Whistle in Key of F

selkie · Post by **selkie** » Wed Apr 09, 2003 5:27 pm

I spotted a whistle in the key of F. Would this be a useful whistle to get and would it be bflat? I thought a Bflat whistle played f.

msheldon · Post by **msheldon** » Wed Apr 09, 2003 7:44 pm

selkie wrote:I spotted a whistle in the key of F. Would this be a useful whistle to get and would it be bflat? I thought a Bflat whistle played f.

Yup, I find it quite useful. And yes, it's second major is Bb.

Useful for:

Playing along with Lunasa. Over half their sets are on the F whistle.
Playing with female vocalists. A number of female vocalists have a range coincidental with the F whistle.
Playing "mellower" tunes that you don't want to take all the way down to Low-D.

A Bb whistle plays second major Eb

littlejohngael · Post by **littlejohngael** » Wed Apr 09, 2003 8:08 pm

Who makes a good F whistle? I often thought I'd try a Generation until I got on Chiff board. Now Generations scare the heebeejeebees out of me.

Little John

msheldon · Post by **msheldon** » Wed Apr 09, 2003 8:12 pm

littlejohngael wrote:Who makes a good F whistle? I often thought I'd try a Generation until I got on Chiff board. Now Generations scare the heebeejeebees out of me.

Little John

I've been pretty happy with my Chieftain Gold low-F.

I'm thinking of getting a Water Weasel in F, My low-G is nice and crisp for the faster tunes.

Kevin Crawford Plays a Grinter low-F that sounds absolutely wonderful, but I don't have the money, or the patience to wait for one.

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Thu Apr 10, 2003 5:43 am

The Water Weasel low F is significantly harder to play than the low G. The finger stretch is huge. But it does sound very nice.

Kevin Crawford's Grinter kicks ass. Awesome whistle.

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Thu Apr 10, 2003 5:48 am

Selkie,

Are you talking about a high or low F? The previous answers mostly assume low, but Generation make a high F - which fits the pocket even easier then a D, and the finger stretch is less, but still possible for someone with large hands & fingers like me.

The High G is too much of a squeeze for me to play as more than a novelty.

So a High F could make a good travelling or walking whistle if you're playing alone.

selkie · Post by **selkie** » Thu Apr 10, 2003 6:10 am

It was actually the High F whistle I was wondering about.

littlejohngael · Post by **littlejohngael** » Thu Apr 10, 2003 7:06 am

Yep. I was wondering about the high F also, but I'm grateful for the chime-ins on the Low F. My WhOA is growing at a much greater rate than my income

, but I intend to run the whole gambit from the low whistles to the high whistles.

"... a good travelling or walking whistle if you're playing alone."

Martin, if you give the Generation high F a good plug, I'll go ahead and try one. ... but would you take it to a session?

Little John

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Thu Apr 10, 2003 10:16 am

Hi Littlejohn,

No, high F is not really a session whistle, you only need a D whistle for sessions maybe a C occasionally (at least where I come from that's all I'd need).

I like my Generation F, I recall Gen Fs have had good reviews on this board (the Eb and the F are both good). I've never had trouble with any generation, I'd have bought a set if I'd seen them for sale in the UK, but I have all the sizes anyway now.

Gens are so cheap anyway, what have you got to lose? My only caveat is that you'll probably have to unglue the head (the hot water method) and move it out a bit to get the whistle properly in tune.

After this thread of course, I'll have to whip out my Generation F when I get home and give it a few toots!

BTW, I have an Overton low F, nice tone but it takes a lot of warming before playing, and I usually play in short 20 minute Bursts. It is great for accompanying Lunasa tracks like "The Last Pint".

kevin m. · Post by **kevin m.** » Thu Apr 10, 2003 11:16 am

Hi Selkie,The Generation 'F' is a good buy,but be careful in removing the head for tweaking purposes- several people had reported that they are prone to cracking,and sure enough,mine did too when I attempted a tweak! However,I applied a touch of 'superglue' and all is well.
I bought the 'F',as Dale had given it a good review.Also I wanted to TRY and emulate Mary Bergin's recording of 'Liam O'Raghallaigh' on 'Feadoga Stain'.

msheldon · Post by **msheldon** » Thu Apr 10, 2003 12:07 pm

colomon wrote:The Water Weasel low F is significantly harder to play than the low G. The finger stretch is huge. But it does sound very nice.

Somehow I don't think that will be a problem for me. I play a Bass Bb with fingertips.

Oh, and for high-F whistles, nothing compares to my friend's Elfsong. I never thought a whistle that high could sound so sweet. The high-G sounds great too. A bit more pricey than a Generation, but my experience with Generations is that while a good one is wonderful, the majority of them are pure sh*t.

Funny thing here is that I don't have a prayer of being able to play a high-F or high-G. My fingers are far too large.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Thu Apr 10, 2003 12:16 pm

littlejohngael wrote:Who makes a good F whistle? I often thought I'd try a Generation until I got on Chiff board. Now Generations scare the heebeejeebees out of me.

Little John

I play Grinter and Overton low Fs. That'll do me. If you want something cheaper and/or purer, try a Burke—very reliable whistles

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Thu Apr 10, 2003 12:29 pm

Well now I've got far enough into this thread to realise that it was high Fs you were talking about Selkie, I'd better say that I've got a Generation and an Abell. In all honesty I'd have to recommend the Abell, if you don't mind taking out a second mortgage on the house. Actually, I'm so bad with my hands (except with musical instruments) that I reckon it cheaper to buy an Abell than to ruin 50 Generations trying to tweak them.

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Thu Apr 10, 2003 12:42 pm

Wombat wrote:Well now I've got far enough into this thread to realise that it was high Fs you were talking about Selkie, I'd better say that I've got a Generation and an Abell. In all honesty I'd have to recommend the Abell, if you don't mind taking out a second mortgage on the house. Actually, I'm so bad with my hands (except with musical instruments) that I reckon it cheaper to buy an Abell than to ruin 50 Generations trying to tweak them.

I suspect it's simpler than you think, Wombat. I've had to tweek all my Generations except the Eb, but only the Bb needed anything more than the blue-tack tweek. And for the Bb, all I had to do was to carefully file off the "flash" around the edge of the window.

Certainly worthwhile trying it on a Gen F before going into debt! (Though I avoid the F and G Generations for two good reasons: I find the high notes too shrill for enjoyment, and my medium-size-male hands are too large to comfortably finger them - even the Eb is a mite cramped for me.)

But for someone with small hands they're probably the easiest way to get into these keys, though if I need G major I just play it on the D whistle.

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Thu Apr 10, 2003 1:17 pm

msheldon wrote:Somehow I don't think that will be a problem for me. I play a Bass Bb with fingertips.

Okay, I'm officially impressed.

Funny thing here is that I don't have a prayer of being able to play a high-F or high-G. My fingers are far too large.

Same here -- I tried to play a beautiful little Thin Weasel high G once, and discovered my fingers actually overlapped when they were that close together. Ick.

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