Geoffrey Ellis Whistles

Feadoggie · Post by **Feadoggie** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:14 am

After reading a post on the flute board I was wondering if anyone here has experience with the low D whistles made by Geoffrey Ellis? They can be seen and heard here. http://www.earthtoneflutes.com/Whistles.html

These are not to be confused with the whistles by the UK maker of aluminum high whistles. http://www.elliswhistles.co.uk/default.asp

Just curious. Thanks.

Feadoggie

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:38 am

Feadoggie,
I have no personal experience with these whistles and had not heard of them until reading your post. I will say this, they sure are purrrrrrrty! Soundclips sounded nice for what that's worth. They are some stunning lookers for sure. I love the look of a beautiful wooden whistle.

Cayden

squirrel · Post by **squirrel** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:51 am

Geoffrey Ellis is one of the most renowned native flute makers and his flutes are played and endorsed by professional/recording artists. In the last years he started making irish flutes, xiao and now also low whistles.
Every kind of instruments made by Geoffrey is a beauty so I'm sure that also these new low whistles will be the same.
I know he is also working on high whistles.

Feadoggie · Post by **Feadoggie** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:37 am

squirrel wrote:Geoffrey Ellis is one of the most renowned native flute makers

Thanks, Squirrel. I am aware of his reputation in NAF circles. I was wondering if anyone has had a chance to play his low whistles? They certainly are mouth-watering eye candy but I was wondering how they actually play.

I see that Ellis credits Kevin Reams of the Piper's Grip website, medit8b1 here, with helping him prototype the whistle. So perhaps he can say more about these whistles.

They do have a derivative MK look to their design.

Feadoggie

Geoffrey Ellis · Post by **Geoffrey Ellis** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 1:40 pm

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this forum as a posting member, though I've been lurking for many years. As was mentioned, I started my flute making journey with the Native American style flute, but in the last five years I've taken a strong interest in other kinds of woodwinds, and for the last three years I've been doing serious research and development around creating low whistles, Irish flutes and wooden head joints for silver flutes. The whistles were the first to be ready to launch, but the Irish flutes and head joints will be going public this fall.

I was fortunate to know some serious whistle aficionados who were able to assist me, in particular Kevin Reams. Kevin and I have known one another through the NAF community for some ten years, and I knew him to be an avid whistler with very high standards and an eye and ear for detail. I engaged him in the capacity of Ruthless Field Tester! I wanted someone who knew their way around a whistle (and who had played a wide variety of them) to play my prototypes and to be brutally honest with me about how they stacked up. His assistance proved invaluable. He was ideal for the job because he had a great, helpful attitude but I knew he wouldn't pull his punches or give me any praise that was not earned.

If they have any similarities to the work of Misha Somerville, there is a good reason for that

They are heavily influenced by his design, and I don't mind admitting that figuring out a way to approach that sort of design using wood instead of metal was...challenging. That sounds better than "heinously difficult and frustrating", doesn't it? His work is superb and if I was going to seek inspiration from metal whistles then I doubt I could find better than MKs.

Hopefully some of the hard core whistlers will eventually try my wooden versions and be able to provide reviews and feedback (I appreciate hearing any evaluations, positive or negative).

Feadoggie · Post by **Feadoggie** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 2:23 pm

Geoffrey, welcome to the C&F whistle forum. Or should I say thank you for stepping forth from the shadows?

Geoffrey Ellis wrote:Hopefully some of the hard core whistlers will eventually try my wooden versions and be able to provide reviews and feedback (I appreciate hearing any evaluations, positive or negative).

Well, here's a thought. Some makers have in the past undertaken a whistle tour to solicit evaluations and to get the feedback flowing. I'd certainly be up to trying one of your whistles. Just a thought. If you'd be up for it, I'd be happy to assist.

Thanks for joining in on the forum.

Feadoggie

Steve Bliven · Post by **Steve Bliven** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 2:37 pm

And I'd be very interested in trying a tour version of the whistle.

Best wishes.

Steve

Geoffrey Ellis · Post by **Geoffrey Ellis** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 2:55 pm

Feadoggie wrote:Geoffrey, welcome to the C&F whistle forum. Or should I say thank you for stepping forth from the shadows?

Geoffrey Ellis wrote:Hopefully some of the hard core whistlers will eventually try my wooden versions and be able to provide reviews and feedback (I appreciate hearing any evaluations, positive or negative).
Well, here's a thought. Some makers have in the past undertaken a whistle tour to solicit evaluations and to get the feedback flowing. I'd certainly be up to trying one of your whistles. Just a thought. If you'd be up for it, I'd be happy to assist.

Thanks for joining in on the forum.

Feadoggie

Interesting. Can you tell me a bit more about what a whistle tour is? How have such things been coordinated in the past?

Feadoggie · Post by **Feadoggie** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 3:06 pm

Geoffrey Ellis wrote:Interesting. Can you tell me a bit more about what a whistle tour is? How have such things been coordinated in the past?

Geoffrey, I would be happy to outline the process. We can do that offline if you would like. I will send you a PM (personal message) here on C&F with some thoughts.

Feadoggie

maki · Post by **maki** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 4:01 pm

Hello Geoffrey Ellis, welcome to the forum.
I followed the link to your page a looked at the low whistles you make.
Yep, drop dead beautiful.
The music clips are very nice too.
Nice to have you with us.

ytliek · Post by **ytliek** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 4:34 pm

Geoffrey, welcome to the Whistle Forum. I'm just a newbie around here.

Wood... niceeee... beauty is in the eye of the beholder and mine eyes is beholding beauty!

Precious little stick that is

Geoffrey Ellis · Post by **Geoffrey Ellis** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 5:59 pm

Thanks to you all for such a warm welcome and for your kind words about my work! Very excited to be here

Titmouse · Post by **Titmouse** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 3:00 am

Hello Geoffrey,

I'm also a newbie here and a newbie to the Irish Flute as well. I love your work (I must since I have 5 of your flutes already) and I hope to get one of your Low D's someday. However, I think that it would be a good idea for me to first master the Piper's grip.

I'll see you back at the Portal.

Cheers,
Art

ecohawk · Post by **ecohawk** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 9:38 am

Welcome Geoffrey. I'd throw my name in the hat for a whistle tour and review as well.

ecohawk

Geoffrey Ellis · Post by **Geoffrey Ellis** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 12:20 pm

I'm currently in talks with a long time member about the possibility of their organizing a tour on my behalf. Being the new kid on the block I thought it best if a known member of the community kick things off. If it works out, then hopefully I'll be sending out some whistles on tour soon. Additionally, I'm hoping to send some of my Pratten flutes on tour as well (for those of you who play both).

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