Has anyone had hands on experience with this whistle? Sound good to my ears in the sound sample but before I pull the trigger on it I would like some input if available. Thanks much.
http://www.downeasthost.com/songsea/tinwhistle.html
Jude
Why do whistle makers and sellers put up soundclips all the time made by people who can’t play?
For $135 you really want a whistle that’s in tune.
The whistle as it is played in the soundclip is woefully out of tune. It is not possible to assess to what extend the player or the whistle itself are responsible.
If you really want it, try the whistle yourself (to try any whistle yourself before you accept to buy it would be a good rule of thumb) and assess if it works satisfactory. Based on the soundclip : spend a fiver on a Generation or Feadóg and get much better results compared to what you hear in the clip and : without the pricetag.
There are a couple of members here that have mentioned owning Whitney whistles. I don’t remember any complaints about them or any great praise over them either. I have dealt with Eddie and Anne Damm at Song of the Sea on several occaisions when they operated their retail shop located in Bar Harbor. They are good folks to deal with. I believe Chuck Whitney plays whistle and flute in a band called the MacLir Ceilidh Band with the Damms. I’ve never had the oportunity to play a Whitney whistle myself. And I’ve only seen one review of that whistle here.
Hope that helps some. For a similar expenditure you might want to look into a Sindt.
Feadoggie
Thanks for posting that review. The whistle sounded very nice to my old ears and after fifty years of lung abuse I can appreciate one that doesn’t take much air. I’m in the process of learning Down In The Sally Garden, got the A part down, now for the B part. I can fingerpick it on the ukulele without using much air at all. 
I don’t really need another D whistle and stumbled on this one by accident and thought I’d ask for an opinion on it. If I can’t buy the Burke Bb that I’m interested in I may buy this one anyway. Don’t know what tune he was playing but it sure sounded nice to me.
Jude
Eek yes. Here’s what Flutini made of the clip:
D5: -16
E5: -19
F#5: -24
A5: -34
B5: -12
D6: +9
E6: -2
F#6: -1
Generally flat, and the intonation is poor to my ear. Maybe the whistle hadn’t been warmed up, or was being played by someone who wasn’t used to playing this particular brand, but it’s hardly a good advert.
It’s nice that you liked it. There is better playing out there for sure. Anyway, let us introduce you to the music of Turlough O’Carolan then. That one is on his greatest hits CD. Some might favor this version.
And since you pick the Uke, here’s another version. Not exactly Jake Shimabukuro, huh? Don’t forget to breathe when playing.
Si Bheag Si Mhor may be one of the most played and recorded pieces of music of all time.
Feadoggie
Yeah, the whistle sounds like it’s being terribly underblown in the clip. No way to tell anything about intonation from it. And the critical upper range from g to c’ is missing.
The Whitney whistle pictured on the link given is probably a much newer version than the one Darwin reviewed. It certainly looks nothing like the Whitney in my collection. My whistle is all brass, with the window and ramp very similar to a Laughing Whistle, and has a pure, sweet sound, to my ear.
heyjude, if you are the same “heyjude” from Everything Dulcimer, I think we are from the same area. You could test drive my Whitney whistle if you like, but it is nothing like the one pictured in the link.
Nice to see the Song of the Sea is still in operation.
I emailed Song of the Sea regarding the clip. Here’s their reply:
We play in a Celtic band with Chuck Whitney locally, and we have found his whistles work very well. Will contact him to see if he wants to do another sound sample. If folks want to hear one being played on the phone, we are happy to do that.
Anne Damm
So it’s actually the maker playing it in the clip?
Only a fool would buy an instrument from maker who can’t be heard to play his own instruments well.
Mind you, he’s not the first whistle maker failing to represent his handiwork as well played, attractive sounding instruments. A deal breaker each time.
Oh my, I have heard the tune before. Just didn’t recognise from the clip. I’ve heard my wife play it on a lever harp that I made for her a few years ago.
I think the reason I was impressed with the out of tune, poorly played clip was that it sounded a lot like me. The whistle spoke to me, take me I’m yours. I’ve decided to pass on it. My next whistle will perhaps be the Burke Bb that’s listed for sale on this forum I believe I’m second in line for it. If not it, then perhaps a D narrow bore Burke.
Jude
Dunno. The email was rather ambiguous as to whether Chuck was going to be asked to provide “another” clip as in one to go alongside the current clip (i.e. give me “another” opinion) or “another” as in a replacement for the clip which he may or may not have recorded (i.e. give me a replacement). Whatever the situation, it’ll be interesting to hear a clip played by the whistle’s maker.
Will contact him to see if he wants to do another sound sample.
The above does make it sound like he provided the first one as well but you’re right it can be taken ambiguously. I surely hope it wasn’t the maker and I hope he will post a better representation of his whistle.
I readily admit it is a bit of a bugbear for me and has been for years. There are an awful lot of whistle websites selling whistles using quite poorly played clips. I think anyone looking for a fair amount of money from his/her customers owes it to them to make sure the instruments on sale are played to their best advantage. Poorly paid clips make it look they don’t think much of their customers. I have been interested in certain whistles a number of times and have turned away from them because of poorly played clips. Nobody needs a whistle costing over $100 to sound mediocre or poor. It’s up to the whistlemakers and sellers to convince me what they are selling is capable of more than that and therefore worth having.
Yes, that could be a problem.
It’s difficult to judge a whistle from a sound clip posted online. There’s all kinds of imponderables like the player, the microphone, the recording set-up, post-production (reverb) and so on. And then there’s the whistle to whistle variability effect with hand-crafted instruments and maybe even with production models. I guess most people don’t have the luxury of access to a music store with lots of brands, or even if they do, some won’t let you play before you buy a cheapie or sometimes even a not-so-cheapie. That’s why this forum is so valuable for whistlers to share their experience.
I am talking about plain old poor playing. The clip that goes with the subject of this thread is one example. That has nothing to do with microphones, recording technique or anything like that it’s a clip that tries to sell a musical instrument by showing it has extremely poor intonation. It makes it look these people think their customers are morons, that it will be OK that they will not notice it.
I agree that a clip is only an impression but it’s not too much to ask it at least tries to make the best impression it can.
My experiences following recommendations from posters here have not been very rewarding.
I’d add one qualification that I think ought to be made, at least from my experience.
I’ve known quite a few fine instrument makers and repair technicians - of winds and strings, folk and orchestral both. And not all of them have been what I’d call good players, in the sense of people you’d want to hear perform (though some have been, of course).
But the good ones who aren’t good players do seem to have a few strategies in common:
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They can play well enough to execute specific playing techniques on the instrument that any decent player will expect the instrument to respond to in predictable ways: breath/bowing/plucking, intonation, register breaks, fingering moves, tone and response across the range, etc.
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They usually have a diagnostic “test suite” of stock technical tricks and riffs that they can play to exercise the instrument quickly - scales, octaves, staccato/legato patterns, etc. Things that players themselves often specifically check for.
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They actively seek out feedback and advice from good players, and incorporate that information into 1 and 2 above, and into their own “mental maps” of the instruments.
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They don’t rely on (only) their own playing to demo their work.
But the good ones who aren’t good players do seem to have a few strategies in common:
I can agree with that, given the caveat already built into that sentence.
Time to bring this one full circle. Thanks to all for your opinions of the whistle and your critiques of the whistle demo. Some of you folks are really good at playing the whistle so your words of wisdom meant a lot to me.
But my heart said, I like this whistle, I like the looks of it and I really like what I’m hearing on the demo. If I can sound this good, with this whistle on this song, this old out of breath man will be happy.
So if you’re ever walking through a park in Appalachian Ohio and see an old man setting on a park bench playing for the squirrels…
and he’s out of tune and out of time and playing the tune too damn slow, stop and say hello.
I just got an email from Anne Damm and my whistle is on its way.
Jude