.