Even though a good wood whistle sounds fantastic, there are many people who decide they don’t want one because they are concerned about caring for it. That’s why it took me a long time to get a wood whistle.
I have a composite whistle and a laminate whistle, they have a tone similar to wood. So why real wood? Well, I liked my Water Weasel so much I was considering a Thin Weasel for some time.
Eventually I broke down and bought a Soprano D Thin Weasel in African Blackwood. I’ve had it for some time now and this whistle has become my favorite. I play at least one tune on it every day. I often use it to learn new tunes because it plays so nice. I swab it when I finish playing it, I wipe it with a lightly oiled cloth and put it away. I oil the bore about every two weeks.
Sure it’s extra effort, but it just seems to get more beautiful with time.
So - other than the great sound - why get a real wood whistle? You will develop a relationship with a real wood whistle that makes the extra expense and effort quite worth it. You feed it, you care for it, you play it - it changes and responds - it’s like a puppy without the poop thing going on.
Enough praise, let me show you how beautiful African Blackwood gets when you give it a little time and attention.
Soprano D Thin Weasel next to it’s little brother High G:
Tuning Slide and woodgrain detail:
Finger Holes and Bore detail:
Oh! Let me assure you that it’s ok to take photos of whistles. I like taking pics, and I have no girlfriend - so I need to take pics of something beautiful.
With wood, no two whistles are exactly the same-- the grain and color vary from piece to piece. Sometimes it’s subtle, sometimes dramatic. The grain of wood tells the story of the tree that the piece is a part of. Environmental conditions, accidents etc effect the wood and show up in the form of knots, whorls and healed cracks.
Wood also has a wonderful feel to it, and sometimes its own unique aroma.
Wood has tremendous historical precedent in instrument making. They don’t call them woodwinds for nothing…
I think the above have summed it up nicely. With a wooden whistle you develop a relationship. And, with each piece of wood having its own personality, a maker has to pay extra attention to detail, which shows in the end product.
In addition to all the excellent reasons already given in favor of wood, I’ll add that wood might also give you the opportunity to have a true family heirloom whistle (or two).
These beautiful instruments have a lovely sound and a depth of shimmer in the grain that doesn’t show in the photo. They are fine whistles, crafted by Paul Busman, and made of wood from a 100+ year old ironwood tree which grew on the North Carolina mountain where my granddad grew up and my dad was born and raised. That tree grew up with my granddad, and it watched my dad (and my aunts and uncles) grow up. It’s a connection I’ll never have to a plastic whistle.
I have a low D hand crafted from a leg off a brass bed I was conceived on - with a mouthpiece handcarved from my late Father’s pacemaker…you never get that sort of connection with a wooden whistle
My dad and uncles leased the land to a Christmas tree farmer, and he needed to widen the road up the mountain. (Calling it a “road” is being generous.) Unfortunately, that particular ironwood tree was too close to the road for its own good. One of my uncles managed to salvage several good-sized logs off of it, though.
Way to go! All of my conducting batons are from a Eucalypt that my late grandfather planted. The tree also passed on, but cuttings from it are growing nicely in my yard right now.
I have a dozen nice big blanks left, so in the next decade or so, I’ll make myself some instruments. If I have to impregnate it with resin (it’s not the most stable stuff, even dry), then I will.
appologies to Tommy 
)
One of my uncles managed to salvage several good-sized logs off of it, though.