Do you think that other players of musical instruments get into the frequent and lengthy discussions as to type, cost, value, and quality of instruments that we engage in? Can you imagine tubaists, oboeists, pianists, fiddlers, guitarists, etc. carrying on so? Maybe. Or is it just our outpouring of devotion to this relatively simple instrument?
Come to think of it, a dear old friend (rest his sole), a professional bass guitarist (very hot player who couldn’t read a lick but could instantly learn everything by ear and played with from Peter Paul and Mary to Sister Sledge) did get into a bunch of jawing as to bass guitars when with others of his ilk.
Do you think that other players of musical instruments get into the frequent and lengthy discussions…
Most certainly they do. What they may not do, in many instances, is become deeply involved in whimsical off-topic discussions. They also are not as likely to remain civil in non-whimsical off-topic discussions, from what I’ve seen.
Yes, other musicians talk about, obsess over their instruments every bit as much if not more. The main differences are that nice sounding whistles can be had for a very modest price and are small in size. This means many whistle players have large collections.
Whistles are instruments of simple design with no moving parts. Compared to the manufacture of more complex instruments, there are few barriers to entry. This means there a lot of folks that make and sell whistles and a lot more that aspire to.
There are some unique qualities both on the demand side, and the supply side for whistles. However, there are musicians the world over on all instruments that lust after new “hardware” and want to talk about it.
Nah…guitar players are the ones. They can also get nasty when their choice of weapon is questioned. The FLATPICK-L list could get pretty mean.
They’ll even fight over things like pick direction–lots of arguments over DUDU vs. DUU vs. DDU. (I always prefered DUDU, but now I’ve learned to like DUDDUD for jigs.)
Lots of guitarists suffer from GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome).
Whistlers are hardly on the map when it comes to opinionated musicians. Think of the disagreements we have. Now think of how many more moving parts a guitar has. There are that many disagreements amongst guitarists about each of them. It’s much the same with mandolins. Just to take woods, there’s the neck, the fretboard, different parts of the body, each likely to be made from a different wood and each with fiercely opinionated partisans who know exactly what is best. We even argue about tuning pegs.
Yeh, classical guitarists got whistlers beat if for nothing but sheer cost. I was often at the center of a firestorm of competing builders and fans when I managed a fine guitar store back in the 80s. Man, if you want controversy and opinions, guitarists, who seem kinda nervous and weird anyway, got whistlers beat. It was in that world that I learned to “never serve in another man’s army” in stuff like that. I really did think a certain builder had a profound vision but by revealing that sentiment, I got in hot water with the other builders and their fans. Plus, my vision and ideas changed over time and I ended up eating many words and thoughts. To further define the dictum above, I found that by being “loyal” to a given builder, a dynamic was set up that was bad for everybody all around. Even if you think so-and-so is the very best whistle builder, don’t fall into the trap of constantly trying to help them out with recommendations etc. Ultimately, you end up in a compromised light.
What I find most different with whistling are the number of folk who attempt to build their own. it’s very daunting to build a fine guitar. You have to be a master woodworker AND finisher just for starters…then you need an internal audio/musical concept of what you are striving for. While some did try and build their own guitars, it was mostly exotic firewood for the first few tries. A far cry from pvc tubes in terms of time and cost for initial efforts.
I also play(?) guitar and 5 string banjo. The whistle discussions are a walk in the park compared to these two instruments and they are a lot more than $10.
I like to play music, best of all, but if I can’t do that, then I want to talk about it. Seriously. I never get my fill. I can go on for hours (even though no one cares) about the problems of fiddling. I think talking about whistling or music is a way to stay engaged when you can’t actually be doing it.
But I’m weird. I would do music 5 hours a day if I could.
