Some time back I was in a low whistle class with some beginners who were looking for a decent, low-priced whistle to start with (they were using borrowed instruments). I offered to search C&F for reviews and provide the links. I knew David O’Brien made a low D but didn’t find much here. Which led to an exchange with Mr. O’Brien and his offer to send a whistle out for review. As it happened, life intervened in the way of retirement and relocation for David and it was just this past week that the whistle arrived. So…
Let me start by saying that I like this whistle.
The O’Brien design is relatively simple—an aluminum body with a delrin head. The head has an elongated neck and so tuning is accomplished by sliding the head in or out of the tube. There’s a photo on the O’Brien web site that shows the head design.
I’ve been playing either one of the newer Reyburns (Delrin head, not wood) or an MK. The O’Brien is somewhat different in finger spacing, as shown in the photo below:
From lower/left: O’Brien, Reyburn, MK (green), Paddy Ward delrin D flute (just for comparison and because it was lying on my desk at the time)
The B3 and B3 holes are closer to B1 than on the Reyburn and MK and the B2 hole feels a bit larger (although a quick measure suggests that it’s only about 1mm larger if that—it just feels larger). The O’Brien also has a somewhat different “sweet spot” for breath pressure and focus from the other two. None of this is a problem—it’s just different and it took me a couple of days to sort things out and not squeak with each D/d or E/e. That past, the O’Brien plays very nicely with a tone somewhat between the “Native American flute in the fog” of the Reyburn and the more “gritty” sound of the MK.
Using the “How long can I hold a low E/high e” test, the MK was most efficient, followed by the Reyburn and the O’Brien but, frankly, the differences were minimal for the low E. For the high e, the O’Brien was still the least efficient, but it did take somewhat more air than the other two. I must add that this test should not be considered conclusive, it was a “quick and dirty” estimation that would need much more control to ensure validity.
Intonation, according to Flutini, was pretty good throughout the Low D to high b range for the O’Brien—with one odd exception. Somehow, I was always blowing the second octave d rather sharp. Still within Flutini’s “acceptable” range but sharp enough to make the intervals above and below sound a bit off. I haven’t had the whistle long enough to see whether it’s me or the whistle and look forward to comments about the intonation from other reviewers.
However, these are only minor quibbles. As I said, I like this whistle. At its price of $165 Cdn (~$125 US) it’s a pretty good deal. Great value for the price. A quite nice starter whistle that would take one far along the road of low-whistling.
Thanks to David O’Brien for sending this whistle out for review.
Best wishes.
Steve