i just today got the new sweetheart “professional” model in D. it’s wood–northern birch laminate. this whistle is very different from other sweethearts–definitely a whistle, not a recorder. highly responsive throughout it’s range, beautiful clear tone, strong in the bottom range, requires very little breath, good volume. it’s a new design by ralph sweet’s son. for comparison, i’ve mostly played generations and clarkes, also fooled around with susato’s and water weasels, but i like this one a ton. nice on airs, very easy to play fast tunes with lots of ornamenation.
Could you please post a photo, and maybe a clip ?
On 2003-02-06 03:49, Zubivka wrote:
Could you please post a photo, and maybe a clip ?
Well, here is the publicity photo.
Thanks, Walden.
I just can’t view Sweets’ whistle page with Explorer. Just found out that–for once–Netscape does a better job. Whole page looks terrible though : dark blue type illegible against “wood” background.
Anyway, pity this thing still looks oddly like a recorder. Same with the Adler whistle. Actually, some bona fide recorders do look more like whistles 
[ This Message was edited by: Zubivka on 2003-02-06 05:39 ]
thanks to walden for posting the picture. sorry, but i can’t do the clip. while it may look recorder-like, the feel is all whistle. i own a previous model sweetheart C whistle that has a nice breathy flute-like sound, but it doesn’t have the easy fast response of this new model, and requires much more breath than the new one. the older model also collects condensation in the mouthpiece rather quickly, whereas this new one has no such problem. it is expensive, so i wish i could help you with the clip. i only got it yesterday, but i have no problems with it so far.
Actually, I don’t think the Adler whistle looks anything like a recorder. It’s streamlined and slimline. I didn’t like the one I tried at a music store, though. Anything higher than 2nd octave G or A was very difficult to play. Not very responsive.
I’ve never tried any Sweets so make no comment on them.
re the adler’s limited range, i bought a sweetheart D about 20 years ago that was similar: anything above high G very unclear, squeaky, not good. for that reason i put it in a drawer and forgot about it, sticking to generations and clarkes. the C i bought in december was quite good, going up to high B quite well. however, the new D “professional” model is far better. not only is it clear and strong throughout its range, but shifting between octaves is excellent and breath requirements are very low. very flexible and qives several good options for C natural. the reason i went with another sweetheart after all these years was because i like the excellent intonation you get with a conical bore. the wood construction didn’t really enter into my decision at first, but i find that the instrument has somewhat of a “sustain” to it–the sound doesn’t seem to drop off quite so flat as with the cheaper metal whistles or even the plastic whistles i’ve played. it does seem to have a nice singing quality to its sound.
oh, one more quick post. i should have mentioned, this whistle comes in two parts and has a very nice cork lined joint. the point is, this makes it very easy to tune the instrument effectively, since the joint is easy to work but is also qite airtight.