An interesting find on Amazon

[Tyler]

Found this on amazon and bought on a whim and it turned out to be really quite good! It's sounds and plays pretty well.
It does take more air than my Dixon so it's taken a minute to acclimate.
It's from a brand I've never heard of before: iVolga
Is that a brand anyone's had any experience with in the past?

[BigDavy]

I have one just like it, got it from the person selling the Kerry busker whistles I bought. The amount of air it takes suits me quite well.

David

[Cyberknight]

Found this on amazon and bought on a whim and it turned out to be really quite good! It's sounds and plays pretty well.
It does take more air than my Dixon so it's taken a minute to acclimate.
It's from a brand I've never heard of before: iVolga
Is that a brand anyone's had any experience with in the past?

Oh I've had my eye on these for a while! It's good to hear that they play as well as they look like they would.

They make tunable models with f natural holes, which is quite cool. https://www.bonanza.com/listings/Ivolga ... 1472174983

They also make ones in the key of C that have sopilka/svirel fingerings, which is even cooler. If they made one like this in D, I'd probably buy it.

[Tyler]

I have one just like it, got it from the person selling the Kerry busker whistles I bought. The amount of air it takes suits me quite well.

David

Oh yeah, the air requirement is much lower than I was anticipating. If you'll forgive the pun, it's a breath of fresh air. It's not a greedy whistle at all from that standpoint, really quite smooth.
I didn't have much time to play this weekend what with needing to get a bunch of yard work done in one day instead of spacing it across two weekend days (yay, on-call shifts, amiright? ) but eventually I'll try to post a video of it... once I can become competent enough to be only moderately embarrassing on it

[Tyler]

Found this on amazon and bought on a whim and it turned out to be really quite good! It's sounds and plays pretty well.
It does take more air than my Dixon so it's taken a minute to acclimate.
It's from a brand I've never heard of before: iVolga
Is that a brand anyone's had any experience with in the past?

Oh I've had my eye on these for a while! It's good to hear that they play as well as they look like they would.

They make tunable models with f natural holes, which is quite cool. https://www.bonanza.com/listings/Ivolga ... 1472174983

They also make ones in the key of C that have sopilka/svirel fingerings, which is even cooler. If they made one like this in D, I'd probably buy it.

I might have to pick one up just based on the good experience I've had with this one. Cheers!

[TxWhistler]

Before the "embargo" on Russian whistles I bought one of these in "C" (high). The sound was not what I was hoping for. The best I can describe the one I got is to make a comparison of other whistles. I would call them (at least the one I got) the Generation or Feadog of wood whistles. No I'm not saying they sound like those two but think of comparing a Generation or a Feadog to a Burke or MK or Goldie. I hope you get what I mean. Mine sounded like a cheap mass produced wooden whistle with lots of "excess air noise" and some squeaking in the upper register. And before you say it's operator error. I can play my Generations and Feadogs quite nicely (thank you very much ) so I'm not a beginning novice. My iVolga plays like a cheap mass produced wooden whistle. So just keep in mind, you are buying a mass produced wooden whistle and do not expect the quality of a handmade MacMaghnus (like I have and it plays like a dream).

In my opinion mass produced whistles vary in quality..... you may get a good one and you may get a so-so one.

[RoberTunes]

If the build quality and performance of it is that good, you've lucked out that it also has the metal mouthpiece, to assist long-term reliability.
Can you post a video on YouTube of it being played?

[RoberTunes]

Before the "embargo" on Russian whistles I bought one of these in "C" (high). The sound was not what I was hoping for. The best I can describe the one I got is to make a comparison of other whistles. I would call them (at least the one I got) the Generation or Feadog of wood whistles. No I'm not saying they sound like those two but think of comparing a Generation or a Feadog to a Burke or MK or Goldie. I hope you get what I mean. Mine sounded like a cheap mass produced wooden whistle with lots of "excess air noise" and some squeaking in the upper register. And before you say it's operator error. I can play my Generations and Feadogs quite nicely (thank you very much ) so I'm not a beginning novice. My iVolga plays like a cheap mass produced wooden whistle. So just keep in mind, you are buying a mass produced wooden whistle and do not expect the quality of a handmade MacMaghnus (like I have and it plays like a dream).

In my opinion mass produced whistles vary in quality..... you may get a good one and you may get a so-so one.

My thoughts exactly. I want to hear it put through a good range of performance tests. Mass-produced wood whistles flooding the market must pass stressful performance tests, and will no doubt not have the full range performance quality of the MacMaghnus, Milligan, and others who specialize in making high quality instruments. But where in the range of 1 to 10 in quality does it sit, I do wonder........

[Tyler]

If the build quality and performance of it is that good, you've lucked out that it also has the metal mouthpiece, to assist long-term reliability.
Can you post a video on YouTube of it being played?

I'm just coming back to the hobby, so I'll try to round out a tune to a point where I'm not a complete embarrassment to the trad music community at large and post a video on my youtube channel

[Tyler]

Before the "embargo" on Russian whistles I bought one of these in "C" (high). The sound was not what I was hoping for. The best I can describe the one I got is to make a comparison of other whistles. I would call them (at least the one I got) the Generation or Feadog of wood whistles. No I'm not saying they sound like those two but think of comparing a Generation or a Feadog to a Burke or MK or Goldie. I hope you get what I mean. Mine sounded like a cheap mass produced wooden whistle with lots of "excess air noise" and some squeaking in the upper register. And before you say it's operator error. I can play my Generations and Feadogs quite nicely (thank you very much ) so I'm not a beginning novice. My iVolga plays like a cheap mass produced wooden whistle. So just keep in mind, you are buying a mass produced wooden whistle and do not expect the quality of a handmade MacMaghnus (like I have and it plays like a dream).

In my opinion mass produced whistles vary in quality..... you may get a good one and you may get a so-so one.

I'm not familiar with MacMaghnus (but I'm familiar with McManus), is there a link where I can have a looksee?

[TxWhistler]

Before the "embargo" on Russian whistles I bought one of these in "C" (high). The sound was not what I was hoping for. The best I can describe the one I got is to make a comparison of other whistles. I would call them (at least the one I got) the Generation or Feadog of wood whistles. No I'm not saying they sound like those two but think of comparing a Generation or a Feadog to a Burke or MK or Goldie. I hope you get what I mean. Mine sounded like a cheap mass produced wooden whistle with lots of "excess air noise" and some squeaking in the upper register. And before you say it's operator error. I can play my Generations and Feadogs quite nicely (thank you very much ) so I'm not a beginning novice. My iVolga plays like a cheap mass produced wooden whistle. So just keep in mind, you are buying a mass produced wooden whistle and do not expect the quality of a handmade MacMaghnus (like I have and it plays like a dream).

In my opinion mass produced whistles vary in quality..... you may get a good one and you may get a so-so one.

I'm not familiar with MacMaghnus (but I'm familiar with McManus), is there a link where I can have a looksee?

They are one and the same. MacMaghnuis is what he stamps on his whistles and it is at the top of his website:
http://www.roymcmanus.co.uk/