Chiff and Fipple Forums

I’m seeing that Morneaux is the successor to Ralph Sweet. His low whistles look really nice, if pricey. Still, I’ve been debating trying out low whistles again and the maple model looks tempting. Has anyone played one of his? I’m curious how they compare with Ralph’s, and also with Walt Sweet’s Onyx model.

Oh yeah, the site:
http://musiquemorneaux.com/low-whistles/

Can’t speak for the low whistles, but I’ve got one of their new model D piccolos and that’s a really nice instrument. My only minor criticism is that the maker’s logo is on a sticker rather than engraved in the wood, which reduces the visual quality a bit.

Great tone, responsive, loud as heck, a good buy that will do many years of service.

Several years ago, I had a high D that was fully chromatic with 8 holes. (like a recorder) I sold it because it was too complicated for me, but I really liked its voice.

Looks like he’s got 2 different versions of of a 10-hole chromatic whistle now. Nice idea and all, but I wouldn’t want to have to relearn tunes just to accomodate the occasional g# or f natural.
The reason the low whistles appeal to me is the combo of wood and conical body. I figure this would make it easier to finger and the wood would be more lightweight than say, the delrin Onyx.
I’ve had aluminum low Ds before and it’s just too much of a pain to keep them warm between tunes.

The Onyx is 9.1oz, MK pro is 8oz, and Goldie (non-tuneable) is 7.1oz. Of the three the MK varies the least with temperature changes. Those Morneaux whistles look beautiful and I bet they play as good as they look but that is a lot of money if you are not 100% sure it is the sound you are looking for.

That’s less than I expected. My experience with flutes has been that the weight difference between wood and delrin is enough to be uncomfortable for me. The Onyx must use lighter material than what’s typical of flutes.