I have a curious nature and needed a good laugh, so I looked at Amazon's tin whistle listings last night. Alongside sardine-can survival kits, overpriced third-party offerings, and several listings of the infamous and universally panned Chinese eltsihw was a McBride's whistle. The listing states:



I wasn't aware that Walton's offered a "professional-grade" whistle, especially not at such a fire-sale price. Based solely off the picture, I see a Little Black D with a different label. Does anyone have any experience with a McBride's whistle? Not that I'm considering the purchase of one; it's just to satisfy my curiousity (I've already gotten the good laugh).

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I seem to have a mild to moderate case of WhOAD!

There's no McBride among Walton's selection of whistles.

I have never seen one or heard about them. But according to Amazon they've been around for two years.

'Professional' is a widely abused term, essentially meaningless. If it does the job, it's 'professional'.

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My brain hurts

I'm not sure that "professional" is abused as flagrantly as "rare," "mint," or "literally." However, I agree that it is an essentially meaningless term, in this case amounting to marketing hyperbole and possibly hubris. That is why I surrounded it with quotation marks.

Thanks also for the link; I should have thought to check that myself! Walton's showed McBride's products, and whistles, but not McBride's whistles. Some of the whistle offerings were interesting and unexpected.

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I seem to have a mild to moderate case of WhOAD!

After looking at the whistle in the OP, this came up as a recommendation: Naomi whistle

Are every man and his dog making these things now? Factories in China must be doing overtime.

It isn't particularly cheap either.

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My brain hurts

It can't be shipped to the States. Oh, well...I just purchased a Clarke and (perhaps against my better judgment) two Generations for less that that. At least they got the head on the correct end!

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I seem to have a mild to moderate case of WhOAD!

It is interesting that the listing refers to the whistle as both a C and a D. Though the description does say it is in D. Since I am in the States it doesn't seem that I can report this conflicting info in a listing. This doesn't penalize the seller, but does give them a chance to correct it. Amazon doesn't edit or monitor these sites. It just seems to trust the lister until they get enough reports.