Possible new favorite whistle-WD Sweet High D

[Whistle Free or Die]

Ah Ha !! ( the exclamation of discovery).

I see the Irish Whistle Shop has some.
Good price too.

Susan

[Steve Bliven]

The WD Sweet high D must be a hot item because I am seeing that a few of the whistle shops on- line have them on backorder.
Walt must have a real winner there!!!

Susan

Or you could just call them. They're in Enfield, Connecticut (42° N, 72 1/2° W according to their web site) — only a day-trip away. www.sweetheartflute.com

Best wishes.

Steve

[R Small]

I bought mine directly from Sweetheart. Had them add a thumb-hole too.

[sw84721]

I have a sweet pro D in blackwood and absolutely love it. The tone is warm and pleasing and its easy to play. I live in a dry climate (high desert) and haven't had a problem with cracking yet. I make sure to dry it after playing and use bore oil. Does anyone else have care tips for wood whistles in dry areas?

[AvienMael]

Probably the most-sensible advice I've heard yet, if you are really concerned about this, is to keep it in a humidor at an RH of 50%. On the other hand, I live in upstate New York, and the climate here is fairly dry most of the time (especially in winter when the RH dips to below 30%), and none of my wooden whistles have ever developed any problems. I just follow the same basic common sense methods of caring for them that you described. I seem to remember Paul Busman remarking recently that he hasn't found any need for using extra measures in caring for his wooden whistles. They are made here in the same New York climate and sent all over the place to different climates without issue. Also worth mentioning: I have a very old Sweetheart whistle in rosewood that I bought second-hand. When it arrived, the first thing I noticed was that it appeared to never have been oiled. Luckily, it was none-the-worse for the experience, and I have cared for it the same as my other woods since. I think the most important thing to remember is that if the whistle goes unplayed for an extended amount of time, you would be wise to play it for short intervals only (@20 minutes per session), for a week or two, in order to slowly bring the moisture content of the wood back up to a "normal" level. It isn't humidity or dryness per se that cracks a woodwind, it's a rapid change in the moisture content of the wood that does this - when the level of humidity in the layers of wood inside the bore far exceeds the level of humidity in the outer layers of the instrument. Oiling the instrument doesn't just help to keep additional unwanted moisture out of the wood, it also helps to keep a desirable amount of moisture in the wood, and keep it somewhat uniform. So I should think that as long as you are playing your whistle regularly, and keeping it swabbed out and oiled, you should haven't any problems with it.


(I need to learn to proof-read more, and edit less... )