Chris Wall Whistle (Mezzo A)

[AngelicBeaver]

I recently purchased a Chris Wall whistle in Mezzo A, and I figured I'd share my thoughts here.

Overall:

It's a nice whistle with good tuning. VERY quiet, mellow tone with a weak bell note (but a nice upper octave in exchange), takes very little breath to play. Probably a great whistle for beginners. I'm thinking of calling this my "Prison Whistle", as it would be the whistle least likely to get me beaten to a pulp should I decide to become tuneful in a rough penitentiary. Definitely not for a session, although I believe Chris offers a "session" model. I'm interested to see how Mr. Wall develops as a maker, and I might get a Soprano D from him.

Construction

The whistle is nice to look at. I got it in the blackwood finish. It's very simple. The whistle was very smelly when it came out of the box, but it has lessened over the days. Chris assured me that all the coatings are non-toxic and water based and that the smell will disappear. He suggested using vinegar under the whistle overnight to help clear the smell. He's been trying to fill orders quickly, so he's shipped them out faster rather than waiting for them to fully air out. I didn't mind as it allowed me to get it sooner for testing.


Tuning and Sound

The tuning is good. I use a "C-Nat" cross fingering OXXXOX on my Goldie, and it worked fine on this whistle. I didn't check the OXXOOO fingering. The tone itself is nice and mellow, with a little bit of chiff in the second octave. The most striking thing, for me, was the volume. This is a VERY quiet whistle. According to Chris, he likes to skew the balance in favor of the second octave, and the second octave is, indeed, quite nice. However, this leaves the bell note particularly touchy. A whisper of a breath is all it takes to play, and you can't "lean into" it at all. This is a quieter whistle than even the Freeman Generation A.

Now, the volume isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for me. I have several Goldie whistles, including one in A, so other whistles I acquire are more for variety than anything else, and the longer I played this one the more it grew on me. The tone is interesting, and this would be a good "indoor whistle" for when my wife or kids are napping, or on vacation with the in-laws who hate my whistles.


Tweaking

Still, I wasn't completely satisfied. While I've always been particular about the upper octave, as I have sensitive ears, I think the balance skews a little too far to the upper octave. I think that the balance could be dialed back just a tad to favor the first octave a bit more, with a firmer bottom note, while still giving a very nice upper range. As I pondered this, I thought about Hans Bracker and Michael Copeland, who both utilize walls around the windway to strengthen the first octave. I molded a bit of sticky-tac around the three sides of the windway, and there was an instant improvement (in my opinion). While watching the kids on Sunday, I shaped a few pieces of PVC to create a box around the windway to try and make my tweak permanent. After a bit of fiddling and testing, I've got the contraption epoxied on and curing right now. With a bit of sanding and a touch of paint, I don't think it will mar the appearance too much. The tone right now reminds me of a Goldie, with more back pressure than the whistle originally had, and a MUCH firmer bell note. The high end takes more push to reach, but sounds good to my ears. The whistle is a little louder than before, but still quiet. Once I've got everything settled, I'll post a video of my results, with some pictures.

Edit: Here's my initial Sticky-tac adjustment comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB8D2l0F2EM

I've sent some of my findings to Chris, and he's expressed interest in doing more tests with molding a wall into his whistles. My whistle right now might be tailored a little more for someone who likes a harder blowing whistle (Goldies), but I could see a lower wall retaining more of the characteristics of the original whistle, while giving the bottom end a little bit of extra firmness, making it a really nice, quiet whistle.

I really hope Chris continues to make whistles. He's got an interesting product, and I'm seriously considering a soprano D, as most that I've tried end up being to shrill for me in the second octave. They may benefit more from the balance philosophy he utilizes. As far as service goes, he's been really helpful and communicative. He stands behind his whistles and offers refunds if you are not satisfied and he can't make it right. He's been really friendly with all my feedback and seems like a great guy.

[maki]

Thanks for the review, I've been very interested in Chris Walls whistle since seeing them for sale on Ebay.
I've lost several bidding wars for his low D narrow bore.

Thanks again.