James Becker new whistle maker review

Whistle
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James D. Becker’s High D penny whistle, nontuneable.


Made in ivory coloured, near unbreakable, climate- impervious, polymer plumber’s pipe, its hardwood fipple block sealed with polyurethane, this hand made, lightweight, nonclogging instrument is ready for a lifetime’s use.

It is modeled on the Dr Guido Gonzato PVC whistles, with variations on hole size and placing by the whistle’s maker, James Becker, an academically qualified American musician and teacher. The very heavy chamfering of the tone holes is a unique Becker feature. You wonder if your fingers will ever get out of those declivities, but they produce finger playing accuracy and limit the possibility of air leaks, making the whistle feel comfortably reliable. The chamferings on the model reviewed however were clumsily executed, and poorly finished. There were also two tool scratches barely polished out near the air window. The cutting and finishing on the window ramp and the window itself were rough and unfinished too. The blade seemed finished crookedly. The fipple block is nicely curved and fits confidently into the lower lip, but the fipple is end grain wood and rough so doesn’t help in playing fadeouts, (morendos) when trying to gently pull the mouthpiece away from the lips. The two labels that came with the whistle look computer generated on paper rather than the usual self sticking plastic labels that are smarter and don’t come off when cleaning. They had come unglued, and had to be stuck down again with Sellotape. None of this affects the whistle voice though, which is remarkably satisfying, especially for such a low price whistle, even though it is hand made. (Becker says he is pleased to have these issues brought to his attention and is addressing them).

Performance wise, the Becker needs a lot more air than the Burke D Composite Session, which itself needs just a little more air than Dr Guido Gonzato’s whistle. The Becker is as loud as the other whistles, and is just as in tune. The octaves are perfectly balanced. The high notes are easily delivered and the octave transitions are unnoticeable. No screeching or squawking here. The Cnat presents no problems with oXXOOO.

If needed, Becker says by adjusting the moveable fipple hood one sixteenth of an inch towards your lips the lower octave is easier to play. Bringing the hood the same distance down towards the tone holes makes the higher octave easier to play, he says.

So far as tone goes, while the Burke has a cold, clear bright accuracy and the Gonzato has a cleaner, richer, warmer accuracy with some chiff, the Becker is sweet but more complex, huskier, with chiff galore. The Burke, Gonzato and Becker all have fabulous bell tones. The Becker has a lot more backpressure and needs more push than the other whistles. Before getting used to it, the Becker player will need to concentrate on breath control. (Professionals are reported to like the variation high backpressure gives).

The Becker D’s musical quality and price make it an outstanding starter whistle, one that can still be played by session, concert players and soloists even when they get to perform at Carnegie Hall, IMHO …

Also, the Becker is another example of how musically high quality, low cost whistles have arrived. Clearly, whistle problems people had to put up with in the past no longer need be tolerated or even addressed, even by tweaking.

The Burke costs $190, the Guido Gonzato $40, and the Becker $5.

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Does Mr. Becker have a website?

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Clearly, whistle problems people had to put up with in the past no longer need be tolerated or even addressed, even by tweaking.

Will you please give it a rest, people have been playing cheap whistles for donkeys years and they have been doing fine.

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www.becker.embarquespace.com

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Googled James Becker whistle and got this:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4490123.html

Is this the whistle?? :wink:

Susan

P.S. There’s something wrong with that link, Keithsandra…it doesn’t work.

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I gave you a mispelled web site. The real one is : www.becker.embarqspace.com

Sorry about that.

I liked the literary flavour of the whistle site you gave Susan. No doubt intended for library whistlers, bookish types anyway?

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The low G is $8, LOL.
I’d love to hear some recordings played by a skilled player…

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They sound grand.

$5 you can’t go wrong. They’re $83 cheaper than mine but the costs are always eaten up by the time it takes to make the things. Materials are are factor too.
Mr. Becker obviously has a great set up for making these whistles that can save him time.

I’d love to hear some recordings played by a skilled player…

Great point. He should send one to Phil Hardy. He does very honest reviews and he’s a decent player too.


My 2p.

Tommy

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LOL and LOL again. Will you provide us with a recording of this splendid instrument, please?

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Well, if they sound decent are actually in tune, I would buy a complete set. I’ve been meaning to figure out which key I like best anyhow.

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I think keithsandra’s point was that these were contenders in the “cheap”
catagory. Now if the price and quality can stand the test of time remains
to be seen.

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I think he either doesn’t know about cheap whistles that have been the mainstay of whistle players the past 150 years or so or he likes to overstate things slightly more than a bit for the sake of his reviews.

The following remark, made in an earlier post about cheap whistles informed my reaction as I believe it demonstrates a thought pattern in our writer’s pieces:

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Huh, yeah, that’s vague. Even when I went back to look at it in context… It
could just as easily mean “Thank God for mass-produced Generations and
Feadogs. Now we don’t have to carve them from bone ourselves, anymore.”

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It may, loads of big words with not a lot of real content but plenty of suggestion.

On second thought though the

does suggest the writer thinks a new day has dawned on whistledom with the introduction of simple pvc whistles.

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MHO, it’s amazing what whistlers had to put up with before modern, low cost whistles.

While cheap as dirt whistles have been around forever, I think this statement was a shot at previous cheapies quality overall in comparison. Or maybe its because I have seen seen any low-G, D, or any low key for $8-12. I only recall ever seeing D, C and Bb’s for those prices. So perhaps the statement was for that.

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Yep…while cheapo high-keyed whistles (with the production value of toys)…have long been being turned into ITM magic by the masters…

…the production of lower-keyed whistles has been almost exclusively the bastion of skilled artisans, (with high prices, and a resemblance to other well-made musical instruments.)

For those of us who prefer the Low Whistle, it’d be quite dreamy to suddenly be confronted by an inexpensive low…with actually decent playing, and listening characteristics.

I’ve tried a few “cheapo” lows, over the years, and am a bit burned-out by the results. I’m not a master, but thoroughly enjoy playing whistle. Guess I’ll stick to my high-enders, till a bit of feedback trickles in.

Hope springs eternal!

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I don’t mean to inflame this thing any further, although I may. This whole thing makes me uncomfortable. We’re never going to settle the cheap vs. expensive thing. I’ve certainly had a role in the last 11 years or so in promoting the idea that there’s something good about the high-end and while I always enjoyed cheap whistles and expensive ones alike, I think the cause that Peter champions is more than worthwhile. “Cheap” whistles have, at the very least, always been a viable alternative for players at every level. (I just haven’t been persuaded yet that they’re the only sensible choice). I’m a bit of a believer, in the marketplace and I think that, by now, if there was nothing to be gained by playing higher-end whistles, the market would have dried up by now. It’s a matter of preference and taste. Hype, including some I may well have contributed to those years ago, might account for some of the 1996+ inflation in high-end whistles, but not all of it.

All that said, this idea of Mr. Becker–whose whistles I haven’t seen-- has finally produced a “high quality, low cost whistle” is objectionable. It really is an insult to musicians who have made beautiful music with Clarkes and Generations and such. (Before someone dredges up something I’ve written before that might be interpreted similarly, let me say now that I have written a number of things over the years that I probably wouldn’t write now. I disagree with myself as a matter of routine.)

One of the things I’ve learned during these years is that I needed to stop doing whistle reviews. Looking at old ones, I don’t think I did anybody a major disservice, but when I was writing reviews, I was simply not a good enough player to pass judgment. (I’m still not.) I excuse myself because I happened to be a rank amateur who put up a whistle site at about the right moment, behaved reasonably well, and wrote pretty well. Now there are a WHOLE lot more whistle players on the Internet and my usefulness in writing reviews ended years ago because there are people who are much, much better prepared to do it.

With due respect to the reviewer above, if I could, I’d regulate the use of the word “review” on this forum. I’d ask people not to use that word unless they’ve been around long enough to be credible. (I have no idea whether the above reviewer meets that bill, but that’s my point.) I’d ask everyone who’s not particularly qualified to use words like “comment” or “impression” and, along those lines, I’d ask people to give those people wide berth to write whatever they please and to be entitled to their own opinions.

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I reckon, from reading her posts, that this is definitely
somebody entitled to use ‘review.’ Also one feature
of a high-quality whistle is consistency. The reviewer
is very enthusiastic–as to whether it’s warranted,
I’ll wait to see for myself. But a highly consistent
five dollar whistle that plays as well as
a water weasel, say, would merit this description.

As to the past, it’s a funny thing. I played Gens
in the 70s and they sure seemed a lot better
than they do now. I sucked, the whistles were
great. Now I’m actually getting pretty good, a lot better
than I was then and most of the whistles
I pick up are virtually unplayable. As the problem
emerged as I improved, I don’t
think the problem is me.

As to the Clarke’s, I’ve had some great ones
and some less great ones.

There’s no question that SOME particular cheapies
are very good. The reviewer is talking
types, though, and there’s little question
that there are problems with cheapie types.
The judgement is entirely consistent with
some great particular cheapie whistles.
And people playing wonderfully on em.

So I think this OK, but it’s also OK to disagree.
These claims may be warranted–it really depends
on what these new whistles actually do,
and that I must wait to see for myself.

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Hmmmm…
‘‘Big words’’
‘‘No content’’
‘‘Plenty of suggestion’’

I have seen several politictians whistle that same set tunes. :laughing:

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I guess I’m having trouble with this “unplayable” thing. I’ve lost count of how many of the standard inexpensive branded whistles have come through here…and I found very few unplayable. I’m sure I’ve played a couple dozen Clarkes, found them consistent and perfectly serviceable. Lots and lots of Generations and I did have trouble with some of those, but even those aren’t close to being unplayable. In fact, among the cheap whistles, I think the only ones that really seemed to be unplayable was a batch of “Acorns” that came through.

I dunno. There are probably bigger mysteries in life to solve.