Wow. It feels strange to be back. Good. But strange. My last post was almost exactly two years ago. Things have been both good and bad for me over that time. I started a new relationship and have since gotten married to a wonderful woman. I’ve also been working very hard but unsuccessfully to salvage a dieing business. Combined, there just hasn’t been much time for whistles or Chiff.
The business income has gone away but the debts haven’t. There won’t be much time in the foreseeable future for whistles; however, there is a great need for cash. This means that I will need to sell nearly all of my whistles over the next week or two.
I also have an Overton Low D listed on ebay now. It is tunable and anodized. As of now (Wednesday), this whistle has less than one day until the end of the auction. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230234209552 If you order this from Colin, you’re going to wait for months and pay about $450 at current exchange rates. You can get this one now and at a bargin price.
Note that some of the whistles I had listed here originally have already sold and been shipped out.
These are the whistles that are still available.
Water Weasel Bb - Sold
Hoover Low E - Sold
Hoover Low F - Sold
Susato Kildare C - Sold
Burke High D, aluminum narrow bore Pro - $115
ElfSong high D - $55
Hoover Low D CPVC tunable - $65
Hoover Low G CPVC tunable - $50
Hoover A CPVC tunable - $40
Hoover D CPVC nontunable - $30
Hoover low G made from a ski pole. - $65
----- This is a special whistle made by Mack. As far as I know, he only made two of these ski pole whistles, an A and a low G. I have been fortunate to own the low G ski pole since 2004 but must now reluctantly part with it.
We worked through spring and winter, through summer and through fall
But the mortgage worked the hardest and the steadiest of us all
It worked on nights and Sundays, It worked each holiday
It settled down among us and it never went away
And I agree with Paul, that the TW Bflat is among the best whistles out there.
Chas that is oh so true. If only I could figure out how to work as hard as my mortgage does, though, if I ever did spend that much time working, I’d probably lose that new wife of mine. I’ve got to keep my priorities in balance. I can’t ever let myself forget that.
I’ve had a number of PMs about the whistles and there are few things I should probably clarify.
Mack Hoover’s “PVC” whiltles are really CVPC (the yellow kind not the white). I really hate to sell these. I LOVE Mack’s whistles.
The Thin Weasel is not one of Glen Shultz’s beautiful hand made wooden whistles. This is one of his grey plastic ones.
I’ll post another message tomorrow with the prices of the whistles. I will also do my best to get as many pictures up on my website as I can. I’ll be going out of town tomorrow early afternoon so I probably won’t be able to get as much done as I’d like to. I should be back on Tuesday and ought to be able to finish then.
The whistle are for sale now. I’ll give everyone a C&F first crack at them. What doesn’t sell here, I’ll put up on ebay.
Now that you mention it, I do believe you’re right.
I don’t know much about Glen’s whistles. It is grey plastic but the sticker on it says “Thin Weasel Woodwinds Glen A Shultz Sr.” I used the term “Thin Weasel” because that was the name on the sticker.
I suspect I screwed up and applied the name of the company to the whistle itself. If it really is a Water Weasel then I stand corrected and I appologize for the confusion.
Thanks for your patience everyone. I’ve updated the original post with the most recent information. The Water Weasel Bb, Hoover low E, Hoover low F and Susato Kildare C have all been sold and shipped.
Whistle details are available on my website. The link is now in the intitial post.
All of these whistles have to sell. I can’t keep them.
Sorry 'bout that. If anyone tried to get to the website last night to see the whistles, I had a typo in the website address. It was at the end of a sentence, so naturally, I ended with a period. The browser interpreted that period as part of the address which caused it to fail. The address in the original post has been corrected. But here it is again www.mike-johnston.com
My Burke D Al Narrow-bore arrived over the weekend. I have played it a little and I like it. It has a very solid sound and a sweet’ish tone. And, even in my unaccomplished hands, I can appreciate what folk mean by speed. Mind-you, I still had difficulty with upper octave B and C - easier than with my Feadog, but still tricky. I guess that I’ll improve with practice.