Fred Rose D Whistle -Review

[Cayden]

I recently aquired a Fred Rose whistle in the key of D, currently the only key offering by Fred. I had long admired the Fred Rose whistle in photographs and thought to myself that they appeared to be something special on face value. Some inner voice told me that the photographs did not do the Rose due justice. That inner voice was right, this is indeed a special whistle. My Fred Rose D whistle was obtained on the secondary market and not directly from the maker.

Upon receiving my Rose whistle, I inspected it in hand and was immediately awe struck by the level of craftsmanship exhibited in this finely made instrument. Fred Rose has been makings woodwind instruments for over 20 years with his focus being on flutes and whistles.

As I looked the whistle over, I marveled at the total design from an aesthetic perspective. The shape of a Fred Rose whistle has always grabbed my attention as being more sculptural than the standard cylindrical and conical forms of most whistles. Fred recently told me that he turns each individual whistle on a lathe using hand tools to shape the sultry African Blackwood and that he does not use a duplicating lathe nor a template to shape his whistles. In the process, Fred imparts the subtle yet unmistaken curves that distinguish each piece as an individual Fred Rose whistle. The resulting curves along the entire shaft of the whistle create a flare or widening at the junction of the two sections at the tuning slide, and again at the foot of the instrument where a very subtle bell shape is noted. Fred told me that the ferrules and mouthpiece of his earlier whistles were gold plated but that he found a subsequent change over to sterling silver adornments to compliment the African Blackwood in a way that he found to be more pleasing to the eye. Looking at all of the visual elements of a Fred Rose whistle including the sculpted body, the sharp contrast of the sterling silver adornments at the foot, tuning slide juncture, and mouthpiece, with the rich dark tone of the African Blackwood, the tightly grained cedar block visible at the aft end of the whistle, the well centered and finely edged tone holes on the body, and the unobtrusive "ROSE" engraved into the topside of the tone body, I fully concur that the whistle is a composition of visual delight. Each Fred Rose whistle is an individual creation of the maker's hands.

The overall balance of the whistle in hand is consistent throughout it's total length and the whistle is quite light and comfortable to hold while playing. The silver mouthpiece forms a gentle arch and rests gentley on the lower lip with no rough edges to irritate the skin. The total length is 29.0 cm / 11.4" with the all brass tuning slide fully closed. The tuning slide is finely machined brass on brass construction, operates smoothly, and holds positive adjustment as set by the player. The lower section of the whistle is 20.90 cm / 8.2" long. The upper section and mouthpiece of the whistle is 7.90 cm / 3.1" long. Both the lower and upper sections are turned in African Blackwood. The mouthpiece is sterling silver and the block is cedar. The windway is .10 cm / .03" in height and is .70 cm / .27" in width, and is of a curved design. Despite lengthy playing sessions, no clogging issues of the windway were noted. Fred told me that his design of the windway incorporates hand carving of the roof along it's entire length. Fred is able to adjust tonal and volume charateristics on each whistle he makes but admits there is a "sweet spot" he aims for based on his own experience and preference. I got the impression that Fred would work very diligently to meet the specifications of his clients. His dedication to craftsmanship and fine instrument making is clearly evident.

Fred works his windway and window design to very exacting tolerances that he notes make for specific tonal qualities. The intonation of the whistle I have seems to be spot on. I found back pressure to be moderate and air requirments were very low allowing the player some real stretch between breaths. The internal diameter of the bore at 1.2 cm / .51" along with the design of the windway and window seem to minimize air requirements and there is very little perception of the extraneous sound of air moving through the whistle as is noted in some instruments of differing designs. Responsiveness was crisp, sure, and very natural. Transition between octaves was very smooth and there is a distinctive break point that is easily manipulated after a short play on the whistle to get the feel of it. I found that I was able to climb higher into the third octave than I have ever been able to do on any other whistle I have played. Changes in air demand relative to octave shift are quite minor throughout the first and second octave with demand increasing into the third. What I consider to be shrillness and harshness is near absent in the first and second octaves. The overall tone is quite pure and warm with the slightest hint of rasp at the low end, a real sweetness at the high end and minimal chiff noted.

As whistles go, the Fred Rose D is in a very special class of instruments and I have already dubbed mine "Miss Rose". Her shapely curved figure, dark complexion, silver highlights, and pure warm voice are akin to that of a beautiful lady.

I have seen references made to the Fred Rose being comparable to the venerable whistles made by Chris Abell. I could not fairly state that as I have not had the experience of playing an Abell. None the less, that is certainly fine company to be keeping and a compliment to Fred Rose.

Fred told me that he needs to update his current website and that the price for his whistles listed on the site do not reflect his actual current price of £250 or $403.27 USD. My whistle came in a well constructed protective case with interior loops for the seperate sections of the whistle. I believe Fred's whistles come with a bore swab and instructions for maintaining a wooden instrument. Fred currently has a wait period of 4 to 6 months for his whistles which are surely worth enduring. Fred can be reached via his email contactmon his website at http://www.fredrose.co.uk.

Hey, I have to go, "Miss Rose" is calling me.

Cheers,
Cayden

[ytliek]

Cayden's whistle... Fred Rose key D in African Blackwood with Silver Ferrules

[Cayden]

As a note of update, Fred Rose has advised me that his more current whistles feature a block constructed in African Blackwood instead of the previously used cedar.

Cayden

[E = Fb]

Nicely written! I've never played a Rose, but they've always been well spoken of. I have owned two Abell's. My preference is for the one in blackwood and I sold off the Delrin, not that there was anything wrong with it. My only criticism of the Abell whistles is the short "beak". I like to have some of the whistle IN my mouth. It looks like the Rose has this same "shortcoming". I've dealt with this by heating up the end of a piece of food grade tubing and sliding it on, then trim to whatever size works for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8Rdg2z4boE

[Cayden]

Nicely written! I've never played a Rose, but they've always been well spoken of. I have owned two Abell's. My preference is for the one in blackwood and I sold off the Delrin, not that there was anything wrong with it. My only criticism of the Abell whistles is the short "beak". I like to have some of the whistle IN my mouth. It looks like the Rose has this same "shortcoming". I've dealt with this by heating up the end of a piece of food grade tubing and sliding it on, then trim to whatever size works for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8Rdg2z4boE

E=Fb,

As stated, I have not played an Abell, though I had read of your previous adaptation to play it. I find no real problem with having just enough beak / mouthpiece of the Rose in my mouth to play the whistle with ease. Give a Rose a try if you get the chance.

Cayden

[argofoto]

I have an older design Fred Rose, all blackwood with no ferrules, and most definitely agree that it is a wonderful piece of craftsmanship with beautiful tune. My only qualm I find is that the higher register is a bit tricky to coax (tighter emboucheres, harder blows), and loud, especially the high B. I suppose most whistles are like this, but then some people do it so seemlessly it makes me wonder... So I wonder what the newer Fred Rose is like in this respect?

[Narsoron]

Nicely written! I've never played a Rose, but they've always been well spoken of. I have owned two Abell's. My preference is for the one in blackwood and I sold off the Delrin, not that there was anything wrong with it. My only criticism of the Abell whistles is the short "beak". I like to have some of the whistle IN my mouth. It looks like the Rose has this same "shortcoming". I've dealt with this by heating up the end of a piece of food grade tubing and sliding it on, then trim to whatever size works for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8Rdg2z4boE

Though I do understand your point about Abell's short beak, having owned a D/C set for just under a year now I'd be willing to bet that it is something that adds to the ease of playability. A minor adjustment but I'm sure that the decrease in length of the windway aids to a more instant response.

I've never had the opportunity to play a Rose though I desperately want to. Both the Rose and Abell are true works of art.

[Feadoggie]

I'm sure that the decrease in length of the windway aids to a more instant response.

I find that statement to be totally counter-intuitive. How would you think that works? Just curious.

Feadoggie

[Narsoron]

I'm sure that the decrease in length of the windway aids to a more instant response.

I find that statement to be totally counter-intuitive. How would you think that works? Just curious.

Feadoggie

I would think that by decreasing the length of the beak/windway and putting the mouthpiece as close to the blade as possible, that it would decrease the amount of time it takes for the air to cross the blade, providing for a more instant sounding.
In the interest of intellectual discussion why would you find it to be counter-intuitive? I'll admit that my knowledge of the physics of whistles is limited so my mind is open to constructive criticism.

[Feadoggie]

Yes, I can understand your line of thinking and I imagined it might be something like that. Thanks. And I can see that it is a reasonable thought from the perspective of the distance and therefor the time it would take to get the air from the lips to the edge of the blade is more immediate.

In the interest of intellectual discussion why would you find it to be counter-intuitive?

Well a couple things come into mind. "Response" is the issue to think about. So how do we define "response". For the sake of discussion let's start by postulating that it has to do with how fast the whistle speaks with a stable tone and how quickly the shift from one note to another takes place.

Keep in mind I'm just speaking from my experiences/experiments and I am always glad to hear the experiences of others.

The ultimate in short windways is an edge blown flute. As you might expect, the quickness of the tome generation and quality of the tone is entirely up to the embouchure of the player. Does that sound reasonable? Put an inexperienced player behind an edge blown flute and you might not get a consistent tone for awhile. Practice and patience overcomes the lack of a windway to direct the jet of air to the blade. In the end it is a matter of consistent focus.

I make whistles as a hobby, several hundred to date. Much of what I did early on was to experiment with the variables in whistle design to see what worked and hopefully figure out why. Windway length was one variable I tested about ten years ago.

To keep things short here, the reactions I have collected from other players indicated that short windways were felt to lack control, were thought to be less stable, create pitch issues(control related?) and produce an unfocused tone. Windways of 3/4" seemed to be a minimum point where those concerns were being addressed. And a windway of an inch or just over seemed to be what most players preferred.

Now there are a lot of other variables that could have been at play there. But does any of that have an effect on response? I think it does. And it comes down to the delivery of a steady and smooth jet of air to the voicing window and the blade. Assume the walls, floor and ceiling of the windway are all smooth. Well, it seems that one of the functions a windway provides is as a buffer between the player and the tone generator which evens out the smallest changes that can be inadvertently introduced by the player. An ultimate version of this type of thinking might be an English flagolet with the sponge filled air chamber. Come to think of it several other flutes use the same logic like some NAF designs.e

So does the longer windway reduce the time it takes for the whistle to speak? Here's my thinking. No matter how long one may be, there is air in the windway. So when the player blows into the end of the windway it's not their breath that hits the blade first but the air that was in the windway being forced out by the player. There may be some compression of the air within the windway to get that air up to the speed at which it causes the air pressure differential in the window to start the vibrations resulting in a stable tone. But the time for that to occur is negligible since the pressure inside the tube and outside the tube is already there and it take so little additional pressure at the window to start an oscillation.

So that's some of my thinking. Probably all over the map and not a well thought out line of logic. And we are not even talking about how window size and ramp shape contribute to initial response.

And then there is the response of the whistle from note to note which I would submit has more to do with the bore, hole size, finish and and profile.

How's that?

Feadoggie

[syn whistles]

seems that one of the functions a windway provides is as a buffer between the player and the tone generator which evens out the smallest changes that can be inadvertently introduced by the player.

How's that?

Feadoggie

That's always been the intuition behind my approach. That the stream of air hitting the blade needs to be as controlled as possible and a long windway is a good method of doing so. Anecdotal evidence seems to agree.

Didn't know you followed cricket?

[Tunborough]

I haven't seen the paper, but the abstract of a 2000 paper by Ségoufin, et al., says: "Shortening the channel seems to allow a better control of the instrument at low blowing pressures and makes the sound spectrum richer in high harmonics, but it also reduces considerably the pressure at which the instrument overblows."

The speed of the air leaving the windway determines a lot of what happens with the note, particularly where it overblows. Turbulence in the air leaving the windway presumably contributes to control and consistency of tone. A short channel needs less mouth pressure to get a given air speed, but it is more likely to be turbulent. A longer channel needs higher mouth pressure, but is more likely to be laminar (non-turbulent).

From what I know of NAFs, they seem tailor-made to produce laminar flow, and don't care much about higher registers. Whistles need more of a compromise.