Goldie Narrow Bore Low D

[Byll]

I am not a physically large person, with lots of lung power. I have played low D whistles for a long time, and have owned – still do – some excellent instruments. I have retained my Burke Viper. I love the full sound and the rock-solid playability in both octaves. I simply am not able to provide enough air to finish phrases, comfortably. I like my MK Pro. It came from a dear British friend, known to the old members here, as ‘Devondancer.’ I am simply not able to provide enough air to do the music, and the instrument, full justice. For years with my band, I played a Goldie Overton in concert: Same deal. My old body could not provide enough air. I simply toughed it out, with all of them...

Recently Colin Goldie made me aware of a new low D model of his – the Goldie Narrow Bore Low D. We communicated a lot – mostly by Face Time, and I liked what I heard. Much of the variance in a whistle's air needs is caused by the design of the whistle head, itself. Colin's new narrow bore low D, with one of his medium-hard blowing heads, is just about perfect for me. I can do the music, justice... For those of you with. similar … uh … limitations … as I, this instrument might be of interest to you.

I received my instrument on May 1. We did have one concert scheduled in early May, but because of band illness - and a car accident, said concert has been postponed. Ergo, I have not yet played the instrument on stage. I have been practicing with it a lot, and I do truly like the instrument, quite a bit.

Colin makes these narrow bores when he makes them… it is kind of a niche product. He either has them on hand, or one waits for his next small batch. He has sold some of them in Europe, and mine is one of the first in the States. The instrument demands much hand work and specific voicing on Colin’s part, and is more expensive than his more standard Low Ds. If you are interested, please contact Colin for information.

[pancelticpiper]

Thanks so much for the information!

I've not played one but I've heard one and I really liked the sound.

I'm a fan of narrow-bore whistles in general.

A few years ago I got an Alba Low E which has a rather narrow bore.

At first I didn't care for it. I found it touchy to play, the low notes not being as solid as I'm used to.

But during the Covid shutdown I was able to devote hours of "face time" to it, and lo and behold it's become perhaps my favourite player, the whistle that I'll grab if I have a few moments to do some blowing.

That Alba just needs to be blown differently! But once I got the hang of it I loved how super efficient it is, how perfect the 2nd octave. I should mention it's bang-on in tune through 2 octaves and sounds great mic'd on stage.

Ditto with the narrow-bore Jerry Freeman mezzo G. There's just something special about narrow-bore whistles, and I expect the Goldie narrow bore Low D to be a wonderful player.

[Byll]

The joy of narrow bore whistles? Yup. Me also, Richard. For awhile, a lifetime ago, I played large, or 'session bore' instruments, which I suppose are excellent for ... uh, session work, but not so much on stage, with a mic. I experimented, and found 'narrow-bore' instruments. For many, many years now, I have performed with Sindt D, E, and C high whistles. I keep a number of Burke small bore whistles at hand, at home.

Pat O'Riordan experimented with a narrow bore low D - I think he referred to it as a 'small' bore. I have memories of so many conversations with Pat, concerning that instrument. I was never able to make it work for me, to the level I could trust it, performing. I do miss Pat... In my humble estimation, I was never animated by the sound of that narrow bore low D whistle, and it was a challenge to control.

When Colin first played one of his narrow bore low D whistles for me, over FaceTime, I was shocked. I use my computer a lot for texting and FaceTime, and it is attached to a decent sound system. It was the sound, Sir. I did not expect that sound from a narrow bore low D. It fascinated me. Physically, Colin's narrow bore low D is much easier to handle than a standard bore, does not take as much air, and has a mellow, open sound, with - for me - just the right amount of tonal complexity.

Certainly it is not perfect. But I am satisfied that I made the right choice, for me. I figure I have a lot of learning to do on the instrument, but I trust it - something that is necessary for me personally, in finding in an instrument which will be used in performance.

[MadmanWithaWhistle]

Does anyone know how Colin achieves his easy/medium/hard backpressure adjustments with his whistles? I would like to add just a bit more backpressure to mine, but the adjustments I've made always end up changing the tone or playing characteristics negatively.

[Sirchronique]

Does anyone know how Colin achieves his easy/medium/hard backpressure adjustments with his whistles? I would like to add just a bit more backpressure to mine, but the adjustments I've made always end up changing the tone or playing characteristics negatively.

It’s been a number of years since I’ve owned a Goldie, but in my experience his different backpressure whistles /do/ end up being different in regards to tone and playing characteristics.

[Byll]

When it comes to folk instruments, my main instrument is hammer dulcimer. I was fortunate to get to know, and become close to, a guy named Sam Rizzetta, who died a little over a half year ago. Check his exhibit out in the Smithsonian, sometime... I spent so very many happy hours on his mountain top in West Virginia. Sam was forever experimenting with the hammer dulcimer, and many of the dulcimer realities many people take for granted, are a result of Sam and his creativity. Sam's designs are brought into reality by a number of companies, and luthiers. Sam was forever experimenting...

There is a point, here: Sam's last experiments had to do with compact, ultra-light weight instruments. I remember discussions with him, about how he took an instrument, usually weighing between 25 and 45 pounds, retaining its tone and range, and somehow bringing its weight down to 11 pounds. I asked him to try to explain it to me, without all the math and physics. Sam's answer was simple. He told me that it is always about the math and physics. Yes, quite.

For years, Colin Goldie had 3 different types of mouthpieces, that I knew about. If I remember, he called them 'soft blowers,' medium blowers,' and 'hard blowers.' Different strokes for different folks, and all that... My original Goldie Overton was a 'medium blower.' Colin may have added more than one newer type of mouthpiece in between the original 3, but my narrow bore low D's mouthpiece, he called a 'medium-hard' blower, as I said in a previous post. He chose that one for me, because of my description of kind of 'running out of air' with a medium blower.

I understand that there are a number of parameters involved in creating one of his mouthpieces. And from his language when he explained the issue to me, I again saw clearly, that it is truly math and physics... Sirchronique is of course, correct. There is a palpable difference in many whistle parameters, that can be traced to the mouthpiece.

[pancelticpiper]

Does anyone know how Colin achieves his easy/medium/hard backpressure adjustments with his whistles?

The changes in backpressure are produced by varying the windway height.

Years ago he had three heights which he labelled "soft" "medium" and "hard" but more recently he's been offering a wider range of heights and engraving the precise windway height in millimeters inside the bell.

I have a Colin Goldie Low D and Low C which use the same tubing and the heads are interchangeable.

The Low C head is a "soft" and the Low D head is a "medium" and it's been interesting to spend time switching the heads back and forth on the Low D body.

In general both play "like Goldies" but there are several subtle differences.

The soft/easy head gives slightly fatter low notes, slightly easier high notes, and slightly greater flexibility of tone. Perfect, no? But the price is slightly less efficiency, meaning more air passes through the whistle as you play.

For those sean nos airs with the long phrases I prefer the efficiency of the "medium" head.

What I would very much like to try is a Low D with the head right in the middle between "soft" and "medium". It might be the perfect compromise for me!

[MadmanWithaWhistle]

Does anyone know how Colin achieves his easy/medium/hard backpressure adjustments with his whistles?

The changes in backpressure are produced by varying the windway height.

Darn, that doesn't work on my design. Four thou over 0.03" windway height turns the tone to sh*t. However, I think I found the solution after some unorthodox experimentation today. The underside of the airblade seems to govern a LOT in my design. Changing my undercut and selectively adding some material gave me the perfect little boost without tone disruption.

[pancelticpiper]

BTW there was a thread in 2013 where I posted a couple photos and a video of a Goldie Narrow Bore Low D with added rings.

https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/viewt ... ?p=1108104

[stiofan]

I have an earlier model of the NB tenor D, circa 2015 with a 1.0 windway. It's an exquisite instrument, especially for playing at the top of the second octave (or into the third, if one wished to do so) -- an absolutely sweet, rich tone, doesn't require 'leaning into' as most other low whistles in the upper register -- and yes, air requirements are noticeably lower. I also find that it's incredibly responsive and nimble through the octaves. Overall, it has a distinctively different tone than the standard bore low D, so doesn't have that big, 'cosmic drainpipe' sound at the bottom end, but I'm fine with that trade-off. I play some of Davy Spillane's music that lingers in the upper register, which this whistle is perfect for.

According to Colin, when the one I have was made there were only a few of the NB models in circulation (apparently, the one I have was originally meant for John McSherry!), but he's made a few more now that they're becoming more well-known, although he says they're very challenging to make, apparently getting the head (windway, block, blade, etc.) just right to work with the narrow bore. Something I've found that Colin had told me is that any buildup or debris in the windway can compromise its reponsivity and tonal quality, and that the NBs are somewhat more sensitive in this regard, so to give it a good rinsing regularly. Enjoy!

[pancelticpiper]

That sounds like a brilliant whistle Stiofan!

Does your whistle have thes rings on Hole 3 and Hole 6?

Byll does yours?

[stiofan]

That sounds like a brilliant whistle Stiofan!

Does your whistle have thes rings on Hole 3 and Hole 6?

Mine doesn't have the rings (again, it's an earlier model), but from others I've seen made more recently, that may be how Colin makes them now.




Here's John McSherry in action with an NB Goldie (alongside Brendan Mulholland on flute):
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2513160068991428

[RoberTunes]

[/quote]
Darn, that doesn't work on my design. Four thou over 0.03" windway height turns the tone to sh*t. However, I think I found the solution after some unorthodox experimentation today. The underside of the airblade seems to govern a LOT in my design. Changing my undercut and selectively adding some material gave me the perfect little boost without tone disruption.
[/quote]

If I was constructing a whistle, adjusting the height of the windway, presuming that the first and lowest windway height worked well, would involve increasing the height of the windway only. By default, that might be producing the "turns the tone to sh*t" you're experiencing, if an increase in the height of the windway means the approach of the air stream at the blade is starting to miss the blade increasingly more on the high side, creating a more breathy/chiffy tone, or worse, losing the tone substantially. Or worse, starting to imitate the absurd physics of the Clarke Original, with it's Chunnel-size windway height.

So, if one windway height was found to work very well, then if the windway height was to be adjusted to add or reduce the backpressure and change playing characteristics, I'd consider adjusting the position of the floor of the windway, relative to the position of the blade, to assure the air stream always hit the blade at the right level. I don't make or tweek whistles, so don't have experience adjusting any blade undercut or windway edge chamfer, but seems to me the air stream contact with the blade edge would be top concern if altering the windway.

Anyone tested out adjusting the windway floor position in regards to soft/medium/hard blower windway height? (probably all of the whistle makers, but any of the tweekers?)

[Byll]

Yes, Richard, mine does have the rings. Interestingly enough, for my hands they make holding the instrument much more comfortable than a standard low D.

[pancelticpiper]

Yes, Richard, mine does have the rings. Interestingly enough, for my hands they make holding the instrument much more comfortable than a standard low D.

Thanks! Good to know.

Some flutemakers use such a ring for Hole 6 on their aluminium-tubing flutes.

Since Hole 6 and Hole 3 are the most out-of-place holes (too small because they're too high) giving added chimney height allows a bigger hole without having to move the hole further down the tube. I don't know if that's the intention or purpose on the Goldie narrow-bore Low D, but one of the photos appears to show a rather large Hole 3.