Humphrey Narrow Bore D Whistle Review

[Bloomfield]

Thanks Bloomy for the explanation, I'm getting over-excited now after reading this

Would you say that a concertina (fully chromatic) is tuned in equal temperament?

..........

You are thanking him for an explanation
you didn't seem to understand.
Ergo your redundant question.

:roll:

Hiedee Hoedee Everybowdee
I am a feckless NEWBIE
So come on all you knowitalls
sock it to me ! sock it to me !


Sorry about the late confession
but after 35 years of piping
I cannot see my profession
So I guess I'll settle for NEWBIE
It seems to be the fashion

Hiedee Hoedee Everybowdee
I am a feckless NEWBIE
So come on all you knowitalls
sock it to me ! sock it to me !

P.S. Tally:
"You are thanking him.... Ergo your redundant question."
Should you really be bandying "ergos" about?

[talasiga]

..............
P.S. Tally:
"You are thanking him.... Ergo your redundant question."
Should you really be bandying "ergos" about?

Dearest FlowerPasture,
"Ergo" means "therefore" and it involves 5 less key strokes.
I do not like to wank with my words.
Yours truly,
Cowpie.

[Cayden]

Tony has put the soundsample up at:

http://tinwhistletunes.com/clipssnip/Au ... PeterL.mp3

[Wombat]

A concertina may be tunes in a slightly different tuning as a compromise, Geoff Wooff has tuned concertinas in 'mean Tone Comma'. which sounded very sweet but don't ask me what it is exactly.

Not many people would try to play even a three row anglo in every key. I know players who can transpose fluently, but not many. Playing in the more 'distant' keys is a right pain involving a lot of jumping around and the button layout has no logic to it when you get far out. So it would be quite possible to tune an anglo to a compromise tuning which would do quite well in most of the commonly used keys. If you played in contexts that required more flexibility, you'd need more than one instrument. Several players prefer to use differently tuned instruments for keys like Eb and Bb anyway, by which I mean that they abandon the C/G for something like a C#/G#.

[BoneQuint]

Concertinas (through the early 1900s) were originally tuned to a "mean tone" scale. Even after equal temperament came into fashion, some makers kept to mean tone, "claiming they would rather have only some keys pure than 'spoil' them altogether with 'equal' temperament." (Hilding Bergquist, 1949.) And English concertinas, with 2 duplicate notes per octave, were especially suited to non-equal temperaments: "Wheatstone concertinas were from the beginning tuned in a mean-tone tuning, in which D-sharp and E-flat were tuned differently, as were G-sharp and A-flat." (Wayne, Birley & Gaskins, 2001.)

[talasiga]

Concertinas (through the early 1900s) were originally tuned to a "mean tone" scale. Even after equal temperament came into fashion, some makers kept to mean tone, "claiming they would rather have only some keys pure than 'spoil' them altogether with 'equal' temperament." (Hilding Bergquist, 1949.) And English concertinas, with 2 duplicate notes per octave, were especially suited to non-equal temperaments: "Wheatstone concertinas were from the beginning tuned in a mean-tone tuning, in which D-sharp and E-flat were tuned differently, as were G-sharp and A-flat." (Wayne, Birley & Gaskins, 2001.)

References and all.
Impeccable scholarship.
Interesting comments from both you and Wombat.
Thank you.

I also play an (Indian) harmonium - very nice old one (A448) .
However when I play D, F# and A or any other chord
its always a bit off
and my Korg tuner does not recognise it
cf a D chord on a good guitar which registers D on the tuner.

Any comments on this from anybaddy?

[SirNick]

Peter,
Your tune is fantastic! After hearing it, I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with my Humphrey! It doesn't sound anything like that. It plays a lot slower and seems to make lots of mistakes. Sure, the tone is just the same, but the playing sounds different. I'm sure it's the whistle and not me! I should speak to Gary about this!!!

[glauber]

Concertinas (through the early 1900s) were originally tuned to a "mean tone" scale. Even after equal temperament came into fashion, some makers kept to mean tone, "claiming they would rather have only some keys pure than 'spoil' them altogether with 'equal' temperament." (Hilding Bergquist, 1949.) And English concertinas, with 2 duplicate notes per octave, were especially suited to non-equal temperaments: "Wheatstone concertinas were from the beginning tuned in a mean-tone tuning, in which D-sharp and E-flat were tuned differently, as were G-sharp and A-flat." (Wayne, Birley & Gaskins, 2001.)

This makes sense. The same happened with pipe organs. Remember that instruments that sustain their notes have much more trouble with equal temperament than instruments where the notes decay, like the piano and guitar.

g

[Bloomfield]

..............
P.S. Tally:
"You are thanking him.... Ergo your redundant question."
Should you really be bandying "ergos" about?

Dearest FlowerPasture,
"Ergo" means "therefore" and it involves 5 less key strokes.

If you *do* know what ergo means, why not start using it correctly?
(a) A thanks B ... ergo A's redundant question; or
(b) A doesn't understand B ... ergo A's redundant question.
Which did you say? Ask Wombat if you're struggling here, it's no disgrace.

I do not like to wank with my words.

Ah, you little naughty boy, lying like that! Come on, tell the truth, now.

[Azalin]

Tala,

Even though we all know that you don't have a clue when it comes down to sitting down and playing some ITM, I'm sure your knowledge of music theory is limitless.

About thanking Bloomy for something I didnt understand, well, I thanked him for taking the time to explain. If I can understand or not, that's my problem, but at least he's made the effort

[Bretton]

I just received a WIDE bore D from Mr. Humphrey, and it's quite nice. I've only had it for about 2 hours so I'll wait on posting pics and a review, but I'm very happy with it so far...

I didn't really do it intentionally, but I've sold many of my whistles and I now have ended up with three Humphreys (retro-fit head on Oak body, complete PVC, and now wide bore D brass). The only other whistle I currrently own is a Bb Water Weasel.

-Brett

[susnfx]

I can't believe this. I just sat down and read this entire thread. Haven't played a whistle in three months due to life. Haven't had WhOA in a year. Now, after reading this thread, I can't get to Gary's website fast enough! Thanks a lot folks.

Susan

[BoneQuint]

About thanking Bloomy for something I didnt understand, well, I thanked him for taking the time to explain.

Just to be clear: your question about concertinas in no way indicated a lack of understanding.

[raindog1970]

The only other whistle I currrently own is a Bb Water Weasel.

Ah, so at least you still have one good whistle in your collection!
Glenn Schultz is a real whistle maker with years of experience under his belt... I'm just a 'Johnny-come-lately'.
I'd like to take this opportunity to say that if it weren't for Glenn graciously answering my questions and offering tips as I learned the trade, I seriously doubt that I'd be enjoying all the compliments I've been receiving lately.
My sincerest thanks to Glenn for all his help, and to all of you who have spoken so kindly about my whistles.
And not to leave anyone out - thanks also to the other whistle makers who took the time to talk shop with me.

[TonyHiggins]

Gary, would you mind explaining the differences in sound, etc between your narrow and wide bore whistles?
Tony