Terry McGee wrote: ↑Thu Oct 05, 2023 2:56 am
Part of the problem I guess is that a cheap whistle is so very cheap. But so often not very good! But maybe influences our idea of value? I can only think that it's probably lucky that no-one seems to have come up with a really cheap flute - the flute equivalent of a really cheap whistle. That might wreak havoc in the flute making world, even if no-one wants to play one!
It can't really be done successfully. I've seen extremely inexpensive metal concert C flutes via Amazon but the quality just isn't there, from what reviewers say. And common experience with items that pass some kind of first-impression quality test while being minimum price, is that there is always a MAJOR catch, and the catch with these metal flutes is 1) that they will not last, and 2) playability and response through the full range of a concert C flute takes design expertise and quality construction, so to the naïve ear it may sound passable in the mid-range notes but the lowest and especially, the highest notes, are going to have immediate considerable performance troubles. Probably made in those jungle sweatshops where the workers jump off the roof after a 16-hour shift rather than face another factory sunrise.
GOA flutes are an advanced plastic flute, but the quality is there throughout, and the price is substantial, though less expensive than intermediate/pro silver flutes. Yamaha fifes and recorders are about the best attempt I've seen at producing a reliable good quality wind instrument at low cost. Clearly they put the design effort in for high instrument performance level, for demanding musicians, whereas other plastic recorders typically play considerably less well than the Yamahas. I've owned plastic recorders by Yamaha and about 4 other makers, and while all sell in the same range $$$, all the recorders but Yamaha give me playability frustrations.
Cheap bamboo flutes and whistles: you really do get what you pay for, and while there are makers of high quality reliable bamboo flutes and whistles, most of the market experiences the products of market-flooding frauds who are selling instruments which in the musical sense, are really not worth the wrapping paper they come with. Gift store throwaway toys at incredible markups. Same with First Nations/North American flutes; you can find the high quality instrument makers, suitable for musicians, usually by searching online first, and also find the poor-playing cheap imitation products in gift stores, always with highly romantic names and a photo of a wolf nearby, trying to soak the unwary impulsive tourist with an ice cream cone and hungry eye. My experience with Irish flutes is much less, but buyer beware.
A well-made whistle can be a VERY rewarding and expressive instrument. I wish that the instrument market long ago had established a standard "whistle" quality much higher than it did, with a price of perhaps double the standard low whistle price, which would have allowed for higher quality parts and performance, thereby putting a far superior general impression in the world's musician's minds about the possibilities of the whistle, instead of it being such a rare consideration compared to the guitars, saxophones, keyboards, drums, bass guitars, etc. Same kind of thing is being experienced with the Ocarina crowd; the $10 cheap toys make a sound, but buy a quality ocarina, and you've got yourself some seriously captivating life-long music making.
