Just ran across this Argentinian maker who makes whistles with metal bodies (probably brass and nickel, but perhaps aluminum alloy, too) with wooden heads. He offers an option for ergonomic hole patterns, and also makes quenas, moseños, and NAF-style flutes.
https://ayriway.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I-8FZeIRdg

About the YouTube you linked to, I really like the sound, a classic whistle sound to my ear.

I was expecting a NAF tone, given the other things he makes.

Too bad he has so much reverb on it.

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Richard Cook
1978 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle

Yeah, I like the sound too, but I can't figure out if it's actually the whistle or just the reverb.

He has another video of him playing whistle, also with reverb, in which one of the comments accuses him of adding the reverb to mask bad sound. In that case he says he was playing in a place with naturally a lot of reverb and that that video isn't meant to "sell" the sound of the whistle and it's just for fun (also, that whistle is made of clear acrylic-- Ghost Whistle look out, lol!-- so not an example of something he has for sale, anyway). He also says he has other videos, but those are the only two I saw with high whistle (he also has a couple with low whistle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUiEXiPqHMg and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxb7QvieDbc).

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Here's tae us--
Wha's like us?
Damn few--
And they're a' deid--
Mair's the pity.

In that one with the clear whistle it seems like the high notes are harsh. You can hear a lot of traffic sounds, like he's in a parking garage building. True that it could be natural reverb there, in his home I do wonder.

On the first Low Whistle video he never ventures into the higher notes but it seems to have a classic Low Whistle sound.

On the second Low Whistle video it's a raspy noisy tone I don't care for. That's an odd whistle for sure!

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Richard Cook
1978 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle

I noticed on the clear whistle that a lot of the higher notes seem to break into the lower octave... not sure if that's him or the instrument. I don't know if I'd think the higher notes would sound harsh to me without that. Hard to tell as much of an instrument having what I would describe as a "sharp" sound (not in pitch, just in sound quality-- what I might describe as narrow and pointed) can also have to do with the recording equipment...

Re: his location, he says it's a living room (? "salón") that's entirely empty, with a front entirely of glass (on the left side of the screen I think that's a mirror, seems you can see the reflection of what could be a window). It sounds very large for a living room, though, so I'm not sure I'm translating correctly??

_________________
Here's tae us--
Wha's like us?
Damn few--
And they're a' deid--
Mair's the pity.

I noticed the same in the High whistle demo video on his website ( this one and watching it again retrieving the link I realise it's probably the same video you're talking about).

My thinking is that if a maker can't, or can't be bothered to, make a whistle sound its best in a demo, how can you expect anyone else to make it play well? I lost interest there and then.

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My brain hurts

All other things aside, I really don't care for the look of those whistles. The big fat wooden head on the skinny metal body just looks wrong to me.

Yes, there's that too but it's hardly the first whistle with a wooden head on a metal tube that appears top heavy.

Love it too how he classes the various ranges as 'tin, alto and low'

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My brain hurts

To be fair, A. that's not a model he sells, and B. he does say in the comments that he made the video just for fun, so, it's not really a demo so I'll give him that one. I suspect the one that actually is a demo, though, does have artificial reverb added, so as I said, I feel like I don't really know what the whistle sounds like to be able to tell if I might want one.



I'm not that fond of the "wooden head/metal body" thing anyway, but, it would be the sound that matters more to me anyway.

_________________
Here's tae us--
Wha's like us?
Damn few--
And they're a' deid--
Mair's the pity.

I'm not sure it's a whistle I would buy either for all the reasons you all have brought up, but there sure are a lot of makers trying different approaches to whistlemaking – and marketing, I suppose, too. For those in South America, it's sure a more affordable option than Clover whistles, though almost certainly not close to the quality of David Furman's craftsmanship.

I saw the video through his main whistle page. There are two videos there, one for 'tin' and one for 'low' whistle. Hard not to take those as intended as demo videos.

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My brain hurts

Those I would, yes. That's not the same video as is on his Youtube channel, though. Possibly/probably the same whistle, but not the video I was referring to. OTOH, why he has a "demo" video up for a whistle he doesn't even offer for sale is beyond me.

_________________
Here's tae us--
Wha's like us?
Damn few--
And they're a' deid--
Mair's the pity.