Matthewlawson3 wrote:
What are the tuning tendencies of Burke whistles? What notes tends to be in tune, sharp or flat?
Back when I was regularly playing Burkes in several keys (Low D, Eb, F, G, A, high C, high D) my impression was of excellent tuning.
Of course players get used to the little quirks of a whistle, consciously or unconsciously blowing everything into tune.
Now I rarely play Burkes. For the purposes of this post I hauled out the three Burkes I still have- Low Eb, F, and G- played them for a bit so they could warm up, and then checked them against an electronic tuner.
I was surprised. Years of playing other makes of whistles has evidently changed my blowing habits!
I found that, for each whistle, the low octave was pretty much bang-on from Bottom D to Middle D.
As I went into the 2nd octave it got quirky, with E being a hair flat. F# and G were flatter than E.
However "A" was bang-on, and High B was either right in tune or a hair sharp.
All three sizes performed pretty much the same. Which is not to say that your Burke D is going to play like that! But it could.
So as far as "tuning notes" go, on my Burkes you would be well to tune to the D's and the A's in both octaves. I know it's usual with Irish flutes to tune to the G's and D's, but on these Burkes the G's were a bit flat, while the A's were right in tune with the D's.
About the scribe line suggesting the average tuning spot, yes the whistles were right in tune if pulled out to that line.