WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

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BigDavy
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WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

Post by BigDavy »

I noticed a nice looking Burke brass whistle in B on eBay at a nice price, so I had a WHOAD relapse and bought it. I had never seen a B Burke on eBay UK (or US for that matter).

It arrived the next day and I took out this nice shiny whistle to try it out and all I got was high pitched tones. I covered the windway and blew through it, thinking there might be a blockage, no change. Took the head off to look through it to see if there was something wedged in, but nothing to be seen.

Started thinking I had been sold a pup, and that was why it was that cheap for a Burke (the equivalent of $101 and change), then while putting it back in it's pouch I noticed that it had a thumb hole :oops: that I had not been covering, hence the problem. Tried it again with thumb on thumb hole and it worked perfectly, with me feeling like an idiot for not realising it had a thumb hole.

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Re: WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

Post by An Draighean »

I hate thumb holes on whistles.
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Re: WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

Post by Mr.Gumby »

I hate thumb holes on whistles.
Not sure I hate them (it's such a strong sentiment) but I certainly would never buy a whistle with one. And if the thumbhole wasn't mentioned in the ebay listing, there's your reason: it limits the number of potential buyers to the extreme.
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Steve Bliven
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Re: WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

Post by Steve Bliven »

Isn't that why tape was invented?

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Re: WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

Post by Mack.Hoover »

It's a way to get a clear in tune flatted seventh in both octaves.

Hating it or loving it, covering it or using it are all valid options.

It just isn't traditional. That doesn't invalidate it.

Well I don't think it does...
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Re: WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

Post by Mr.Gumby »

Isn't that why tape was invented?
I don't think I have any whistle I paid 100 for but in the unlikely event I would consider getting one, it certainly wouldn't be one needing a piece of tape to work to satisfactory.
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Re: WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

Post by An Draighean »

Mr.Gumby wrote:Not sure I hate them (it's such a strong sentiment)
OK, I dislike them very much then. :P
Mr.Gumby wrote:... but I certainly would never buy a whistle with one.
Me neither, but I was given one as a gift from my wife (who doesn't play the whistle and didn't know better), and I h... er, disliked it very much. Fortunately, it didn't hurt her feelings to return it.
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Re: WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

Post by Mr.Gumby »

OK, I dislike them very much then
What I like about whistles is their simplicity and making the best of it within their relatively limited scope. Putting keys on them, adding holes and generally redesigning them into way too expensive quasi concert instruments (I was tempted to use, tongue in cheek, the ever so pompous 'legit' here but refrained, mostly), goes very much against the grain of all that is attractive about them. There's beauty in finding solutions to their limits.

Note that, as usual, I am thinking from a context of Irish music. Anyone playing in a different context may want to look at this differently, although there's probably some irony in making such ungodly modifications to play in, say, a church orchestra.


Also note, most of this post was heavily ironic/tongue in cheek although I'll stand over the sentiments expressed.
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Re: WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

Post by Steve Bliven »

Mr.Gumby wrote: ...There's beauty in finding solutions to their limits....
So, an extra hole isn't a "solution"? :poke:

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Re: WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

Post by Mr.Gumby »

Not in the sense of what I was talking about. It's not a musical solution. It's a modification, a change of the essential character of the simple six hole instrument.

But to each their own, it's not for me though.

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Re: WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

Post by BigDavy »

I would have bought the whistle whether it had a thumb hole or not, but Mr G was right, it was not mentioned in the listing. It was bought specifically because it was in B, well made whistles in B are hard to find (any whistles in B are hard to find).

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Re: WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

Post by tin tin »

Mr.Gumby wrote:What I like about whistles is their simplicity and making the best of it within their relatively limited scope. Putting keys on them, adding holes and generally redesigning them into way too expensive quasi concert instruments (I was tempted to use, tongue in cheek, the ever so pompous 'legit' here but refrained, mostly), goes very much against the grain of all that is attractive about them. There's beauty in finding solutions to their limits.

Note that, as usual, I am thinking from a context of Irish music.
My thoughts, too. The thumb-hole is a solution in search of a problem (within the context of traditional music, at least).
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Re: WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

Post by ytliek »

BigDavy wrote:Started thinking I had been sold a pup, and that was why it was that cheap for a Burke (the equivalent of $101 and change), then while putting it back in it's pouch I noticed that it had a thumb hole :oops: that I had not been covering, hence the problem. Tried it again with thumb on thumb hole and it worked perfectly, with me feeling like an idiot for not realising it had a thumb hole.

David
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Re: WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

Post by pancelticpiper »

I did the same thing with a Burke I bought secondhand.

Another Burke I bought had a nice big piece of silver duct tape covering the thumbhole.

I played these Burkes with tape over the thumbholes for a time, then eventually took the tape off. It doesn't take much adjustment to getting used to keeping your thumb there, and it doesn't do any harm save for the greater potential for hand tension.

Can't say I've ever used the thumbholes though.

There are three reasons I don't care for C natural thumbholes on whistles

1) they're unnecessary. I can play a quite satisfactory C natural by crossfingering, and can bend up to it in the piper's manner, and cut, pat, and roll it. The C natural I get from the thumbhole doesn't seem advantageous in any way, in fact more awkward in complex passages than the crossfingered C natural, and more difficult to ornament.

2) it flies in the face of the shared performance practices and style of Irish whistle, flute, and pipes. On all three of these a crossfingered C natural has long been done, and all three instruments finger it and ornament it in a fairly similar way.

3) it appears to represent an attempt by people coming from outwith ITM to make whistles play more like non-ITM instruments (such as the Boehm flute) which is a fool's errand. Seems like whenever I meet somebody with thumbhole whistles they're a Boehm flute player who has recently taken up the whistle, and feel a need to get that thumb involved.
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Re: WHOAD and Thumb Hole Blues

Post by pancelticpiper »

BigDavy wrote: whistles in B are hard to find
but easy to make! I chopped a Generation Bb to make a great-playing B.
Richard Cook
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1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
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