Chiff and Fipple Forums

The Toot is not much more than a toy and a heavily overpriced one. Waste of money. It is actually more expensive than the Venova but the Venova is a real instrument. If the Toot would cost 20 bucks, I'd say, give it a try but not at the price they are going for. The range is also very limited. Not even full two octaves.

The Dood and Toot seem to be available for about twenty five pounds, while the Venova is about 80-85. It sounds good enough on Youtube. The range is limited but most of my whistle repertoire would just about fit if transposed into C.

Thats seems like a better price than what I paid. I paid more for the Dood than for the Venova. And it was definitely not worth it.

edit: just noticed I mixed up two instruments. I bought the jsax not the dood and the jsax is way too expensive at an MSRP of 99€ compared to the 85€ for the Venova.

Thomaston wrote:This guy makes a plastic pibgorn in your price range. I’’ve gone back and forth for years about getting one.

http://pibgorn.co.uk/instruments-offerynnau

Ooh, thank you! That may be exactly what I'm looking for.

Having re-examined my finances, I decided now is not the time to buy an instrument, but I'm keeping all the advice in mind. Many thanks to all.

Pibgorns have a very limited range, so take that that into consideration!

Once your finances improve, I'd suggest that you can't get any buzzier than the rackett! 3D printing the things ought to reduce the price considerably.

Oooh, I love the rackett. Do you have any links to a 3d-printed one?
Edit: found this -- loks very promising.
https://youtu.be/MYpDOp0VL1M
https://www.facebook.com/quinn.lewis

If you can find one, check out a 'Cortol' https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ ... -305402634 , basically a double-reed instrument with nearly a two octave range, made from a "folded" pipe so it's the same sort of physical length as a descant recorder but plays a "six-finger-down" G, like a treble recorder but an octave lower. No keys, but will go down to a B with some sneaky fingering using both thumbs and both little fingers ... takes some getting used to! Mine's in plastic and I believe English-made, though there's no makers mark on it.

I've also got one of the pipes marketed as a "Tudor Pipe", basically a cornamuse (not cornemuse), the same basic range as the cortholt but without the extended lower notes.

I tried one of the plastic pibgorns, very loud, but I couldn't keep it going for very long before reed clogged

Kortholts are fun too, but not nearly as buzzy as a rackett!

It strikes me, there is another buzzy instrument out there worth looking into: the Kelhorn.

As you can see in the picture, the bore is all squiggly, so it's a very long instrument made compact. I have one of Mr Kelischek's early kelhorns (in plastic and looks a bit like a recorder). Nice deep buzzy tone, kind of clarinetty and not overly loud.

Now I'm kind of really liking the idea of the chalumeau... can't say I've ever been huge on the clarinet (as a kid I first learned music on recorder, so thought that once I was in the school instrumental program later, it would naturally translate to me choosing clarinet... I was disappointed to find that I wasn't actually that enamored of the clarinet's sound though), but it does look like a fun instrument. If only it was made in plastic to make it a little cheaper; the prices in wood are a bit too dear for an instrument only to play around with. (I'm rather turned off to xaphoon by what some here have described as an odd fingering; chalumeau's similarity to recorder is appealing.)

Katharine wrote:Now I'm kind of really liking the idea of the chalumeau... can't say I've ever been huge on the clarinet (as a kid I first learned music on recorder, so thought that once I was in the school instrumental program later, it would naturally translate to me choosing clarinet... I was disappointed to find that I wasn't actually that enamored of the clarinet's sound though), but it does look like a fun instrument. If only it was made in plastic to make it a little cheaper; the prices in wood are a bit too dear for an instrument only to play around with. (I'm rather turned off to xaphoon by what some here have described as an odd fingering; chalumeau's similarity to recorder is appealing.)

You could find an old beat up Albert system clarinet, remove the extra keys and bung up the register key hole. Instant chalumeau!

The cheapo Thomann-Chalumeau is really not bad. I have one:
https://www.thomann.de/de/thomann_chalu ... onette.htm

Sedi wrote:The cheapo Thomann-Chalumeau is really not bad. I have one:
https://www.thomann.de/de/thomann_chalu ... onette.htm

I had seen those, but it would appear the shipping costs (well) more than the instrument!

Really, I need another instrument like I need a hole in the head, anyway. The clarinet-like mouthpiece makes me wonder if it has the same air requirements as the clarinet, or if it's closer to recorder or whistle.

Air requirements are like on a clarinet or saxophone.

Hanson Music in the UK made a plastic chalumeau until recently, but I can't seem to find reference to it on their web-site now. They turn up on eBay occasionally for not much money. No keys, standard clarinet mouthpiece, does what it says on the tin!

I went down the simple-system clarinet route (for all of £12 + postage). It works fine as a solo instrument, but it's not in A-440 pitch and the mouthpiece/barrel joint isn't standard diameter, so problematic if you want/need to replace it, though it does take standard reeds.

Have you tried a chalumeau? They come in different sizes and are like a recorder with a clarinet mouthpiece. They take practice to sound good but I'm sure someone with experience of other winds could manage it.