CP Odd whistle keys (I need your input) ...

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Jerry Freeman
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CP Odd whistle keys (I need your input) ...

Post by Jerry Freeman »

A customer has asked me to make a tenor G#/Ab, C# and F#. Should I make just one of each, or do you think there might be more people who want them? (And yes, I'll be making more Bnat tweaked Generations soon.)

Thanks!

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Jerry
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Steve Bliven
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Re: CP Odd whistle keys (I need your input) ...

Post by Steve Bliven »

Jerry Freeman wrote:A customer has asked me to make a tenor G#/Ab, C# and F#. Should I make just one of each, or do you think there might be more people who want them? (And yes, I'll be making more Bnat tweaked Generations soon.)
Not only is Jerry the world's most voluminous tweaker, he's also a WHOA enabler of the first order....

Best wishes.

Steve
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pancelticpiper
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Re: CP Odd whistle keys (I need your input) ...

Post by pancelticpiper »

I have those keys. And I've had to use them!

In normal music no key is "odd". I had a local orchestra-style church gig where I had to play everything on my C# Generation (self-made). I had a tour where one song required an Ab. Susato made one for me, for the tour. Another tour had a song that required a Gb. I had to borrow one. You never know.

One situation is if you play with a guitarist/singer who uses a capo. The song he does in C at noon he might do in C# that same night.

A flutist friend has got quite good at playing in several flats and several sharps on her Boehm flute due to her regularly playing with a singer/guitarist. She never knows until the moment they start what key a song will be in. They can rehearse a particular song then perform it in several shows, each time in a different key. (I think it's an extreme case but I've encountered the same thing, which is why I have all the keys in my whistle roll ready to go.)

I think the main market for these less-common keys wouldn't be "folk" or "trad" players but "legit" players, people who do studio and orchestral work. I've seen guys show up at gigs with a roll full of gleaming Burkes in every key. They decide they want to double on whistle, so they order a full set in every key. They think nothing of it, because they can write off instruments on their taxes.

I would think that the ticket for selling to "legit" doublers would be to offer a matching set in every key that comes in a nice-looking roll. They'd purchase the whole thing as a set.

The trick is to get the word out to these guys. The NAMM Show would help, as would the NFA show.

http://www.nfaonline.org/Annual-Convent ... tions.aspx

The trouble with the NFA is that it's flute-specific. The guys I have in mind are the "reed guys" who regularly work as doublers. Their main axe is the sax, but play clarinet, Boehm flute, wood and bamboo flutes, and whistles too.

You would sell them through Woodwind & Brasswind- the legit guys all know about that.

https://www.wwbw.com/
Richard Cook
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
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