I was up at Joanie Madden’s this afternoon and played what I thought was a brilliant Grinter Eb whistle. When I searched for info here, there seemed to be very few comments made. Am I missing something? I have only been in the whistling world for the last four months, so I’m still seriously uneducated. Help me out here; what’s the story on his whistles?
I assume it’s because not too many members of the board own them?
Oh, and you have an awesome name.
His whistles are rather rare in the greater pantheon of whistles. I e-mailed him about a month or two ago and was told that he does still make whistles, although he is not currently taking new orders (I think his waiting list spanned years). As I understand it, he makes whistles in the occasional batches and doesn’t expect a batch to be completed before he launches his new/updated website sometime early next year. His current website doesn’t even make mention of whistles.
I have read in other posts that Grintner’s low Fs are to die for.
Sound clips? Pictures? Videos? GIMME GIMME GIMME 
I agree that rarity is the cause. His whistles are truly remarkable. I have a D and a low-G; had a low-F but sold it. The D is a somewhat narrower bore than most high-end whistles, and the sound is a little more delicate than something like a Thin Weasel. It’s one that my wife won’t let me sell. And his low F is one of those legendary whistles, played by Paddy Keenan among others.
Thing is, as good as his whistles are, he’s still primarily a flute and recorder maker. He does reach out to the Irish music community some, but he also has to pay attention to the classical and early music communities. He obviously enjoys making flutes and recorders much more than making whistles.
Here’s a clip of me playing a Grinter high D from the Clips&Snips site:
http://www.tinwhistletunes.com/clipssnip/Audio/11-02/JackieColeman_s_bretton.mp3
I don’t own the whistle anymore, but it was a good whistle…pretty loud, woody sounding, strong lower octave and took a bit of push to get the highest few notes. I’d probably love it now, but at that point it took a little too much to hit the high notes for me.
-brett
There used to be more discussion about them a few years back here. You are right, though, there is not as much these days. I have never seen one or played one at any of our West Coast whistle parties…
I have a Grinter hi D that is just lovely. It’s the only wooden whistle that I’ve ever wanted or that I thought was worth the bother. And I’ve tried Abells, Thin Weasels, Busmans, and Lon Dubhs. All nice whistles, to be sure, but not for me. (If you’re interested, Weeks, I’ll send it to you to try out.)
I don’t think he makes whistles anymore! That might be part of the reason you don’t hear more about them.
Doc recently had a sop D and an F for sale used on his sight.
I think they sold for around 450-500$ Didn’t stay around very long though, even at that price!
Nate
edited because of ignorance…hmm I guess I didn’t see your earlier post.
I heard a rumor awhile back that he wasn’t taking whistle orders so I just figured that he wasnt’ making any.
He still makes them, but as someone mentioned above, he mainly concentrates on flutes and recorders. I doubt more than a handful are produced each year.
Grinter’s whistles are truly legendary - as are his flutes.
In March, I was told by Paddy Keenan that Mike replaced his low F that got accidentally sat-on, but would not sell him a high D (for whatever reason).
I get the impression that his flute and rcrd*r work takes priority these days. Which is not surprising - there is not a lot more work needed to produce a keyless flute than a whistle, and yet the accepted price for a flute is many times more than you can expect for a whistle.
If it were a matter of sheer economics, no one would make whistles. One has to have a love for whistles, and the people who play them.
Jarred, I would be inclined to have a look at Ben Stewarts work (http://www.stewart-instruments.com/). He was Mike Grinter’s machinist/apprentice for some time - perhaps still is. His whistles are somewhat similar to Mike’s and are getting good reviews.
Hope this helps.
I’ve got a Grinter low F, cocobolo. I never play it. I put it up for sale here about a year ago, someone tried it, sent it back, saying it was amazing, etc, but not what they wanted, etc. I was too lazy to put it up for sale again. I’ll bring it to the next gathering at Dana’s. If someone wants to try and buy, that’s great.
I’m down to playing 3 whistles regularly and that’s not one of them.
Tony
I KNOW I only hit the submit button once.
Tony
Why so little talk of Grinter whistles?
Because he’s a flute maker?
If you are still interested to sell your low F please contact me. thanks, Carlos
This is the secret to getting an instrument order expedited, that is if you`re Paddy or Joannie him/herself. 
Tony has the Grinter Low F that I had. My experience was similar. I now have a Holunder Shepherd whistle from Colin that has a much nicer sound, at least to our ears.