I’ve just taken delivery of an O’Briain’s Improved D…haven’t had the chance to play it yet (stuck in a crowded office where they don’t take kindly to such things). At first glance it looks…well, like stuff’s been glued here and there… However, in about 3 hours I shall be playing it.
Anyway, my question is this:
All over this board there are “improved” whistles and ‘tweaked’ whistles. Like the O’Briain’s and Jerry’s tweaked Shaws (not singling out Jerry for any reason, it’s just that I’ve also taken delivery of a Shaw too and had an earlier thread on that subject)… and from what I’ve read here, they all either sound noticeably/infinitely better than the originals or are ‘easier to play’/more responsive, better balanced across the octaves, etc.
So why don’t the original manufacturers make them that way in the first place?? Eh? Why?
Cheap stamped out metal tube (1), with die-cast plastic head (2).
Hand labour: stick some glue around (1), stick in (2).
Destination: tourists, novelty shops.
Fierce competition between brands keep possible wholesale price down.
The tweaked or “improved” whistles involve roughly an hour of skilled hand labour for revoicing. This would at least triple the retail price, and probably more likely increase it fourfold. With three times less sales in volume.
So the answer to your question is “Why bother? Don’t they go as is?”
For those who want these “celtic” novelties to be musical instruments, we got the tweakers…
For a contrary viewpoint, I haven’t tried an “improved” whistle which I felt added considerably to the playability or sound of the original.
I’ve tried an improved O’Briain whistle, which felt just like any other cheap plastic-head tinwhistle, and a Whistleshop improved Clarke, which was slightly less breathy, but neither better nor worse than the original.
Just to add to Zubivka’s accurate account. It’s only fairly recently that high end whistle makers came on the scene. Children always learnt on the cheap novelty instruments and those who stuck with whistle rather than abandoning it when they moved on to another instrument continued to play the cheapies that were available. But there is plenty of evidence that they learnt to tweak and to pick the right whistle from a batch which might contain a lot of duds.
There is something rather nice about the sound of a good Generation or Clarke. Some brilliant players quite simply want the Generation sound and that sound only. If you are not much good at tweaking, naturally you turn to someone who is.
Even those of us who love and buy high-end whistles still love the Generation sound we’ve heard all our listening lives and would love to have good Generations to play. I’ve ordered a full set from Jerry and I’m every bit as excited about the prospect of playing them as I would be at getting a new batch of high-enders.
I’m the proud owner of a Freeman-ized Generation, Shaw and Sweetone. All three are so radically improved over the original they are almost unrecognizable as what they started their musical life as. Jerry is an artist when it comes to making these whistles better.
Personally, I use the Shaw for sessions (on advice from Jerry and JessieK), the Sweetone for when I’m miked, and the generation for general noodling around.
Jens/Grumpy; your avatar and fairytale references make you look very innocent There’s no denying you have WhOA badly!
(just teasing)
I think it makes sense to try to tweak a whistle to get the sound that you want - especially if alternatives (like cash or previously, makers of high end whistles, are not available).
That’s not to say that an out-of-the-box Clarke or other inexpensive whistle can’t be exactly what you’re looking for.
Taken to the extreme the tweaking urge expresses itself in our flute-teacher who would put a file to a wooden flute to adjust the tuning on a particular note - and doesn’t even think about it twice
Happy. The O’Briain improved sounds markedly sweeter than my ‘original’ Faedog. Volume is better ‘balanced’ across the octaves and the second octave A and B are decidedly much nicer to listen to on the ‘improved’! Is it more ‘playable’? I don’t think so.
But there’s also a world of difference in breath between the two…the O’Briain seems to be a lot less forgiving of poor breath control than the Faedog original. If I’m not really careful with the breath control, the Improved will ‘peep’ or ‘pop’ on the notes…as if it were about to break into a mystical 4th octave for a microsecond or two.
Just got to learn to control my breath a bit better. Or stick with just one whistle…(nah, who’m I kidding…one whistle? ).
Or stick with just one whistle…(nah, who’m I kidding…one whistle? > > ).
Hmmm…know the feeling. Got bored in band practice last night, so pulled out an O’Brian improved to see how it would work out. As I had been juggling a Sweet and a Silkstone D+(for the helpful C below), and a C whistle mongrel as well as the Copeland Low D already, my fellow whistler took the opportunity to ask whether I had founded a whistle museum… :roll:
So I told him about WHOA. He, being a true Englishman reckoned it should be WOAD… He has a point…
[quote="trisha]He, being a true Englishman reckoned it should be WOAD… He has a point…
Trisha[/quote]
Wode, surely?
There’ve been no truly true Englishmen since the Whoa-mans turned up. I mean, apart from the aquaduct, what have the Romans ever done for us? Not to mention the Angles and Saxons (and the less said about the Normans the better I reckon).
It was certainly possible to hear myself play…useful with an acoustic guitar in one ear, a flute in the other…and THREE saxes on harmony. It is a little temperamental but an improvement on the 3 uninspiring 'dogs I have here (one a C which is 'orrible). Still need more time to give a balanced opinion .
When he commented that the tuning on the B was not quite perfect he subtly suggested that it could be helped by ever so slightly enlarging the hole beneath it.
The flute was back in my hands before he finished the sentence though …
YOu use the Jerry-tweaked Shaw in sessions, eh? Interesting! My decision to use a whisle in a session is based on two things only: In-tune-ness, and volume. As far as volume is concerned, it has to be loud enough to be a tad uncomfortable to play in the car. I use a hybrid Susato (Susato head, Oak body) and a Syn aluminum D. Do you think the tweaked Shaw would qualify?
Hi sturob, I see you’ve made the opposite migration to me. I went from Toronto to north Texas. Are you planning on staying in the Great White North? How many winters have you spent there? I miss the place, but those winters!! Ugh!!!
My original Feadog is indeed easier to play and has a stronger bell note than the O’Briain, but the slightly raspy tone is so annoying that I really don’t enjoy playing it. The O’Briain, on the other hand, sounds beautiful. The Eb is even better than the D, believe it or not.
He has a point…
He has a point…