Chiff and Fipple Forums

I remember when Dale had a funny newsletter, new makers showed up like clock work, Copelands topped out at under $300, Sindts, Burkes, and others were maybe $60, waiting lists were shorter than a month, and JessieK and others wrote interesting reviews. These days there is almost nothing new and I would need to save for months to add a new whistle to my collection.

I can't say I managed to learn to play very well but I did have fun trying new whistles and trying to learn.

trekkie wrote:I remember when Dale had a funny newsletter, new makers showed up like clock work, Copelands topped out at under $300, Sindts, Burkes, and others were maybe $60, waiting lists were shorter than a month, and JessieK and others wrote interesting reviews. These days there is almost nothing new and I would need to save for months to add a new whistle to my collection.

I can't say I managed to learn to play very well but I did have fun trying new whistles and trying to learn.

Trekkie,

Can't say that I do all that much...

We had few really good playing whistles, and had to spend many an hour going through the rough sounding Generations at the local music mart hoping for at least one decent player (or a straight pair of drum sticks...but that's another story).

Today we have folks like Freeman doing the heavy lifting to give us inexpensive instruments. OK, not a penny anymore but still not bad. And lots of folks turning out really nice instruments that actually don't cost that much once you figure in inflation.

The best part? Listen to all the great players, and the ready access that we have to them, that we can aspire to emulate. There's always been a ton of good players...but now we can actually find and hear them.

So, no, I don't miss the good old days, but then I don't miss shooting landscapes on a 4x5 view camera all that much either.

Thanks for giving me/us a chance to pontificate!

Piper Joe

Oh man do I miss Dale's newsletter, and the random pop-up forums for topics that inevitably went south but were so much fun until they did.

I still love the forum...times change but there is a lot of good advice and good people on this board.

Eric

I'm a newbie around here, so I don't miss them , but I'm enjoying myself with a bunch of Generations (Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G), a Feadog (high D), & a couple of Tony Dixon cheapies (low D flute & high D piccolo).

The people on here have been nice & friendly towards me, with questions that have likely been asked before - these forums are a nice place to be.

Yesterday, I ordered an alto G brass Tony Dixon whistle, so that I can try a mid range whistle, (& a cheapie plastic one piece high D).

Presently, not getting on well with my low D flute, but holding it like a whistle, I can finger it much better, so maybe a low D whistle is in my future.

Are these things from before I joined?

I just noticed Trekkie joined in 2011.

I'm confused.

New to the whistle and have no memory of the "good old days" here. In general, I'm pretty hostile to the idea of the "good old days." It usually turns out that things were good for some people and less good for others.

I do like the fact that i can still buy cheap whistles that play erratically but also tuned whistles from Jerry freeman and others. Also still loving my Killarney whistles which do everything i want, and are very consistent and are dirt cheap compared to other instruments!

pancelticpiper wrote:Are these things from before I joined?

I'm confused.

Yes.

I joined at the end of 2006 and I suppose like all things, C&F has changed and evolved.

Annie McU made nice whistle pouches, Jessiek did review every whistle under the sun as I recall with a considerable dose of expertise - real or imagined. Lots of fancy and not so fancy whistles were bought and sold it seems. Pat O'Riordan was at his local Irish Festival every year and we often got to hear about that. I had a few phone calls and emails with him, and I miss those too. In the mean time Jerry Freeman was getting up and running, my first whistle being a Freeman Mellow Dog which I still have here somewhere. I wanted one from Paul Busman, who was very gracious, but he didn't want to sell me one until I got some playing time under my belt, which I thought was interesting. . They were old days, yes, that yielded to new ones.

More than a few have exited the planet, and those times were like losing family members.

And for those who haven't seen this - lest we forget: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMqefRi_pXE

trekkie wrote:I remember when Dale had a funny newsletter, new makers showed up like clock work, Copelands topped out at under $300, Sindts, Burkes, and others were maybe $60, waiting lists were shorter than a month, and JessieK and others wrote interesting reviews. These days there is almost nothing new and I would need to save for months to add a new whistle to my collection.

I can't say I managed to learn to play very well but I did have fun trying new whistles and trying to learn.

YES, I do miss the "good old days!" That thought occurs to me almost every time I visit. I still enjoy it, but Dale really added a fun personality to everything. Although, I spent WAY too much money on whistles back then.

-Brett

Anything posted prior to 2012 would be "the good old days" and I wasn't around then. I do remember gobbling up every bit of whistle information that was posted on C&F back then. I forget exactly when the forum change over occurred and much of the content was lost. I spent way, way too much time reading the website when I could've and should've been practicing & playing the whistle. There was a huge amount of content to wade through... serious commentary and loads of humor that I enjoy so much. I hope the Waybacker or something similar archived at least some of the Chiff web content from earlier days.

I had seen this vid before, but, it is a Classic and hopefully remains here on the Chiff Forum... often... lest we forget! Thanks for posting!!!

rhulsey wrote:And for those who haven't seen this - lest we forget: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMqefRi_pXE

I don't necessarily miss the old days but was around during the tail end of the times referred to here. Part of me remembers the forums being more active back then, but it's been long enough that such measurements have been obscured by time. The forum still chugs along today, and plenty of helpful and friendly members are still around. I do remember a time when I tried to sell a Sindt Eb whistle for $100 and had no tackers.

By my reckoning the good old days ended somewhere in the mid aughts. The forum is a very different place now.

I wonder how many of us are still around (at least from time to time) who were members of the original C&F forum? Shame the join dates from the previous forum didn’t carry over, but most of us “know” each other anyway.

Loren wrote:By my reckoning the good old days ended somewhere in the mid aughts. The forum is a very different place now.

I wonder how many of us are still around (at least from time to time) who were members of the original C&F forum? Shame the join dates from the previous forum didn’t carry over, but most of us “know” each other anyway.

2001 is early enough, Loren. I didn't join until 2002.

That’s true Kevin, everyone knows the party didn’t really get started until you arrived

I joined in 2005. Judging by conversations then, there were still aspects surviving from the "old days." And you could still see recurring conversations, recollections, arguments--including some famous blowups. Things seemed to be in transition even then--major participants leaving, some new folks arriving, etc. But then I look now and there's a new set of regular posters (with a few still here from my old days and some from the true old days), a similar set of recurring questions, more whistles and whistle makers around, tons more resources, tutorials, youtube videos, etc. The facebook page gives a face to many of the longtime and not so longtime participants. I like that.

So I miss it. And not.