Burkes: What do you think?

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 12:15 pm

Sorry, Wombat, already gave mine away!

It was a good whistle, too good to stay unplayed in my drawer. Before i gave it away i used it as a tuning reference.

Whistles are priced according to what American collectors will pay for them. How else would you price "a bit of pipe with 6 holes in it"?

I have to say that that Burke saved whistlng for me: having paid $100 for it, i decided that i needed to invest the extra effort to learn how to play.

But in retrospect, even right after i got the Burke, it was hard to explain the difference in price between it and, say, a Sweetone. Sure, the Burke is better, but is it really $95 better? Is it really 20 times better?

Nothing against Michael Burke, BTW. He's a nice guy and makes great whistles.

Ione · Post by **Ione** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 2:01 pm

Is it worth more than a sweettone? I just received my Burke DAN yesterday. My first impression was, it's Beautiful. When I played it, I have to admit I thought, does it really sound better than my $15 Oak? But after playing it for 5 minutes, I discovered that the difference between my Burke and the Oak is what I can do with it. It is vastly more flexible- it can take an octave change quickly and precisely. It responds better. It sounds more refined. And it is tuneable, which is absolutely necessary when playing with other instruments. The craftsmanship is far, far, far superior - there is a huge beauty factor there. My experience, brief as it has been, is that it was well worth the difference in price.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 2:03 pm

Ione wrote:Is it worth more than a sweettone? .

Anything is worth more than a Sweetone. :roll:

stiofan · Post by **stiofan** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 2:38 pm

the primary quality I've found with the Burke I have (brass blacktip in D) is that the tuning is spot on - no need to blow notes into tune, no question of one note being in tune while another's not, etc. Put simply, it's reliable. Apart from the tuning, imo it has responsivity that "lower-end" whistles often lack. However, I find the Burke to require just a bit more control than, say one of the Generations or Clares I also play. Yes, I wonder too, if this is an "American thing," as I haven't seen many Burkes in Ireland or elsewhere, though that could change in the years to come. I'm also interested in the Burke whistles in low keys, e.g., low D, and may give the Viper a try before long, since Mike Burke doesn't make low whistles in brass (which is what I would prefer). As for the cost, imo $120 is fair enough for an instrument that you can always count on.

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 7:41 pm

Peter Laban wrote:
Ione wrote:Is it worth more than a sweettone? .
Anything is worth more than a Sweetone. :roll:

AMEN to that!!!!

My Sweetone stayed in my possession only as long as it took for me to give it to some poor unsuspecting soul.

vomitbunny · Post by **vomitbunny** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 7:54 pm

Uh.....it's worth two bucks more than a meg isn't it?
I actually like my sweetone and megs. I like that ocarina like sound every once in a while. Try tweeking one and see how you like it. Or order it tweeked. What ever.

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 8:11 pm

I liked my D Sweetone a lot. I eventually gave it to Mack Hoover. It's ok, he gave me a nice whistle too.

Other than not being tuneable, i didn't have any complaints. But people who are trained on the Generations often don't like them.

I also had a C Sweetone, which i didn't like.

g

Eric N · Post by **Eric N** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 9:02 pm

glauber wrote:I liked my D Sweetone a lot. I eventually gave it to Mack Hoover. It's ok, he gave me a nice whistle too. Other than not being tuneable, i didn't have any complaints. But people who are trained on the Generations often don't like them.

I also had a C Sweetone, which i didn't like.

g

When I first got my Sweetone I hated it. The sound sounded...well...weak. So I left it for a while and played my Oak. I was suprised to come back to the Sweetone some time laster to decover that as much as the sound isn't the best in the world it really is easy to play, expecially in the second octave compared to my Oak and Gen. As much as I think Sweetones have a poor sound, they do make excellent beginner whistles for people such as myself trying to get the mechanics down.

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 9:06 pm

glauber wrote:I liked my D Sweetone a lot. I eventually gave it to Mack Hoover. It's ok, he gave me a nice whistle too. Other than not being tuneable, i didn't have any complaints. But people who are trained on the Generations often don't like them.

I also had a C Sweetone, which i didn't like.

g

The other day, I twisted the head right off of the Sweetone in my whistle drawer, and stuck a gob of cork grease on it. Made it just as tunable as any other cheap whistle that you do the hot-water-trick on.

The trick is to twist in the same direction as the solder seam.

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 9:16 pm

I like the playability of my C Sweetone but it's horribly out of tune and the 'Cnat' requires 4 holes covered, which I do not like.

tuaz · Post by **tuaz** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 9:27 pm

Yep. It's the tuning on the Sweetone C - completely off.

The Meg C's tuning is actually better, altho it costs less.
Meg D is ok.

Tonewise, I don't like how they sound, but that's personal preference.

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 9:45 pm

tuaz wrote:Yep. It's the tuning on the Sweetone C - completely off.

The Meg C's tuning is actually better, altho it costs less.
Meg D is ok.

Tonewise, I don't like how they sound, but that's personal preference.

I think the tuning on the Meg C is pretty hit-or-miss. Sometimes you can improve it slightly by sliding the head out a bit, but mine isn't really in tune with itself. I've tried Sweetone C's that seem to have the same problem.

If I wanted another cheap (but good) C whistle I'd get a Walton's or Oak.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 10:33 pm

Peter Laban wrote:Well I suppose I never saw the point in getting one, they are OK most of the time but Bloomfield pretty much had it down, they just don't have the added value to justify their price and I know that's not just me thinking that. Sorry so, i have nothing to send you Wombat.

I don't deny that there can be overpriced whistles, and bargains for that matter. I just think that Burke are about right for what you get. I think they are in the same bracket as Sindt. Sindts are a bit cheaper and I currently prefer them to Burkes so I suppose I think they are slightly better value. It's actually some other whistles in this price range that I think aren't in this league that I'd regard as overpriced, along with a lot of more expensive ones. But I think that Busmans and Overtons, to name only two, are well worth the money.

I actually don't need any more high whistles in the common keys although the search for the perfect Gen continues. But if someone offered me Burkes in, say, Db B and Ab at a bargain price I'd be very tempted.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 2:53 am

Overtons imho are vastly superior to Burkes and are one of the best values in whistledom, although less so since the US-dollar went soft against the Euro. And considering the effort that goes into each Overton compared to the effort that goes into each Burke, is one of the reasons I think Burkes are overpriced. But I realize of course that price is what people will pay, not cost to the seller. So no offence to anyone.