Review: Burke Brass Pro narrow bore D

Whistle
1

This is a lovely whistle which was given me for Christmas by my lovely wife:

The top whistle is the Burke Brass Pro narrow bore; the lower whistle is my Burke AlPro.

Here is a sound file, the old song “Down by the Sally Gardens,” where both parts of the duet are played on the Brass Pro:

http://www.flutesite.com/samples/sallyburke.mp3

This is a visually striking, lovely little whistle. It has a bit of heft compared to the Alpro, which I like. The finish and workmanship are perfect in every way.

Intonation is absolutely precise through a better variety of blowing pressures than I figured it would be. A minor quibble is that this whistle requires ( o x x |x o x ) for an in-tune first octave C-natural, where I prefer (o x x | o o o ), which is sharp on this whistle at all but the lowest blowing pressures. Normal fingering for 2nd octave C-natural (o x o | x x x ) works fine.

This whistle doesn’t seem to have an upper limit on how high it can be played. Using fife fingerings I have played well into the 3rd octave and the whistle stays well in tune and even pleasant to listen to!

I was also afraid the lowest notes would be sacrificed for the lovely second octave, but they aren’t: I am pleased to report the low register is rich and dark and not weak at all.

Overall the tone of this whistle is incredibly pure and clean, with just a touch of overtones providing a touch of a lovely darkness to the sound.

This is an outstanding whistle, pure, crystal clear, with volume capacity ranging from soft to moderate, a lovely dark tone against the brighter purity of the AlPro. Together, these are the best whistles I have–it would be hard to have to pick between them. They are both that good, and both are head and shoulders above any other whistle I own.

–James

2

Lovely! (both the whistle and the duet).

Redwolf

3

James,

Lovely! Guess I know what’s next on the list.

Does your wife have a similarly kind single brother? :wink:

I agree with you wholeheartedly; Burke whistles are outstanding. Congratulations, and have a happy, happy New Year!

4

Thank you! I’m kinda proud of that, since I wrote the duet part.

–James

5

On my brass pro narrow bore, oxx xoo also gives an in-tune C-natural. Actually, I cheat and use oxx ooo on fast tunes. I only notice the sharpness on slow airs.

6

Wow, I’m glad you posted those photos: I’ve been planning to buy this exact model, but now that I see that weird bulge in the middle, I’m not so sure. What is that bulge for? Is it purely decorative or does it serve some function? I have a low G Burke that I really like, but the bulge isn’t so radical on that.

7

it’s purely decorative brad. there used to be two version of tuning slides on the brass an aluminium burkes,
the ones with the like you call it "bulge, and the ones without.
the latter is like the composites on mike’s webside. now i’m not sure if he still makes the two
(michael burke makes over 60 different models!!). i like the looks of the bugle :stuck_out_tongue:

8

Actually, I believe we’ve discussed the function of the bulge, with Mike Burke confirming that it’s part of the perturbed bore scheme that allows the whistle to play beautifully in tune across more octaves than it has any reasonable right to do.

Best wishes,
Jerry

9

Very nice Peep!

10

I could be wrong, but I’m pretty certain that the buldge is not part of the perturbed bore. I think it’s there to hold the O-ring(s) of the tuning slide in place.

-Brett

11

The bulge on the pro model Burkes is not purely decorative, nor does it have anything to do with bore perturbations… it simply houses an o-ring.
Without the bulge, the whole tuning slide would have to be unnecessarily thick to conceal the o-ring… the bulge just streamlines things.
The older model Burkes didn’t have an o-ring in the tuning slide, so they didn’t have the bulge.
The older models also didn’t have the Delrin lining beneath the metal of the windway ceiling, so they didn’t have the bulge in the head that the new pro models have.

(I see Bretton was quicker than me! :wink:)

12

i can’t see why mike would still make the ones without the bulges then :confused:
and where would the O-ring be hidden in a low G then?

13

The ones without buldges just use a friction (is that the correct term?) slide (no O-rings). This is mainly on the composite whistles and the old style wide bore brass.

I’ve not seen/played any of Mike’s lower whistle so I can’t comment on the low G (maybe it’s an older whistle made before the o-rings came into use).

-Brett

14

He doesn’t still make them. The ones without the O-ring are a discontinued item, and he has only old stock on hand. I guess some people like them better because of the less pure tone and the fact that there’s no O-ring to wear out.

15

and most of the time, the bulge isn’t really that noticeable except … well, never mind. :smiling_imp:

16

thanks all, i finally understand. sometimes i need to be poked about all the improvements :poke:

17

I don’t suppose you would explain that, would you? :laughing:

18

peeps, i’d go ahead and try to get used to the oxxxox. that’s what i originally learned with and i find that it makes some very nice ornamentation very doable. the flexibility of the burke’s fingerings for C nat is one of its nicest features. my problem is that i prefer playing the middle D with all fingers down and on some whistles i need that first finger up.

19

Perhaps we’re in “Stop! You’re both right.” territory here.

Take a look at these posts from Mike and see if it doesn’t look like he’s indicating there’s an expansion at the headjoint. I’m not absolutely sure from his wording, but that was what I thought when I read it, especially since he didn’t correct me when I mentioned that possibility in the other thread.

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=13689&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=14000&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

Best wishes,
Jerry

20

Doing some careful examination of my AlPro, I have discovered that the “bulge” lines up exactly with the O-ring for the tuning slide, and thus I conclude it is there to provide the structure to hold the O-ring in place.

The actual bore at this point on the whistle is still inside the tenon for the tuning slide and so the “bulge” does not seem to affect it at all.

Also, I can confirm that on both the AlPro and the Brass Pro, the entire windway is Delrin. At no point does the windway seem to be metal.

Finally, the whistles are quite strikingly attractive. If they do not seem to be in my photograph, blame the photograph (or the photographer) but please not the whistles. They are lovely.

–James