A Review

talasiga · Post by **talasiga** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:11 am

Anyone have any A whistles? I am biased towards a Bleazey.
I have many whistles but not as low as A.
Please discuss any A whistle at your leisure here.
Any with Bleazey? Anything?

Thanks for comments.

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 6:46 am

My only A is a Colin Goldie Overton, anodized electric blue (to match my PT Cruiser, naturally). I love this whistle. The low register in particular is sensuous and warm sounding. Playing it down there actually FEELS good. The upper register is fine too. This, like other aluminium whistles, needs a good warming up to deliver it's best.

Wormdiet · Post by **Wormdiet** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 7:52 am

I found the susato A to be very difficult to play because of the way the holes were cut. Not sure what the issue was, but it was very difficult to seal eveything adequately.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 8:23 am

My only A is a brass Serpent with copper fittings. I like this whistle--Bill got a lot right with this one--but like any heavy metal whistle, it needs to be gently warmed up to play its best.

It's got a thick sound, rich with overtones, and not as much air in the sound as many of his whistles. The only downside is it's a heavy whistle with high backpressure and can be tiring to play for more than a few tunes.

It's the middle whistle in this pic:

--James

chas · Post by **chas** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 8:36 am

My go-to A is a Water Weasel. I think the A and Bflat are the gems of the WW line. I also have a beautiful tulipwood Thin Weasel A that's fantastic, but for some reason, prefer the additional heft of the WW.

I had a Sindt A for some time that was just too pure and sweet sounding for my ears. I suspect I'm in the minority on that one; they generally get rave reviews around these parts, and they're good enough for Mike and Mary Rafferty.

PhilO · Post by **PhilO** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 8:43 am

My As are Copeland, Abell (part of a Bflat/A set), WW (part of a Bflat/A set). The Copeland is the gem of the lot and probably my favorite Copeland after the G - it's less finicky than some and very well balanced; add the usual strong earthy tone and there ya go. The Abell is also very good but a bit weaker than the Bflat of the set, which is my favorite Bflat. The WW is also good and a great value, but again a bit weaker than the Bflat of the set; nevertheless it has really full strong sound and volume and is well balanced as well.

I recently sold an Alba A (part of a A/G set) which was the stronger of the set and had a really unique Alba tone with a little more air in the tone than the others.
Philo

Brewster · Post by **Brewster** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 9:11 am

I agree with Chas. I have the WW Bb/A set that I bought from Glenn a year ago. It's amazing what Glenn was able to do with PVC. It has a nice tone with a little chiff and I don't have to baby it with the air pressure. Let it rip! That said, of this set, I enjoy playing the Bb set-up more, as the grip is more comfortable for me.

lisdoonvarna · Post by **lisdoonvarna** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:24 pm

I have Generation Bb I bought a few months ago and tweaked it into an A. I really like it. Both registers are very reliable, in pitch and sound very good. . There was thread running about it some months ago where I described how to do the tweak. It was fun and the whistle ended up costing under eight dollars. Let me know if you want the instructions.
Lisdoonvarna

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 4:31 pm

Doc Jones has a Bb/A Abell set, that is worth considering. The Abell High D I tried once was amazing.

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 5:27 pm

I've got two...a Burke Aluminum that is lovely and an Abell A that I prefer because it has more back pressure and is a bit quieter. Both are great instruments.

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 8:08 pm

MMM, I've had a bunch of A's and most of them were nice, but all very different: Abell, Copeland, WW, Sindt, and several others. My very favorite is an Overton A I got from Colin, which would be followed very closely by the Copeland A I had, and was forced to sell.

With A whistles, even more so than with the D's, I think it boils down to what you're looking for in sound and playability, I mean the Sindt is miles away from the Overton in those regards, as is the Copeland from the Abell, and so on.

Lots of good A whistles out there, have fun with the search!

Loren

gallant_murray · Post by **gallant_murray** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:03 pm

I'm rather in love with my Shaw A. I realize that this puts me on the fringes of society, but I can accept that.
Ramzy

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:39 pm

jammino wrote:I'm rather in love with my Shaw A. I realize that this puts me on the fringes of society, but I can accept that.
Ramzy

I would say that Shaws are very traditional, both in construction and in sound. You're well away from the fringes in my opinion.

--James

talasiga · Post by **talasiga** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 6:38 pm

Thank you for all the great responses which I will use as a reference for the future (and others will too I hope)
BUT
is there no-one out there with an A whistle made by Phil Bleazey?

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 6:56 pm

I bet IDAwHOa has one.

Chiff and Fipple Forums

A Review

A Review

Generation A whistle