Wood whistles: Any advice to a beginner's search? :)

Whistle
1

Hello from Norway!

I’m a beginner whistler, I’ve been playing for only a year. I have some metal tin whistles, but I’m in love with the wood whistles. I bought some cheap pakistan Dobani bamboo flutes. 2 of 3 are actuallly good, and all are well tuned. The low D is my favorite.

A month ago I was in Albania as a teacher on a school tour. I had read that Albania has some flute tradition, but I didn’t have time to search for flutes/whistles. But one of the last days we were through a souvenirs shop street, and I found several.

The one pictured below has soon become my favorite. It’s a high E, and gives easy an expressive and warm tone. But sadly it’s a souvenir, and not very well tuned. It’s also difficult to play in the higher octave, which maybe is because of my lack of skills. I have tried to find an albanian shop online, so that I could buy a simular whistle of good quality. But it’s hard not knowing the language. I have contacted my albanian friends, and hope for some answers soon.

Do anyone of you by chance know some sellers of albanian flutes of high quality? (There were also a kind of bamboo whistle I bought. The material was not bamboo, but wome water growing plant simular to bamboo. I would love to find that one too in good quality.)

Anyway, this little whistle has opened my eyes (ears) for solid wooden whistles, earlier I was only for bamboo. But searching the web, I find that there are not many of those. And the few I find are very high in price (and of course quality). As a beginner I just need some experience, to play my way through more flutes, to find out what I like. I’m not ready to buy a whistle for several hundred dollars now.

I know there are many recorders for good a price. But I’m not going for the recorder, I’m in love with the whistle. :slight_smile:

So I would be thankful for any advice. Where could I investigate more wooden whistles for beginners price and quality? Both the high octave and the low ones are of interest.

My albanian favorite:
http://gallery.me.com/sverremac#100141/DSC08091&bgcolor=black

You blow at a straight end, which I like, and at the bottom. The finger holes are on the top of the flute.
http://gallery.me.com/sverremac#100141/DSC08093&bgcolor=black

thanks a lot! :slight_smile:
sverretheflute

2

One of the lower-priced options is Tyrone Head http://theflutemaker.com/index.php

Best wishes.

Steve

3

Thank you, Steve! Those whistles seem nice!

I would love to hear suggestions from more of you experienced folks. :slight_smile:

sverremac

4

They are a bit more expensive, but the Sweets make some lovely whistles: http://www.sweetheartflute.com/whistles.html

5

This could be a long list. Do you have a price range in mind?

6

http://www.kerrywhistles.com/movie.php?groupID=19#

Look for Tony Hinnigan’s review of the Roy McManus High D. He describes and plays several high end wood whistles.

None of these are ‘Albanian’ and none are below 200 GBP.

7

The only wood whistle I have, is the only wood whistle I can currently afford.
A Tyrone Head whistle, and mentioned by Steve B.
Its a very nice player. It has some features like a lack of tuning slide and
a 45 degree cut on the mouth piece, that make less expensive.
The one I have is Jatoba wood, sometimes called Brazilian Cherry,
though its really in the legume family.
If you have a limited budget Tyrone Heads whistles are the way to go.

8

Thanks flynnieous! Yes, I’ve seen them. They would maybe my choice, if I wanted to go for the high end quality and prices…



Good question, JTC111! Actually, my VERY cheap albanian whistle, gives me so much good response to my attempts to learn the technique and express myself. My demand is not much more than something of the same, but clean in the tuning and a bit easier to get to the upper octave.

At the other hand, I wouldn’t say no to something more professional made. But anyway: For now, low end in the price range. Of course I can pay more than nothing. I prefer around 30 US dollar, but can go up to 50 and 100 too. But my task now is not to buy the ultimate flute. I just want to find useful whistles along the road into whistling…

This list
http://www.chiffandfipple.com/Expens.html
is very good for the high end. If there is another list for the price level below, it would be great. I’m a bit supriced that there seems to be almost only high end wood whistles.



Thanks, Flexismart! Couldn’t find any wood whistles there, and a too high for me in price. :slight_smile:



Thanks, maki! I’m interested in those whistles, even though they are a bit too high in price for me. I wold hope there was some lower prices also for wood whistles, as it is with thin whistles. The sound examples gave a quite hard sound for my taste. I look for a more soft and tender tone. If you could lead me to some more sound examples than on their web site, I would be grateful. :slight_smile:


Thanks everyone! :slight_smile:

9

It’s most unlikely that you’re going to find a wooden whistle in the $30 range. I don’t know of anyone making and selling them that cheap. I can’t think of anyone selling wooden whistles in the $50-$100 range either. Steve Bliven gave you a link to Tyrone Head’s site. His whistles are a little over $100 for some of his non-tunable models but I don’t think you’re going to find anything else approaching your price range. You would have a greater number of options in your price range with non-wood whistles.

10

From what I understand making wood whistles is enormously labor intensive.
It may not realistic to find a high quality wood whistle that is also cheap.

Maybe the way to start isn’t a wood whistle?
For my money the Oak brand tin whistle is very nice for about ten dollars.
A step up from there are Jerry Freemans whistles, particularly the Bluebird, or Mellowdog,
both about $30 plus shipping.

You can find all three here-
http://www.thewhistleshop.com/

If you’re in the UK try here-
http://www.bigwhistle.co.uk/

11

Thanks maki! I already have several non wood tin whistles. I don’t need a high quality wood whistle, only one that is well tuned. Since there are cheap wood recorders, I thought there would be possible also to find wood whistles in the lower or middle price range. And of some quality. :slight_smile:

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What non-wood whistles do you have?

13

With this price range you can possibly look at sopilka - a Ukrainian folk flute. The fingering is different, but the sound it produces is pleasant.
Here is a link to some e-bay sopilkas: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=sopilka&_sacat=0

I have this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/PROFESSIONAL-WOODEN-UKRAINIAN-ETHNIC-FLUTE-WHISTLE-SOPILKA-TONIC-/170841976909?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27c6f9b04d, and enjoy playing it.

The other option (6 fingering holes) would be Serbian frula.

14

And there’s the rub. Inexpensive wood recorders are generally not well tuned and do not have a fully playable range, often missing much of the higher end. Tuning is, generally speaking, the part that takes the most personal, hands-on attention. Therefore it has probably the greatest impact on price. Of course I’m considering tuning to not only indicate that the intended notes are “in tune” with the instrument itself and the larger world but also that the instrument is capable of comfortably playing at least two octaves, if not slightly more.

At the low-price end of the wood whistle range, you’ll find Tyrone Head and Simon Styles (Weston Whistles UK). Some folks don’t like the mouthpiece on Tyrone’s whistles. I’ve owned three of Tyrone’s instruments and all are very different in playing characteristics but they are in tune, yet not tunable without a significant step up in price. Simon’s whistles got favorable reviews from Tony Higgins. I have no experience with them. Personally, had I not found a simply flawless pre-owned Glenn Schultz blackwood whistle, I would consider my Busman to be the best wood whistle available for the price but it’s a pretty big price jump from the others. Worth every penny though and you can get it to play the way you want in terms of breath requirements balance between high and low range etc. Paul is a great guy too! In wood whistles, you get what you pay for IMHO.

Any others I’m aware of will be much more costly than these.

good luck,
ecohawk

15

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Tommy Dion, who posts here and for whom you can search for “whistles of wood”, makes a very decent whistle that is low priced and well made.

ecohawk

16

I’d second the Tommy Dion suggestion. I have one and it’s very reasonably priced, and nice sounding, a little quiter than some, which I like since I play around the house. Great guy, too.
Jaydoc

17

I have two “Generation” in C and D. And I have two Clarke Sweetone in C and D. The Clarke are easy to get to the upper octave, but does not have a very expressive sound. The Generation in D is in brass or something, and does not give me a satisfying sound. The Generation C is best, but very unforgiving…, I feel I have to play it with great confidence to get something soulful out of it…

I also plan to buy a low D pen whistle, probably a Shaw.

I also have some pakistan Dobani whistles, that is not in solid wood, but bamboo. I have them in low D, low F and low A. They are not bad tuned, but vary in quality. The low D is maybe my favorite whistle!



Thanks! They seem nice, but I don’t want to change my technique to 5 holes in the middle of my learning. :slight_smile:

Seems really like a interesting whistle, maybe some time. :slight_smile:


YOU HIT RIGHT ON THE SPOT HERE! I will return to this in a separate response post below.


My very cheap pakistan bamboo “Dobani” whistles are quite well tuned. I have an digital tuner app, but I don’t know how much difference that is acceptable. My low D whistle is often not more than 1% off the tune. Others are up around 2,5% off the tune.

The bamboo whistles are quite easy to get in higher octave, the low d goes 2,5 octaves! But the other whistles I have…, I would love to play them in two octaves, and understand that it’s not a matter about technique only, but also price…

Thank you,ecohawk, I think that you give me a really good overview, there. I think I some time will consider one of these, but right now I’m into Balkan… (Se later response under.)

I’m still a bit stubborn and unwilling to learn that. But I guess life will tell me. I also need to look around, and find the type of whistles I like first, and I can’t do that at the high end. :slight_smile:


Thanks JayDoc! I’ll listen to that. I would love to hear some sound excamples, but maybe youtube have them already.



Thanks a lot, everyone!

18

I FOUND IT! THIS FORUM IS REALLY HELPFUL!

Thank you so much, Zabava77 for giving me the tip about the Serbian frula!

Actually, this really is my “albanian” whistle! When I started to google Serbian frula, I soon found pictures of exactly the same souvenir whistle (with the same paintings) as I bought in albania. It was not an albanian whistle, but a Serbian frula!

I found a company that seems serious, with frulas in a wide price range.
http://souve-nirs.shopmania.biz/catalog/frule-287
All of the frulas are said to be in tune and of professional standard. They are used by traditional serbian musicians. I’ve just ordered a one-piece E-whistle.

The price is just above 25 USD. Bu it’s actually not as much about the price: I want the sound and type of whistle I already found and fell in love with. I hope it will be with the similar feeling as with my souvenir “albanian” whistle, but cleaner tuned and better in upper octave.

This video shows a frula in action that looks like the one of the company above. I won’t play the serbian way, but find my own north sea way…
http://youtu.be/hJw82UNVOTU


On my way to this final answer for my search, I was through Bulgaria… And I found another shepherds traditional instrument (which these whistles originally were), made of a maker that seems serious.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220505545798&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:3160
It’s in flat B, and seems to be quite close to the frula in style. I have some expectations.

19

I am glad you found your whistle! Please, let us know how you like it.

As far as Bulgarian flutes, Zdravko Beshendzhiev makes them http://kaba-gaida.com/duduk. I ordered another instrument from him, a Romanian kaval.

20

Thank you! I will tell. I considered one of the flutes of Zdravko Beshendzhiev, but it was just above the norewgian tax limit, that would raise my costs. Therefore I chose aother one, and hope it would be a good one.

sverretheflute