Low F Whistle quest

[technowhistle]

http://stashbox.org/927284/albalowfnumber1.mp3

This is just me playing around - as you can tell I am no serious whistler but I intend to practise more in the future... (note the mistakes at the end where I forget what note comes next and mess it up anyway!)

Edit: there are pictures and descriptions on the previous page.

[Ellen]

Thanks a lot, technowhistle and Little John, for your encouraging reports !!!

I wouldn't really mind to fall victim to such a 'Low trick' as you described, Little John ...

Technowhistle, the pictures and your sound clip are very helpful !!!
It will be another stretch for my smallish hands (and my lungs) to the Low F, I can see, but surely worth the try.
And I like the Alba sound.

(I too intend always to 'practise more in the future' , but since I own my Alba A this comes much easier.
Let's see what happens when a Low F joins the family , probably Alba again.)

Any more experiences with different Low Fs out there ???

All the best,
and thank you again for all the interesting posts.
This is a great forum !!!

Ellen

[Mr.Nate]

Hello,
I have an Overton (goldie) non-tunable F. I have small hands and I find that the hole spacing and hole size are not too big to cover. It has a beautiful tone and it is not hard to play. It has some back pressure but the air requirements and not bad, even in the upper register. With Alba low whistles it seems that the intonation doesn't lock in but varies more as your breath pressure goes up and down. Also, Alba whistles are much harder to play in the upper 3-4 notes and you really have to blow hard in that range. It seems from the pictures of the Alba F that it is a hefty whistle with a large bore.
I don't have anything to compare it to though because I haven't played any other makers low F.

I have enjoyed owning this whistle but if I had to spend the money over again I don't think I would spend that much on any low F. I think that Goldie's whistles are worth the asking price but I find that I rarely play it. I don't think I have ever come accross recorded music that I could play it with. I have a Burke aluminum low E that I enjoy playing and I enjoy the tone. With a low E you can play in E of course but also F#m and A.

With that being said, if you don't want to spend a lot of money then buy a Dixon F. As time goes on if you play it a lot and you really like that key then save up for an Overton, MK, or Burke. Personally I would not buy an Alba unless I got to try one first.

My 2c!

Nate

[technowhistle]

The outer diameter of my Alba Low F is around 22mm and the inner diameter is around 19mm.

With Alba low whistles it seems that the intonation doesn't lock in but varies more as your breath pressure goes up and down.

I think that's a good thing, helps me (as a beginner) put expression into tunes.

Having said that I haven't checked if my Alba Low F is in tune yet, but I'll have the results back to you soon!

Also, Alba whistles are much harder to play in the upper 3-4 notes and you really have to blow hard in that range

I don't think I need to blow considerably harder to get the higher notes on my Low F but the whistle lets you if me if I want, thanks to the intonation not 'locking in'. Also, I don't think that makes it 'harder to play'.

Edited: grammar and typing errors...

[technowhistle]

Tuning of the Alba is just about exact for equal temp give or take a few cents. I was blowing too hard/sharp on the higher notes and if anything backing off the notes a little gave correct tuning.

The D# or 'Cnat on a D whistle' was xoxxxo.

[Mr.Nate]

If you are satisfied that it plays in tune than I would take your word for it! Thanks!

I played a few alba whistles a while ago regular sop D, Q1 and a C on loan from Judy and a Q1 low D on tour. It seemed like the pitched varied a little on all of them depending on the amount of air. Also, they all have a lot of air in the voice. Personally those characteristics don't suite me but if you like it then I am happy for you!

The difference with a Goldie is that once it is up to pressure, the pitch doesn't vary at all. The expressiveness comes out in that you can push it just a little harder (or lean into it) and get the volume to go up. If someone at your local session has an Overton you might be able to give it a test drive just to see what the difference is. If they let you take it home for a week then that is even better!

The downside of a Goldie is that they are especially hard to warm up in the winter and the whistle is a little flat until it is thoroughly warmed up. As soon as you lay it down it will go cold again! It takes a little getting use to the pressure and it churps a little inbetween notes if your technique is off. I think that over the years Collin has tried to lighten up on the backpressure to make them easier to play. I have heard that the original Bernard Overtons have more backpressure and more of a challenge to play. Never personally played one myself!

[Parkwood]

I would thoroughly recommend getting a Susato to tide you over, since the tuning should be pretty spot on throughout the range of the instrument.

I would save up for a tunable Goldie F. Just discuss your requirements with Colin before ordering and then he will also give you a choice of instruments before sending one out to you. Exquisite tone!

[bogman]

I can't see how an Alba can be compared to a Goldie/Overton. An MK or a Burke are about as good with different characteristics but the Alba is only a stepping stone IMHO. I have to say that my Overton F takes almost no warming up, with a few seconds blowing hard with the sound hole covered it's in perfect pitch and easy to play right up to the third octave f. Good luck with the Alba though, if you're getting started I'm sure it'll see you through for a while.

[PhilO]

My limited experience Low F includes:

- Grinter - tuneable red lancewood; super whistle, but the wood is very grainy (and gorgeous) and may be prone to crack

- Overton - non-tuneable anodized blue; best Overton I ever played and I'm not an Overton guy; still don't know why I sold it

- Lambe - non-tuneable; really nice and I much preferred it to the Low D tuneable model I sampled

- Copeland - the only one I still own

Philo

[bdh]

I was lucky to get hold of a GFM Low F back when Chuck Tilbury was making whistles. The tone is fairly solid, with a touch of airiness (so not as solid as a Burke, but nowhere as airy as a Shaw). The tuning is spot-on across both octaves, and I have no trouble hitting third-octave harmonics. It's been perfect for all those Flook tunes, and whenever I'm accompanying our female vocalist.

However, I am a huge fan of my Burke session D, so I'm keen to get my hands on a Burke low F.

[Ellen]

Thank you all again for your interesting posts .

I would dearly love to try all those different whistles !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those whistles/brands I own I have a feeling and idea of what to expect: Alba, Dixon, Freeman tweaked ones, Howard (not my cup of tea yet), Susatos (don't play them much anymore).

All the to me unknown whistle makes stay, naturally, in a parallel and oddly theoretical universe - I have no real experience of the potentials of those whistles (or rather ME with them !) yet. I couldn't even specify to a maker what I really want in my Low F whistle before I have found out what is possible. Well ... I'm still a sort of beginner.

Anyway, very interesting to learn from and with you !!!

All the best to you and greetings around the globe,
Ellen

[hans]

Ellen, all the different kinds of whistles you have played will have little significance for choosing a low F. Only low F whistles you've tried will give you some ideas of what low F whistles can be. And the differences between makers are significant. Even individual low Fs from the same maker can be quite different.

In order to get any idea of what you may prefer in a low F whistle, can you tell if you like the tone more pure, more flute like, or rather more "hissy", or dirty, "windy" (some call it "chiffy", but chiff in a whistle is something else really)?
Then: do you like to have lots of power, and can you support that with good breath, or would you settle for less power and more comfortable breath requirements?
And would you want to use your finger pads to cover the holes, or would you prefer to use piper's grip? You say you have smallish hands: that can be an important factor for the hole placement especially in a low F. In order to use the pads on the end of your fingers I would advise for a player with small hands to have the sixth (bottom) hole offset on low F and lower whistles, to make it easier to cover it.
And would you like a thumb hole to get a strong and spot on C nat (using D whistle terminology) or rather not?

These are some of the questions I would ask a player if he is interested to have a custom low F build by me, and I imagine other makers offering custom build whistles do the same. A lot is possible when designing and building a whistle, but preferences need to be settled, and thereby choices been made, and some things clearly ruled out.

Like if you want a powerful low F with a strong bottom end you need to be prepared to learn to breathe more strongly, like a flute player. But with a good design one should still be able to play softly as well, at least in the bottom octave. At least this is important to me. I like to push the dynamic possibilities in my whistles because I like more dynamic expression. This may not be needed for much of Irish dance music though.

[Porridge Face]

Hey Technowhistle, was that theme to Red Dwarf I heard? Cool!

http://stashbox.org/927284/albalowfnumber1.mp3

This is just me playing around - as you can tell I am no serious whistler but I intend to practise more in the future... (note the mistakes at the end where I forget what note comes next and mess it up anyway!)

Edit: there are pictures and descriptions on the previous page.

[Ellen]

Ahhh, Hans, your questions clear the fog considerably !!! Thank you !

So I could approach a whistle maker now stating that my dream Low F (at this stage in life) would be:
* more flute like in tone, or rather a mixture of "flute like" and "windy" - does that make sense ??
* power ... hm, I'd like a strong bottom end and what you call "dynamic possibilities", but my breathing is not quite up to it yet, I think (but I'm learning).
So I think it will be (comfortable to) medium power.
* pipers grip for the lower hand, bottom hole not offset
(but I pray that the holes might not be too big or stretched out. I have a Howard Low E I compare to, a tricky beast to me ...)
* no thumb hole, I think (but I would like to try that sometimes out of curiosity)

That might be a start then, right ?
I'm feeling better already !

Now, the sensitive choice of a maker ... without having held or played the unknown names a curiously detached decision.
But perhaps some of you play a Low F whistle that comes close to what I described above and can (even if repeatedly ) recommend makers ?

Again, thank you all for your help.
Summer-Winter greetings to all of you,
Ellen

[technowhistle]

Hey Technowhistle, was that theme to Red Dwarf I heard? Cool!

...With a few notes wrong and minus the guitar solo, yes!

They are going to start preparation for filming a new series in 2011.