I am no L.E. (See http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=20772 which was a response to The Best Whistle Review Ever - http://www.chiffandfipple.com/cf-July2004/ ), but...

A few weeks ago, after an initial introduction on the message board that went a little crazy - having nothing to do with David (see http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=19609 ) - David asked if I would like to check out one of his whistles for review. I said sure, so he sent it and I received it yesterday.

I guess David had read that I don't like the taste or smell of brass or copper, so he sent me a nickel-plated copper d whistle - good move! The outside is nickel-colored and the inside is copper...so you can see red coming through the holes. Very cool.

<img src=http://home.hvc.rr.com/kislindriscoll/Obrien/whistle.JPG>

This one doesn't have a lucite fipple plug, but rather, a copper one (nickel-plated on the outside).

<img src=http://home.hvc.rr.com/kislindriscoll/Obrien/plug.JPG>

The outermost tube of the mouthpiece is soldered onto the inner one, and the tuning slide is also soldered on. It is a hefty whistle with a wide bore. He has engraved his name, the number of the whistle, and its key.

<img src=http://home.hvc.rr.com/kislindriscoll/Obrien/engraving.JPG>

The curved windway, made of two consecutively-sized tubes with a piece cut out, looks normal, but the blade isn't a blade at all. It is an almost-flat end of a tube that is about 1.5mm in thickness!

<img src=http://home.hvc.rr.com/kislindriscoll/Obrien/blade.JPG>

The window is also huge. When I saw it, I thought the whistle would be unbelievably breathy. I said this to my husband, Dan. I told him I was going to hate it.

Then I played it. This whistle, for me, defies physics. It should be totally breathy. It should lack tonal character. But it isn't and it doesn't. It has a sweet and focused, strong but not excessively loud (but loud enough, due to the bore thickness), round and very pleasing tone and it is unbelievably comfortable to play! The bell note is resonant and strong, without breath noise, as is the rest of the first octave. The second octave has very slightly more air sound, but still not more than my favorite Abell. In fact, this whistle, shockingly, plays very similarly to my favorite Abell, which is still my favorite whistle of all time. I am seriously impressed and pleased with this whistle and I think, for the price David charges (something like $50), this is a wonderful mid-range choice (assuming other whistles of his are similar to the one I received). I have to say, honestly, that I think this whistle is what Serpent tried, but failed, to produce. (See http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=7639 ) Bear in mind here that these are handmade and I am sure they vary somewhat.

Something else I have to mention is that Dan, a musician though not a whistle player, can usually pick up a whistle and get basically the same tone out of it that I do (though not a whole tune), which gives me confidence that my reviews will mean something to others, but he could not, after ten minutes of trying, play this whistle without breath noise. I really don't understand why, but my guess was that it was due to the shape of the mouthpiece (which is fine for me) and that he wasn't covering it properly. I suggested that and he tried to cover it more tightly and still couldn't get a tone without air. I suggested he blow harder and softer, and each time it sounded breathy. He agreed wth me that it didn't sound breathy when I played it. It isn't difficult for me to play it. So...maybe some people can get to the heart of the tone of this whistle and some can't. I once heard someone refer to a Sindt whistle as breathy! I have to conclude that it was the player and not the instrument, as Sindts are, in my experience, extremely consistent.

But this whistle, with its weird physics, might work for some more than for others. I adore it and will be ordering them in more keys.

David can be reached at the following e-mail address: davidpeterobrien@yahoo.com .

If only L.E. has used pictures...

I'd like to thank Jessie for her kind words about my whistle.

Here is my theory as to why I get a nice pure tone without sharpening my blades. I think it has more to do with the shape of the stream of air conforming to the shape of the edge it strikes. If their shapes match, no air goes astray and therefore there is less breathiness.

For those in the Vancouver area, I will be selling at the Mission Folk Music Festival in two and a half weeks. I am busy making whistles for that.

I just started making E whistles, which are ideal for playing along with a DADGAD guitarist who insists on capoing at the second fret.

I am afraid I found the whistle virtually unplayable, maybe because of the air flow escaping. In my opinion the tone is rough and does lack tonal character, the further up the scale you go the weaker it gets. I think the problem maybe the mouthpiece, although not being a whistle maker I couldn't suggest a solution. I hope you don't take offence David because you have obviously put in a lot of hard work on this but to get a whistle people will want to play (and buy) will I think, need some more work.

Dave.

Please see pennywhistle.co.uk for a review of the whistle Mr Auty tried to play.

Even his non-nickel ones are coated in some kind of coating he says..I didn't notice an overt copper taste on the two I have.



I was quite amazed at the fact that the ones I got played at all, due to the unique blade design (which, as you mention, isn't a blade at all). But it did..the first one I got was quite breathy and I didn't like it...but David addressed that, and I'm quite pleased with the 2nd one.



Try angle. The first one I got was very susceptible to what angle you played it at..anything other than perfect whistle posture (sit up straight, play with the whistle straight out from your face) made it even more breathy than it originally was. The 2nd one suffers less from that, which is good, since my whistle posture sucks.

I'm still working on my review of the 2nd go-round, but I imagine it will be as positive as this one is.

I just recorded a short wav file with no effects. There is background noise...I don't even have a separate microphone, but you can hear what I hear. I can't host it...can someone else convert it to an MP3 and host/post it for me? I could e-mail it.

I can host it for you, Jessie...mail it to [address removed].

By the way, if you can adjust the breathiness by changing the angle of the whistle...that's pretty cool.

Which one is it? -- there are three reviewed there.

It's the third one- the nickel plated one. It is on a tour of England and the Netherlands right now. I hope other participants reserve their comments until the end of the tour.

Jessie's clip is at: http://www.tohu-bohu.com/misc/OBrien.mp3
I didn't do any processing besides converting it to mp3. There are two places where the signal clips, at the high notes between 12 and 13 seconds, and a longer one around 32 seconds -- the screeches you hear there is the recording, not the whistle.

Nice review, Jessie.

I have a Bb whistle, in copper/lucite fipple, of Mr. O'Brien's. I like the tone and the ease of playing, 2 octaves plus. The finish on mine was nice when I first received it. At the moment, I'm blaming kids and polish remover for the nasty streak that developed. And there was an annoying edge on the backside of the mouthpiece I didn't care for ... but sanding fixed that. I'm sure Mr. O'Brien would have fixed it if I had mentioned it to him.

So, in the opinion (FWIW ) of a complete amateur, a nice whistle. Wouldn't mind having another one, but doubt I'll go the Ebay route again.

~Judy

After listening to Jessies sound clip I thought I better have another go as I was obviously missing something. After about 15 minutes of playing it did start to sound nice, although still a bit breathy for my taste.

So apologies for making rash comments and not giving the whistle a chance
Here is a sound clip

http://mysite.freeserve.com/Whistlework ... _Waltz.mp3

Dave.

Sorry David, I intended to wait until the end of the tour - the web site isn't really intended for public viewing at the moment as it is still very much in the experimental stage - but I felt it was appropriate to leap in now.



Me too, Jessie. I found it quite difficult to explain exactly why I liked this whistle so much particularly taking into account the price (it is I believe $50 Canadian Dollars which if I'm not mistaken makes it an even bigger bargain). I found it just bursting with character and extremely comfortable to play. This particular whistle which seems to be identical to yours is my third O'Brien in a short space of time and they have just been getting better and better. Like Jessie I really didn't need much time to get to know it, I simply picked it up, played it and liked it!! I think I said in an earlier post that it reminded me of a Serpent I had and perversely DIDN'T much care for.


Dave, strangely I found the whistle very playable so I guess as Jessie said it works for some people and not for others. I found it very expressive.

My current favourite whistle is also an Abell and I'm wondering is their a clue there?

Apologies Dave, we obviously posted at the same time.

I definately like the sound you're making with that whistle!!