Whistle Tour Proposal

Whistle
1

dfernandez77 (and other interested parties),

Would it be possible to start a whistle tour with a Serpent ChromeMoly? I might be willing to sponsor it, but I don’t know what’s involved.

All I know is that this is a butt-kickin’ whistle and I would really like to try it! :thumbsup:

2

You should contact [u]billw[/u], the serpent himself. He just opened his shop back up after moving, and may or may not be able to help…

3

I have already sent him an e-mail about it through his website, and am awaiting a reply.

I thought, if worst came to worst, that dfernandez77 might be willing to part with his whistle for a tour. However, I wouldn’t think less of him if he wasn’t! :smiley:

4

Might be a acouple weeks before Bill has a Whsitle to send out.

5

That’s OK - I am a patient man :tantrum:

6

[quote=“shadeclan”]dfernandez77 (and other interested parties),

Would it be possible to start a whistle tour with a Serpent ChromeMoly? I might be willing to sponsor it, but I don’t know what’s involved.

All I know is that this is a butt-kickin’ whistle and I would really like to try it! :thumbsup:
quote]

You might not have to wait for a tour… I have one in C which you’re welcome to come try. Drop me an e-mail and we can arrange for you to stop by sometime.

7

That would be great, Paul. I’ve been wanting to try your whistles also and I’ve been trying to check out your shop for ages (1 age = 1month). I’ll be in touch.
I think that other people would benefit from the tour, though - it would be nice to try the whistle in various keys. Maybe we should go through with it, if the “SerpentMan” is willing . . . :poke:

8

I would be willing to do it but for three issues:

  1. I saw in another thread that if you send a whistle on tour you should be ready to lose it. To be honest, this is one whistle I will never even sell - so the risk is too high.

  2. I have a cedar fipple plug in my whistle. Now this is likely not a problem, but I feel safer if I’m the one in control of it. A Delrin fipple plug would be a better choice for a tour.

  3. I’ve made a tiny modification to mine. Not because there is anything at all wrong with an original Serpent, but because I prefer less back-pressure than Bill’s whistles usually have. So I took a precision diamond file and filed off a bit of the top of the fipple plug so it approximates the back-pressure of a Water Weasel. So it wouldn’t be an original Village Smithy on tour if it was mine.

I think a Delrin fipple plug is what Bill uses as standard now. I had to gently twist his arm for the cedar plug.

Bill has been exceptionally accommodating in any request I’ve had for him, so (though I can’t speak for him) I think he might be willing to put a Village Smithy on tour. There’s no way it would be damaged, that’s for sure.

I think the downside for Bill would come from the fact that it is a truly hand forged instrument, and he usually trashes a carbide cutter making them because the steel is so hard. His margin is probably lower on this whistle than any other model he makes.

But I’d bet he’d get a buttload of orders if one went on tour.

9

Well, as I said, I can’t blame you.

Putting a whistle on tour is a calculated risk. If I were to sponsor a tour, I would ask that people send the whistle insured / return receipt so that there would be proof of each stop. It’s not that much more expensive to do it that way.

I haven’t seen a lot of response to this thread concerning a possible tour. It might be because everything is up in the air, but maybe folks just aren’t interested in a whistle that can also be used as a murder weapon. :smiling_imp: