Chiff and Fipple Forums

Does anyone have personal experience with/thoughts about this maker's whistles? I'm considering a Low F and possibly a Low D. I found some C&F forum activity from last year and prior, but couldn't find any reviews or discussion of how they play. There are a couple of Youtube videos, but again no substantial performance discussion or comparisons with other makes. Any input would be appreciated.

Just for review, here's Alexander's own thread about his whistles

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=105877&hilit=karavaev

and the thread I started a few years ago when I stumbled upon his whistles

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=102072&hilit=karavaev

Yes I too would be interested to find out more.

This video is excellent!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m5FHTyw4ZM

Andrew speaks English very well and isn't merely promoting Alexander's whistles, but honestly discusses various performance aspects. He mentions that Alexander's whistles have lower backpressure, require a greater quantity of air, and have flatter high notes than the whistles he normally uses. He says a week of playing Alexander's whistles enabled him to adjust to these different requirements. It would have been helpful had Andrew mentioned what his normal whistles are, to give context to his impressions.

I'm intrigued by his Low Whistles with alloy tube body and moulded plastic head (somewhat akin to the Dixon and the Optima) which are priced very reasonably.

I'm probably going to order Alexander's Low E (natural) whistle because I have need for that key. Once I get it I will post a review here of course!

I met the man at the height of a late mad Thursday night at the Willie week last year. He was advertising whistles all over town but we never got to see any of them, he didn't seem to have a head for whistle talk by the time I ran into him.

Glad to hear he was at Willie Week. I would imagine it would be an excellent opportunity to introduce his whistles to a wide clientele.

Many people must have tried his whistles there! It would be great to hear some reviews.

Many people must have tried his whistles there!

That's the thing though, they were nowhere to be seen. Flyers everywhere, no whistles to be seen.

Very good whistles for good price. Here instagram of Karavaev

https://www.instagram.com/whistles_workshop/

Colleen Shanks playing Karavaev high C# whistle
Colleen Shanks playing Karavaev high E whistle

Edited to add: I haven't had a chance to play a Karavaev whistle of any sort, but I trust Colleen's judgment, and these videos definitely caught my attention.

Mr.Gumby wrote:
That's the thing though, they were nowhere to be seen. Flyers everywhere, no whistles to be seen.

Very strange. A great way to get the word out about a new maker is to get the instruments into people's hands.

I used to teach Irish flute at a certain festival every year. On the way to the workshop I'd stop by a guy's booth and borrow half a dozen Ralph Sweet maple flutes. Back then they sold for $125, as I recall.

At the workshop I'd hand them out to anyone to wanted to try. At the end of the workshop I'd gather them up and tell everyone that they would be available to purchase at that booth. Every year they sold several of the things, sometimes they'd sell every one.

If Alexander arranged something like that at the whistle workshops his trip home would be lighter than his trip there.

Makes a lot of sense to do stuff like that. How else do they suppose people could get interested in their product?

I thought there was a whistle tour happening.

viewtopic.php?p=1196192#p1196192

ytliek wrote:I thought there was a whistle tour happening.

viewtopic.php?p=1196192#p1196192

I'm always up for a whistle tour!!

It hasn't made it to me, that's all I know.

pancelticpiper wrote:

ytliek wrote:I thought there was a whistle tour happening.

viewtopic.php?p=1196192#p1196192

I'm always up for a whistle tour!!

It hasn't made it to me, that's all I know.

I don't think it ever happened in USA or Europe, but, I don't keep up with a lot of the low whistle events.

I'm dredging this thread up because his whistles are listed on Ebay regularly, and I've noticed a couple interesting things.

One is that (unlike most makers) he gives the specs of each whistle on its Ebay listing.

I only see Low Whistles, in F, E, Eb, D, and C.

They vary in length of course but the interesting thing is that he's using the same tubing for all those keys.

He says the tubing's OD is 25mm and the wall thickness is 1.5mm which would give an ID of 22mm, or .866 inch.

That seems great for the Low D; my Goldie's ID is .858 and it plays very well.

And I would think it would be fine for the Low C and Low Eb.

But I question an F having a bore that wide. Burkes tend to have big bores (a tad too big for my liking) and my Burke F has an ID of .78

The other thing is that Alexander lists four different styles on Ebay. They're odd in that three of the four styles share the same name.

From most to least expensive:

1) Silver Nightingale

Alloy Low Whistle looking much like an Overton, with Celtic engraving, and tuning slide.

2) Black Nightingale

Black plastic top on a black anodised alloy tube, with tuning slide.

3) Silver Nightingale

Black plastic top on a plain alloy tube, with tuning slide.

4) Silver Nightingale

Like the above but lacking tuning slide.

I have one of his high whistles in B natural and absolutely love it.

Oldemanwinters wrote:I have one of his high whistles in B natural and absolutely love it.

Great to hear from an owner of an AK whistle!

I'm close to pulling the trigger on his Low E, but I'm concerned about the large bore size and how that might affect performance.