Chiff and Fipple Forums

Okay. it's been over a year and a half since the last thread that was devoted to Chris Wall whistles (at least I didn't notice any later ones) and there's been some changes in that time.

I just sent my order off this evening, but I'd still like to hear from those of you that have them about what you think. Particularly if you have a high D 2nd edition.

"Angelicbeaver", who is both here and on YouTube, did a great side by side comparison of the 1st and 2nd Editions on YouTube, and Stephanie/"cutiepie" on YouTube did a pretty good review of the whistles in various keys.
If you saw her video on YouTube and you were put off from ordering the black one because she said the black finish was "sticky", Chris assured me that was a fluke that was discovered many months ago and has long since been corrected.

So sound off and tell us your impressions of your Chris Wall whistle(s).

“Cutiepie.piper” posts videos fairly often on her Instagram page if anyone wants to peruse those. I usually don’t pay much attention to them since it tends to be stuff like movie scores rather than ITM.
https://instagram.com/cutiepie.piper?ut ... ndqukdts8e

I like 'em. I have a Bb with the standard and Arabian scale bodies. I pretty much just play the standard but the other is neat to pull out from time to time. The Bb is "wide bore" and has a great bottom end - gets a little loud at the top.

I also have a C/D combo. The D is very balanced while the C is "narrow bore" giving it a quiet low end and better high end - opposite of the Bb.

I have a Chris Wall low D whistle in black. I love it!

While the driving force behind my decision to go with this low D whistle is that it was more affordable than some of the others I was considering, I love the tone and I really enjoy playing it.

I'm interested in his "sweet brass" whistle, but it doesn't seem to be listed for purchase at the moment.

RenaissanceGuy wrote:I have a Chris Wall low D whistle in black. I love it!

While the driving force behind my decision to go with this low D whistle is that it was more affordable than some of the others I was considering, I love the tone and I really enjoy playing it.

I'm interested in his "sweet brass" whistle, but it doesn't seem to be listed for purchase at the moment.

My Chris Wall high D in brown wood grain finish is supposed to arrive sometime before the first week of February is out..

Funny you mentioned the Sweetbrass. I was just watching a YouTube video tonight where CutiePie was reviewing it. It was listed for $70 on eBay but apparently the listing has ended for now.
I guess you could email Chris from this site and ask him what's up.
I don't think I'd be interested in it though because of how quiet Stephanie/Cutiepie said it was

Meanwhile, if you are interested in PVC craft whistles or flutes, you might want to check out the two links below

https://www.mywhistleandflute.com/pennywhistles/

http://www.beckerwhistles.com/

I have ordered from them too. I have not gotten them yet so I can't offer an opinion on the product. But they seem very promising..

The Beckers are dirt cheap. His high whistles are $10 each and neither does he kill you with postage.
Email him to get the price if you're going to order multiple whistles. There's a bit of a snafu on the website regarding the prices as it relates to mailing. If you order one whistle the whistle and the mailing is included in the price that you see.
But if you order multiple whistles he will knock a little off the mailing and you can save a couple of bucks if you get the price directly from him.

The ones from Mark Foster are also not a bad price; $20 for high D and 7 bucks for postage. He too knocks a little off the postage for multiple orders.

So far both of them have great and very responsive personal customer service and GREAT RETURN POLICIES...and you can see their whistles on YouTube.

Becker is under Becker whistles and Mark Foster is under My Whistle And Flute (and for flutes Foster is HALF the price of another well-known PVC flute maker out there. But I really believe he has the skill set)

But like I said. That's not so much an endorsement, as none of my orders have arrived yet, it is just something for somebody to look at

Great info, MichaelRS. Thanks!
I notice that Mywhisteandflute is taking a short break at the moment.

RenaissanceGuy wrote:Great info, MichaelRS. Thanks!
I notice that Mywhisteandflute is taking a short break at the moment.

You might want to drop him an email through the contact Section of his website. Sometimes he doesn't update notices like when he goes on a short vacation or whatever but he's back in working as far as I know. Anyway it doesn't hurt to email.

Edith
I just heard from Mark. He says you might have seen his Esty Shop site which is on hold. Not sure how that would be if you followed the link I provided. But if you are interested in anything just email him. Have very responsive

After I recorded that comparison, I saw a flute embouchure video where a lady gave tips on how to reduce the airy sound from your tone, but she said that you don't want to cut it out all together, or your tone can lose some of its fullness, and become small and thin. When I saw that, my mk ii popped into my head. It's a lovely, birdlike whistle, but I sometimes miss the fullness, and roundness of the tone from my mk i.

I messaged Chris with the thought, and he told me that he'd also noticed, and his newer mk ii whistles are a touch less pure, to regain some of that fullness. A hybrid between my two whistles would be about perfect, I think, so the newer whistles should be really nice. I've tried breeding mine, but no luck yet. The music I play for them must be inadequate for setting the mood. I probably need to take up saxophone...

AngelicBeaver wrote:After I recorded that comparison, I saw a flute embouchure video where a lady gave tips on how to reduce the airy sound from your tone, but she said that you don't want to cut it out all together, or your tone can lose some of its fullness, and become small and thin. When I saw that, my mk ii popped into my head. It's a lovely, birdlike whistle, but I sometimes miss the fullness, and roundness of the tone from my mk i.

I messaged Chris with the thought, and he told me that he'd also noticed, and his newer mk ii whistles are a touch less pure, to regain some of that fullness. A hybrid between my two whistles would be about perfect, I think, so the newer whistles should be really nice. I've tried breeding mine, but no luck yet. The music I play for them must be inadequate for setting the mood. I probably need to take up saxophone...

So he's changing the design of the Mark II midstream? Since mine is not here yet, not scheduled for until late January or early February, makes me wonder what I'm going to be getting.

You'll definitely be getting the updated one. He made the adjustment some time ago, but didn't think the difference was enough to warrant a mk iii designation. My whistle is nearly a year old now (I received it in February of 2018). As far as I know, it's not unusual for a maker to make slight adjustments to a whistle without changing the name.

Phil Hardy did the same thing with the Chieftain V3. At some point, he tweaked it to have a bit more backpressure, with a slight loss to the so called "fat sound". I had a 2012 model, which predated the backpressure change, and a 2007 model, and they play very slightly differently, so there were probably a few unannounced tweaks between them as well. I actually like the 2007 better, but I doubt I'd be able to tell which was which without playing them side by side.

I don't think the change will be that significant, so I wouldn't worry. I bet you'll get a great whistle.