What is your favourite Low / Alto G whistle? Suggestions?

[rubenroks12]

Hi all,

I am dropping by to ask: What is your favourite alto/low G whistle?

Next to D, the whistle I play the most is in the key of G. I find the key is convenient for most contemporary music. I mainly play a Carbony alto/low G, but recently I have been wanting to try a new voice.

Any suggestions? Tell me about sound quality! I have a preference for purer sounding whistles, but that is flexible.

thanks!

[Sirchronique]

Low G is a key I didn't use often until I got one of Marc Lofgren's whistles in that key. That being said, it isn't what I would consider "pure" sounding, per se, as it has a more goldie-esque sort of sound.

I have a Burke low G, which is also nice, and it leans a bit more towards what many might consider to be a "pure" sort of sound, and is especially nice if you like a bell note that you can really lean into heavily. Some find them to be bland, some don't.


Maurice Reviol also makes fantastic whistles, and his low G's might be worth looking into if you like a very warm sound and light blowing. Not sure if it would be considered pure or not, as I'm not very good with such terminology. Also, you can buy different bodies for the same head. The low G head also fits A, G, F, and E.



Overall, though, I tend to use alto A and Bb whistles, as well as low F and E, much more than I use a G whistle. For A and Bb I prefer Sindt and Lofgren, depending on what sort of sound I'm after.

[pancelticpiper]

I use a Burke. It's quite nice, as are all Burkes.

I do feel that in general the bore IDs of Burkes are a tad too wide for their length, which gives you that great full round solid low octave and powerful bellnote, but also makes the 2nd octave not as sweet or nimble or easy as I would like. This especially can be felt on the note that emits from Hole 2 (what would be High B on a D whistle).

I do wish Burke would offer Narrow Bore versions of all their whistles, not just their High D.

So, for the key of Mezzo A I ended up selling my Burke and going with a home-made whistle using a Freeman Tweaked Generation Bb head and a self-made brass tube body. It plays better than either of the Mezzo A whistles I had, a Burke and a Sindt. (The Sindt was very nice indeed, and I liked it much more than the Burke, but I liked my self-made thing even better).

You might want to try the Freeman Generation G, to see how a narrow-bore G plays.

[Lars Larry Mór Mott]

Löfgren's low whistles in D, G and A are the only ones i haven't gotten rid of. They're outstanding!
Burke's are always in good tune and have nice playability but tend to sound pretty bland IMO.

[rubenroks12]

Thanks for all the feedback!

Sorry about replying late. I got caught up with a bad flu.

The Burke has definitely been on my radar for some time. I'm a fan of the pure or what some call "bland" sound. What keeps me away from their alto g is the bore ID. I agree with panceltic piper, that they are too wide. I fear that the second octave might be too loud and harsh. A narrow bore alto Burke might be heavenly.

I've never had the opportunity to try out lofgren and Reviol whistles. I have only heard clips. Based on those alone, I think they sound like the classic low Overton-esque low whistles.

The Freeman Generation sounds the most unique of all those mentioned. They sound pretty much like trad whistles but in a key that you wouldn't expect to hear it from.

Has anybody tried a Reyburn alto G?

[Sirchronique]

The Burke has definitely been on my radar for some time. I'm a fan of the pure or what some call "bland" sound. What keeps me away from their alto g is the bore ID. I agree with panceltic piper, that they are too wide. I fear that the second octave might be too loud and harsh. A narrow bore alto Burke might be heavenly.

I've never had the opportunity to try out lofgren and Reviol whistles. I have only heard clips. Based on those alone, I think they sound like the classic low Overton-esque low whistles.

Reviols are completely and entirely different than the overton-esque sort of sound. I do consider Lofgrens to be similar in many ways to the Goldie/Overton/Kerry sort of sound, but I think the playability is what sets it apart from these whistles, as I find them much more comfortable to play, to my tastes, anyway. Everyone blows differently, though. I've had about 9 or 10 Goldies pass through my hands.. hard blowers, soft blowers, medium blowers, medium-soft, medium-hard, etc. None of them played to my liking (though maybe if I had one custom made my experience might be different, so take this with a grain of salt).

The "bore ID" on all Burkes is going to be the same, as far as I know, except for the narrow bore versions of his high D and C whistles. The bore size gradually and proportionally increases with each key. None of my alto or low burkes has a harsh high end, at all.

That being said, I would also prefer a narrow bore for the mid-range keys, as I don't usually prefer for those keys to have a "fat" sort of sound, characteristic of a low whistle (though that has as much to do with other aspects of the design than just bore size). I think different keys/pitches require a different approach when it comes to whistle making, as the qualities I may love in a low D or E are not what I want in, for instance, an alto A. I've never been a fan of the one-size-fits-all approach where all keys are the same across the board, which is true for many of the major makers. YMMV, though. Some people love Burkes for their consistency from one key to the next, but I think there are certain qualities that are better to bring out with certain pitches but not others. All Burkes are great, but this is something I have always been thinking when people say the same thing about their consistency when this sort of thing is mentioned.

95% of the sound is the player anyway, so I'd be hesitant to call Burkes bland. Different things work for different playing styles, and a lot of people get great sounds out of Burkes.

[rubenroks12]

The "bore ID" on all Burkes is going to be the same, as far as I know, except for the narrow bore versions of his high D and C whistles. The bore size gradually and proportionally increases with each key. None of my alto or low burkes has a harsh high end, at all.

That is very reassuring to hear regarding the Burke. Hmm, makes me really tempted to get an alto G Again, I the "blandness" that some people refer to is actually a "pureness" that I like.

The way I see it, the totally pure sound quality provides the player a blank-pristine canvas to work on.

[brewerpaul]

The best one I've played is a Water Weasel by Glenn Schultz. This is in fact one of the best whistles I've ever played, any maker, any key. It's astounding what Glenn could do with a couple of cents worth of PVC. Keep your eyes open-- they show up used once in a while.

[rubenroks12]

The best one I've played is a Water Weasel by Glenn Schultz.

Ahh yes. To this day, I regret forgetting to bid on that ebay post

[Reyburnwhistles]

Yes Paul, the pvc material has a wonderful tone and Glenn's craftsmanship in creating the Water Weasel set was superb! In the past I've made some soprano Ds and Cs and I really like the tone of them. Problem for me was that I don't like the toxic outgassing of the stuff when machining. I've never heard one in Low G but I bet it's really nice.

Ronaldo
www.reyburnwhistles.com

[pancelticpiper]

None of my alto or low burkes has a harsh high end, at all.

Yes not a "harsh high end" per se, but on all the Burkes I've had (Low D, Low Eb, Low F, Mezzo G and A, high C and D session bore) the 2nd octave in general wasn't as sweet or easy as I would like, and "High B" was what I might call a tad shouty or brazen and would break if I backed off on the air support even a tiny bit.

Compared to a good Feadog, Generation, or a Sindt or Killarney, where the whole 2nd octave is pure and sweet and easy and you can alter your breath for expression without High A and High B breaking.

With Low Ds I've had the Lofgren and MK have an easier high range than the Burke.

If we're talking Mezzo A, there was a huge difference between the Burke and the Sindt in the ease of production of the high notes. My tweaked Generation A thing was even sweeter than the Sindt yet just as full, if not more full, in the low range.

[pancelticpiper]

The best one I've played is a Water Weasel by Glenn Schultz.

He was an enigma to me.

A very good player I knew had blackwood Schultzes in several keys and they were all superb, some of the best whistles ever.

Once in a shop many years ago they had a seven or eight Schultzes in various exotic woods, brand new straight from the maker, untouched and undamaged, and some of them were horrible: thin, wheezy, with harsh scratchy 2nd octaves and low octaves that would barely play, some of the worst whistles I've come across. The best of that lot was merely mediocre, and could easily be out-played by a decent Generation.

What is one to make of that?

[Sirchronique]

None of my alto or low burkes has a harsh high end, at all.

Yes not a "harsh high end" per se, but on all the Burkes I've had (Low D, Low Eb, Low F, Mezzo G and A, high C and D session bore) the 2nd octave in general wasn't as sweet or easy as I would like, and "High B" was what I might call a tad shouty or brazen and would break if I backed off on the air support even a tiny bit.

Compared to a good Feadog, Generation, or a Sindt or Killarney, where the whole 2nd octave is pure and sweet and easy and you can alter your breath for expression without High A and High B breaking.

With Low Ds I've had the Lofgren and MK have an easier high range than the Burke.

If we're talking Mezzo A, there was a huge difference between the Burke and the Sindt in the ease of production of the high notes. My tweaked Generation A thing was even sweeter than the Sindt yet just as full, if not more full, in the low range.

I can see them as having a bit of extra volume in the high B on the session bore D. On the A and G Burkes it seems a bit loud, but not really "shouty" (like, say, a susato). I also think that the lower pitch really mellows things out in this regard with Burkes in the lower keys. I think I can see where you are coming from, though. However, there is no harshness to the tonal quality.

If a Sindt is the basis of comparison, then of course they are going to be a bit more intense up there, but I don't consider the low or alto keys to be overbearing by any means, particularly my brass viper low D. The top end is quite mellow compared to any of my other burkes, and about on par with my copeland in that regard. I think that whistle has about the best balance of any of my burkes, and is even quite different from my low E, which is the nearest other key of burke I own (though that isn't shouty or harsh up there, either). The narrow bore C has a pretty mellower top end, too.

I had an MK, and it was not anywhere remotely close to being easier than the Burke low D on the high B. I would actually consider the MK to be a bit shouty :p . I'm sure whistles from every mentioned maker varies, like any other whistle, so I am sure that this factor combined with the subjective nature of some of these observations might play a role in how we perceive them.