OK, I think you’ve answered my question on the Burke or Chieftain. Now, which Burke? I see that the Whistle Shop has the Aluminum Narrow bore, Composite Session bore and a Composite narrow bore.
Right now I have Jerry’s tweaked Mellow Dog which I find a lot easier to play than the tweaked Sweetone, the Susato narrow bore and the Walton Meg. I’m beginning to get the higher octave a bit easier, at least on the three lower notes. The G is hard to get, and the A and B, no way right now. Still too squeaky.
What is the difference in sound of a narrow bore and session bore?
I’ve got to rely on your comments as I have no other way of knowing.
Thanks, in advane.
Donn
I keep repeating this because it has stood this way for about 2 years now - my personal favorite is the black tip brass session model. It has, IMHO, all the usual Burke positives, but adds some complexity to the tone especially in the bottom end.
Philo
Thanks, Philo. I went to the Burke site and did see the brass one which the Whistle Shop does not have. So when I order, will get it directly from them. I was wondering about the brass, vs the others.
What do you mean by complexity to the tone in the bottom end?
Donn
You’ll see. I believe the reason the Whistle Shop
doesn’t have the brass session model is that Mike won’t give them
out to sell.
A bit of richness and some overtones or character is the best way I can put it. And the top is sweet, i.e., not shrill or overly loud. It’s a solid whistle. I think though that any whistle a player just bonds well with becomes a terrific whistle. I just took out a bunch of Ds - the old Copeland is about the richest sounding whistle of the bunch, but there’s really not that much to separate them all out. I played the Reyburn and that’s a nice reponsive whistle that just took me a few seconds to adjust to the high end - needs a bit more of attack than the Burke. Geez, they’re all good; it really is the music and the player. I just happen to get along better and easier with the Burke but also with the Copeland, Sindt, Abell…you’ll enjoy heck out of most of them. Good luck.
Philo
I just got to spend a month with a Burke brass blacktip session D.
Very nice whistle, but I still prefer my brass narrow bore D; it’s nearly as strong and complex on the lower end, but the high notes are sweet, pure, and easy.
–James
Thanks, James, for your comment. I also just heard from Mike himself and he suggested that the DBN was hard to beat. He did say the brass was a bit brighter and the composite was a little more mellow. Now, just what bright and mellow means as far as a whistle goes is still puzzeling. If I could hear both, I could tell which one I prefer. But I can’t afford one of each to find out.
Does mellow mean a bit softer?
Donn
For the most part. Brighter usually means a more nasal sound, mellow is the oppossite. I would definatly suggest Brass over Aluminum, but I have never played his composites and therefor cannot comment on them.
What is the fingering for C natural on the Burke whistles? My DAN has OXXXOX, but I wonder which whistles that work with OXXOOO.
On the session bore you can get away with oxx|ooo in reels and jigs, but for slower pieces oxx|xox is still better in tune.
On the narrow bore, you can still use oxx|ooo but only if you use breath control to pull back on that note so that pitch doesn’t rise.
My wide bore brass behaves pretty much like the session bore in this regard.
–James
For the sake of being concise, and my own sanity and whistle shoppingnessism…
Can someone put their thoughts or observations about each of the following Burke whistle bores? Or perhaps there is a FAQ regarding Burke bores to which we might link?
- Session bore
Narrow bore
Wide bore
Thank you for taking the time to add to the whole.
Thanks, Avery. I believe I’m going with the brass. I was able to hear a couple of tunes at Clip and Snips played on the composite vs the brass and the brass sounds a little better to me. The tunes on the Airs group is really nice. That’s what I’m interest in playing, the slow tunes.
Now, to get rid of my Walton Meg, Susato vsb, and Walton Mellow D and a couple tune books which I don’t really care for, it will help me get some
$$ together to get the Burke. I don’t know if anyone here would be interested in them because they are the inexpensive whistles and most here seem to own the more expensive whistles. Maybe some of you know someone who might be interested. I live so far out in the country in northern Florida, I have no contacts whatsoever.
Thanks.
Donn
Got a chance to hear the Burke low D EZ whistle. Boy, what a beautiful sounding whistle that is! That’s one for way down the road.
BTW, any amateur radio operators in the group? I have a rig I want to sell so I can get the Burke. If anyone is interested, let me know.
Donn
Can someone put their thoughts or observations about each of the following Burke whistle bores? Or perhaps there is a FAQ regarding Burke bores to which we might link?
There probably is a FAQ somewhere, but I’ve not run across it.
Here are my thoughts:
Narrow bore–soft, sweet whistle. High end is extremely easy, pure, and sweet. Great for small sessions but you may feel your sound is lost in a larger session. You pretty much have to finger C-natural with oxx|xox as the regular oxx|ooo fingering is quite a bit sharp.
Session bore–louder whistle. Upper end still pure and easy but not quite as sweet or mellow as on the narrow bore and takes a bit of breath control. Better for bigger sessions. A great whistle for playing dance music, and you can lean into it more than the narrow bore. C-natural works ok with either fingering.
Wide bore–(no longer on Mike’s price list but I think still available on request)–volume similar to session bore. Main difference is tone is different, not as sweet, a little more complex, and you can lean into this whistle quite a bit more than the other Burke designs. This whistle isn’t the typcial “put in a nickle and it plays itself” Burke–it takes some breath control and has some resistance. This is a whistle that it takes a bit of time to get to know. Initially had some clogging issues till I happened upon the trick of using waxed dental floss to clean the windway, and have had absolutely no clogging issues since. Like the session bore, C-natural works ok with either fingering. This is a great session whistle and you can really lay down a tune with authority on this one.
–James
I held in very high regard the same model that Philo favors. However, thanks to another C & F stalwart, I was subsequently made an “offer I could not refuse” for a narrow bore black tip brass D and, in terms of my personal Burke whistle heirarchy, the narrow bore has edged out the wide bore. The wide bore is perhaps fuller, richer and ‘rounder’ in sound, but the narrow bore comes, to my ear, closer to what I would call ‘that old time religion’ for want of a better term. Both are fine whistles.
I just received a Burke DNB in brass, and I must tell you, it is a very, very fine whistle…I’d say that I may have a new daily player. And it looks mighty cool also.
Dave
Dave,
But how does it play? 
Looks ain’t everything! 
Can’t wait until I can order mine. However I have to sell an amateur radio transceiver first before I can get mine.
I’m looking forward to it.
Donn
I’m tempted…really, really tempted. Now, is there anyone who has played the brass narrow-bore side-by-side with the composite?
Sweet, responsive, good volume, not picky up near C" or D"’ like some whistles. Has a good bell note, which can be a shortfall of some narrow bores. Easy to jump from low notes to D" or from B" to D" without squealing. Easy on air requirements. Pretty pure tone and maaaarvelous construction. There’s something about his slide mechanism, which uses an internal “O” ring, which appeals like nuts to me. Fairly narrow in the hands so if you’re looking for a broomstick I’d go for the session bore size… but IMHO this is a whistle that’s hard to go wrong with.
Dave
I’ve only played with it for a few minutes, but so far I really like the low d viper I got in the post yesterday.