Chiff and Fipple Forums

Here's a great playing demonstration of the "not as loud as the Busker but not quiet either" Cobre in D,
featuring Orlaith McAuliffe who puts it through a good test. Still has good volume but takes little air
and unlikely to ever clog much due to the plastic mouthpiece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ7Jui1GMWw

Now, whenever the topic of "loud" comes up, seconds later the name "Susato" emerges. Yet our growing comparison list of bores (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=113236&p=1258271#p1258271) only has reference to "small bore" and "very small bore" Susatos. Can anyone here tell us the bore diameter (ie the "inside diameter") of the loud Susato? Either here or at that other location. Or any other whistles of we are ignorant?

The term "small bore" for Susato whistles only refers to the the relative bore sizes in the Susato range. ie. it's not called "small" in relation to other manufacturer's whistles or what you or I might or might not call a "small bore."

The "small bore" Susato whistle *is* the loud one.

Whenever I've tried a Chieftain ("Thunderbird" or recently a "Busker") soprano D, I've bailed out of playing the top of the second octave. They get sold, so someone must like them, but, for me, the amount of pressure needed and the ear-splitting volume up there is just too much. For comparison, I'll happily play a Susato small bore D all the way "up there." I find them much better instruments in terms of the balance of the octaves and in general playability.

I know several Morris musicians who use Susato whistles (including me at one point in the dim and distant past). They have a good solid tone, brush off breezes that stop other whistles in their tracks, and play well in the cold. That are tough enough for any Morris tour; in and out of bags, bouncing off the pavement etc.

If you wish to save a bit of money, consider the Susato Oriole. Though the head looks different, the Kildare (renamed "Kelishek" it seems) and the Oriole Ds are remarkably similar whistles to play. The Oriole is loud (about the same as the Kildare it seems to me), and has a similar ability to shrug off the wind, play in the cold and is probably even tougher than the Kildare.

PS. Someone mentioned that the vsb (very small bore) Susato whistle is very quiet. Actually, they said quieter than their other whistles, which means that they must have a collection of pretty loud whistles. I wouldn't place the vsb whistles near the "quiet" end of the whistle spectrum. The vsb is considerably louder than any Generation, Feadog, Walton, Oak, Clarke, Killarney, Sindt, Humphry, etc. If someone were looking for a quieter whistle than,say, a Dixon, it wouldn't be a Susato vsb.