What Material Do You Prefer?

[dapple]

To my earlier post in which I said that my favorite materials are Aluminum and Bakelite Composite, let me add Delrin.

During my one year of whistling, I have purchase approximately twenty whistles, and none of them are wood. I have kept to non-wood materials because I have learned from reading C&F (where I have obtained most of my knowledge about the instruments) that wood whistles require more maintenance, including oiling, can crack, are susceptible to temperature and humidity changes, need to be properly broken in, etc.

Since wood require more maintenance, what makes wood desirable? Would a wood Busman sound woodier than my Delrin Busman? Can I get more depth and complexity of sound from a wood whistle than I get from my Overtons? Does a wood whistle play any easier than my Burkes? Does wood simply feel better?

I certainly am not trying to convince anyone that wood isn’t the best material or shouldn’t be his or her favorite material; I just want to understand. Those people who have said they prefer wood have not said why, and I’d like to know. Maybe some day I will try wood, but I don’t know why I would.

[TooTs]

I like my wood cause it sounds better than my metal ones.



This was made in an Afgan refugee camp, i retuned it and refinished it. It's got such a lovely sound.

[oscartherabbit]

Definately PVC.

[izzarina]

I said wood. Wood is just so warm and wonderful sounding. I love it.

[Wanderer]

I'm of the opinion that the internal dimensions of an instrument have more to do with how an instrument sounds than the material...
I've heard nickel and brass copelands played in the same session, for instance, and they seem practically indistinguishable.

So, I chose wood..because I think it just looks so classy

[dapple]

Thanks for your comments. Wood, indeed, does look classy, and well-finished wood whistles are incomparably beautiful, but I remember reading comments by C&F members about how, if blindfolded, they could not tell the difference between, for instance, their wood and Delrin Busmans.

[Unseen122]

The only reason I don't have a wooden whsitle is that I can't afford one but I like wooden instruments in general I feel more connected to the instrument when it is wooden because it is organic.

[RonKiley]

I do not have a wood whistle. I want one. However, we must establish priorities. I need a miter saw more than a wood whistle. After all a miter saw can cut wood. It might even cut the blank for a wooden whistle head. Maybe a wood head and a brass or aluminum tube.

Just thinking.

Ron