Chiff and Fipple Forums

If you want a small whistle, a quiet whistle, a see-through whistle... buy a Parks Whistle.

I did buy a Walkabout and always have it on me. Loud when it needs to be, quiet when I
want it to be. Unfortunately, it did develop a crack. "No problem", said Carey, when I mailed
him : "sent it back, I'll repair or replace it". And so he did !

That's not to say there's no other great whistles out there but credit given where it's due :
excellent service, Carey !

I second that!

My Carey Parks Every Walkabout in D is my most played high whistle I've even sold a few other whistles (Tony Dixon etc.) just because the tone and versatility of my Walkabout is better.

Nothing beats good customer service.

I though I'd share this with the group. I own many whistles but am a low-intermediate player. This past Friday, I had to fly from San Francisco, where I live, to Los Angeles for a business trip. I had not intended to take a whistle with me but at the last minute I stuck my Parks Walkabout in my jacket pocket. When I went through security at SFO, I placed my jacket on the conveyor. The guy running the x-ray machine called for a bag check which momentarily freaked me out since I'm pretty careful about packing. When the guard went through my stuff he brought the whistle out of my jacket pocket and asked me what it was since it looked like a weapon to him! I told him it was a tin whistle and he asked me to play it. I put the thrre parts together then turned the ring that Carey puts on the instrument to help with volume and tone so that the whistle wouldn't be really loud. I then proceeded to play about 8 bars of Roisin Dubh (and pretty well I might add), which made them smile and wave me through. But, suddenly we hear this soprano voice begin singing in a perfect Irish brogue over in the next aisle so I kept playing until we worked our way through the entire song. It turns out that the young woman was returning to Ireland that morning and was missing her home so the song came along at the perfect moment for her. We got a huge round of applause from the other passengers and I have to admit I got a cheap thrill out of the whole thing.

If the whistle hadn't been so portable and playable I never would have experienced this moment. Thanks Carey for your whistle and to C&F'ers for convincing me to buy one

Nice story there!

The Walkabout is a great whistle. I bought one purely for its portability, and assumed that there would be some compromise in sound or playability. There isn't. It's definitely up there as one of my best whistles.

Truly a lovely story; probably just what the walkabout is about.

I have a walkabout too. And it is certainly a good whistle as well as being portable. Full marks to Carey Parks.

I have discovered three extreme positions of the tone ring:

• * (1) Closest to the mouthpiece, fully open, so that it acts as 'ears'.
  * (2) Furthest from the mouthpiece, fully open, so that it has minimal effect.
  * (3) Furthest from the mouthpiece, fully closed (gap is under the whistle), so that it acts as the famous 'o-ring tweak'.

The tone changes in each of these configurations (and all the between ones). How would folk describe the different tones? I ask in the hope that I may get a handle on such concepts as 'chiff', 'reedy', etc. (assuming that any of these mysterious qualities are changed by the position of the tone ring)

Has anyone got any comments?

ecohawk wrote:...But, suddenly we hear this soprano voice begin singing in a perfect Irish brogue over in the next aisle so I kept playing until we worked our way through the entire song. It turns out that the young woman was returning to Ireland that morning and was missing her home so the song came along at the perfect moment for her. We got a huge round of applause from the other passengers and I have to. admit I got a cheap thrill out of the whole thing.
...

Fantastic story! Thanks for telling it here.
Made my day.