Mr.Gumby wrote: ↑Fri Nov 11, 2022 3:54 am
In the US
Hermit Hill has a
'other keys by request' option. But then, I don't know anything about them or how they will play. , I have never heard them played well enough to get a proper impression.
I have a Hermit Hill whistle in alto A that I bought several years ago. It came with two different heads, so I’m not sure which one (if either) is representative of what he’s selling now, as I haven’t looked into them. They are brass and Delrin.
That being said, both heads sound and play nicely. It reminds me a bit of the Dixon Trad whistles in the key of A that were briefly available for awhile, except sweeter and purer in the upper octave.
If he still makes whistles similar to those, then I imagine one in B wouldn’t be too bad, especially if he scales down the bore size appropriately for that key.
That being said, Sindt is my go-to for that key, as well. The B is particularly nice, imo.
To the OP
Of course, another good option is for one to make their own tube for a nice Gen head. If you’ve already done this and are dissatisfied with the tuning, it might take a bit of time to get the tuning how one wants, but their injection molded Bb heads have been consistently good during every period of their production, in my experience, so it’s worth making further attempts to get it right.
One could also make a tube for the now-discontinued (but probably not too hard to find) Dixon trad A head. I think they play and sound rather nice. I think they might have made a Bb like this as well, which would work, too.
The Susato Kildare B is one of their better keys, as well. For some keys Susatos aren’t particularly gentle up top, but the length to bore ratio with the B tube counteracts this quality somewhat, and they seem to have a crisper response than you’d get from the D on the same bore size. Most people either like or hate the tone, though, so it may or may not be worth considering.
I do also have a set of Syn whistles which includes a B tube, and they may be worth looking into. They are nice and they sat in what I would consider a “mid-price” point. I’m not sure if they are still made or not, as I’ve been out of the loop for a bit, but they may be worth checking out, if so. I used to play them quite a bit, but since I came back to whistle from playing mainly flute for a few years, I find my taste in whistles has narrowed quite a bit and I haven’t been playing them at all lately. I did prefer the B tube over any of the others with that whistle. I think it came with tubes for soprano Eb through alto A. Quite a wide range for one bore size, and a bit similar to the situation with the Susato Kildare S-series heads having so many keys covered with one bore size.
As B isn’t a common key, a recurring theme with inexpensive or mid-priced B whistles is that they tend to share a bore size with one of the more popular keys, often either D or Bb/A. So, expect it to have characteristics that you’d expect from either a wide-bore or a very narrow bore whistle. A lot of the mid-priced options don’t optimize things specifically for that key as they would for their D whistles or other popular keys. A shame, as B whistles occupy a range that is rather pleasing to the ear, imo.
My favourite B whistle is actually an old Calura. Quite a unique whistle. I left it out of my recommendations, however, as these vary considerably, are not tunable (can be an issue when they are in tune with themselves but not other instruments), and are not consistently available. It’s a gamble to buy these, as the quality ranges from superb to crap, and you never know which you’re going to get, or what kind of condition it will be in. They aren’t often sold by people who play them or know much about whistles, which can be reflected in their poorly detailed descriptions when they are listed.