Hi, new here. Have really appreciated the wisdom and humor on this site while working up the nerve to emerge from lurkdom!
I'm about two months old as a whistler, and progressing just fine. I have some previous musical background, so I'm starting to think it would be fun to play in other keys besides those available on the D whistle, and one of my favorite tune books has pieces ranging from D to Bb. Noticed the interchangeable head/body concept, which seems really cool and economical...
Are there any advantages/disadvantages to these interchangeable sets? Is it annoying to switch the head every few tunes, or do you bother much? Or, in other words, how easy is the changeover? Does the sound quality remain pretty level across the set, or are there compromises the greater the number of bodies? Anything else of note?
I have a couple of Susato three-body sets and a Syn six-body set (it's the one pictured on the C&F site in the discussion on "expensive whistles". The concept works, generally. Once you know where to set the joint to be in tune for each pairing, it's not too difficult to swap them. On rare occasion I've even been known to change during a song (this is in church) when the key of the song changed.
However, there do seem to be optimum ratios of length to bore diameter and with the interchangeable sets you can get some distance from that. The strongest example is the A tube of my Syn set. This whistle is pretty quiet and cannot be "pushed" at all. At the other end is the E body, which is short/fat and almost too aggressive. This is for a set where the C seems to be "the sweet spot".
The advantage, of course, is lots of keys available at relatively low cost. Susato prices the heads and tubes the same so I have a D/C/Bb set for the cost of two whistles (one head, three tubes). Most other makers do it more logically and charge the most for the head and the first body, and the rest of them are relatively inexpensive. And having one head to me also means familiarity with its particular characteristics - which is not a bad thing, especially dealing with handmade whistles where each is an individual. This is less of an advantage or concern with the molded and very consistent Susatos.
How's that for lots of words from a relative newcomer to the whistle world?
Good advice there from BEC. A good Eb, D, C, Bb set (like the Syn) can work very well. If you get above or below those keys, you'll need a narrower or wider bore to get an optimum bore-to-length ratio.
I haven't played the extended Syn set, (mine is Eb, D, C), but I have heard many times that the C is the "sweet spot", as described.
Charlie Gravel
“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”
― Oscar Wilde
Thank you all for the input! The Syn set definitely looks like an affordable way to go, and the C sounds excellent.
Would the Eb really get much use? That seems like a key fiddlers might not love, it would be higher than the D -- which might be pushing the limits of aural tolerance -- and the Ab note could be fingered on a Bb whistle if needed.
I use my Susato eflat, bflat, C set (I customised) at church all the time as we play quite a variety of music. Switching out the head doesn't seem to be much of a problem. I just use the "chapstick" grease every now and then.
pastorkeith
"We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love."-- Mother Teresa
There are prior threads on this that went into some detail. Generally, the one head/multiple tube concept makes sense, but has limits and works better in some cases than others. Whether it's better to just buy individual pieces and use your favorite ones, well...
IMO, the outside limit on the sets is three tubes to a head (Syn went up to eight on one). My experience:
- O'Riordan Travelers - soprano D/C set - both very good.
- O'Riordan Travelers - Bflat/A - both fabulous.
- Abell - blackwood Bflat/A - both very good, but Bflat a bit noticeably better (as in focused).
- ABell - delrin soprano D/C - D is awesome, C is good but not as good.
- Water Weasel - Eflat/D/C - The C is definitely the class of this set.
- Water Weasel - Bflat/A - really fine set, with the Bflat remaining one of the best values in whistledom.
- Syn - D/C/Eflat - Good solid set; C may be best.
- Susato - D/C/Bflat - one of my earliest acquisitions and a fine set with all three really nice IMO.
- Parkhurst (copper) - D/C - this was not really made as a set; Dave just decided to send me a matching C tube (engraved) years after the fact for the heck of it (a truly wild and crazy guy). I have a hard time being at all objective about Parky's whistles because they are the most uniquely gorgeous whistles I've ever seen that still manage to play really well. (Yes, I'm campaigning for him to come out of whistle retirement).
SO, you save money to get additional keys, but you have to judge whether in each instance it was worth it. Does a maker make better individual whistles than you get in the set and if so is that worth the extra money? ALso, I just don't think more than three tubes would be likely to work with the same head. I've only seen one and that was a Syn EIGHT tube set - I did not like that and found it gimmicky and not a good value (but I do like Erle's whistles generally, including the newer Black Diamonds).
Philo
"This is this; this ain't something else. This is this." - Robert DeNiro, "The Deer Hunter," 1978.
There are also GFM whistles with interchangeable bodies. I'm very taken with the Low F/G set. The SYN whistles are great, but you can't cross-finger a C-natural with 0XX000 (at least I've never managed to). The GFM and Susato D/C/Bb sets I own work like a charm, and work with all the standard cross-fingerings.
"It isn't etiquette to cut any one you've been introduced to. Remove the joint." ~ Lewis Carroll
I've avoided making sets for several reasons. First, whenever possible I like making each whistle from one single piece of wood with matching grain, so that rules sets out. I also find that the voicing of the three keys that I make varies a little bit. Once in a while, I'll stick an Eb head on a D or C body, and they usually don't play optimally. Then again for some mysterious reason sometimes they're fine.
The other factor is labor. In a wooden or polymer whistle, when starting from a solid piece the greatest part of the labor and time is devoted to making that material into a thin walled tube. I have to do that set of operations whether I make only a body or a whole whistle.
As the list above shows, there are plenty of great makers out there who would disagree with me, but making only whole whistles works best for me.
If you're wondering about how useful Eb whistles are, listen to Mary Bergin. She plays them like no other.
You're right! Just got out my Feadoga Stain CD, and those Eb whistles sound great.
I suspect I'm the kind of person that would ultimately prefer the "whole whistle" approach mentioned by brewerpaul and everyone else who talked about the problems of multiple bodies. But in the short run a small set will be useful, so I'll probably seek out some sound samples, ask around to see if I can find some to listen to in real life, then go for a reasonably priced set.
Thanks again everyone for your input on this important topic! (to a newbie, anyway)
Have really appreciated the wisdom and humor on this site while working up the nerve to emerge from lurkdom!
