Anyone played one?
He’s got hand crafted wooden flutes and whistles and I’m wondering if his stuff is worth his price.
Erik is a cool and nice guy, he lives down here in Fla. I think his whistles are worth their price, they have a nice burnt smell to them. the bamboo ones are cool too. the only problem they would have is they are non-tunable. but they have a pretty cool tone. his irish flutes are good for their price too. i am an avid buyer from him. his prices are great.
I haven’t played his whistles. His flutes are nice, as midrange bamboo flutes go. The G is fun. I found the low D unmanageable.
For cylindrical flutes, though, I’d point you toward Doug Tipple’s PVC variety. They’re about the same price, and very good.
I’m wholly interested in the whistles at the moment.
I’m a sax player and now an amateur whistle player, my omb for flute is terrible. I picked up a standard silver flute at my friends house and i could barely make a noise but i can play the hell outa my whistle for some one who’s only been playing a month or so.
I’ve been debating picking up one of Eriks whistles because of the look. I intend on performing at various renaissance festivals in the area and I prefer my instruments look a little more earthy/period than the standard brass faedog I normally sport.
then his whistles would be great for that. i want to try one of his bamboo saxes out, the sound nice on the samples.
He uses plastic mouthpeices on his whistles, I think? Anyway, they seem pretty good, but I don’t own one. I do have two of his flutes, a C and a G.
the last time I looked at his whistles (2 years ago) they were Susato mouthpieces on bamboo bodies.
edit: his website has wooden bodied ones as well, but they still look like Susato mouthpieces.
Well, Erik makes some nice bamboo whistles, and he sells a lot of them, especially at Ren Fairs. I met him at the Sterling Forest Fair in New York.
If you’re looking for something appropriate to a Ren Fair, then check out whistles and tabor pipes by Ralph Sweet (Sweetheart Flutes). Here are the reasons:
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They are wood (the period material)
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They look like recorders (that gets some flack around here, but is perfect for a Ren Fair)
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They’re one of the loudest whistles on the market (needed for outdoor playing)
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They sound like something from the period
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Remember that Renaissance instruments are not necessarilly crudely made, primitive looking things. They had a lot of skill back then too.
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They are top of the line instruments. They are not toys. They will last for generations, yet they are reasonably priced.
If you want to really look and sound the part, also get one of Ralph’s tabor pipes and a small goatskin tabor drum from Lark in the Morning. You’ll be a hit compared to all the kids running around with guitars and mandolins trying to pretend they’re playing lutes.
i’ve owned several of erik’s . . . blues whistle is my favorite. the a minor flute is also good…
those are the ones i want to get next too, how is the blues whistle?
just went to his site, he raised his prices 25 dollars.
Dear Thousands,
This link for convenience of your readership:-
http://www.eriktheflutemaker.com/Pennywhistles.htm
Yours sincerely,
Talasiga
My very first whistle was a gift from my wife purchased from Eric - I even visited his studio to pick it up and he gave the kids a tour. I got a high D - nice wood body (not bamboo) with a plastic mouthpiece and concert tuned. It is loud as any Susato and holds its own at worship with a guitar, organ and vocalists.
pastorkeith
I like to count Erik as a friend and I have a couple of his flutes and a whistle. They do have plastic mouth pieces (if they are by susato then I guess I have a better idea of what susatos are like than I thought). His whistles play well and the bamboo that mine is made of has a wonderful resonance…sort of like built in reverb. He sells concert tuned wood whistles for a $25 increase in price, but by what I have seen his whistles are close enough anyways. Besides, I like his fanciful designs like the starry night pattern and he usually does those only on the bamboo whistles. Erik does guarantee his whistles for the life of the flute maker and I’ve seen him do everything he could and perhaps beyond reason to make a customer happy.
Still, for outdoors and traditional wood looking (at least for Ren Faires), I have to agree that the Sweetheart line is tops. And didn’t I see where someone here on the board is selling one 
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I would love to go to a Ren Faire sometime, but I don’t think there are any in our area, or the attenders are keepiing it secret to avoid too many tourists like me…oh, am I off the subject??
Does anyone know if there’s any real difference in sound/tone quality between a regular Susato (Erik sells these as well) and one of Erik’s Susato mouthpiece-wood/bamboo body mixes?
Just a side note, a friend of mine bought one of the bamboo saxes last summer. It’s got a nice tone and it’s an interesting instrument, but I really don’t see what one would do with it. It doesn’t quite fit in with trad, but you obviously couldn’t use it in place of a regular sax. But then again, people origionally didn’t know what to think of the low whistle (and the saxophone for that matter)…
The Scribe Network has a comprehensive list of faires aroundt he country.
http://scribe.faire.net/scribeEventList.html
I see:
Metea Renaissance Faire
Fort Wayne, IN (about an hour from Roann)
further information here
http://www.faires.com/EventRecord.php?Id=52
It looks to be a very small faire, though (15 vendors, 2 stages, 1 weekend in october) but those can be fun too.
Erik’s bamboo saxes are fun. I play mine just for the novelty of it. You can do a lot with one of them, but the big draw back is that they barely cover an octave plus 2 (maybe 3 if you’re good).
Thanks, Wanderer! 