Grinter High-D Review

[Bretton]

Hello, I've had my new Grinter high-D for about two weeks now... It's made from cocobolo wood (beautiful grain) with brass slide and rings. The quality is of the same level as Abell and Thin Weasels. Since it has an all wood head it doesn't look quite as fancy, but the attention to detail is great.

As I mentioned before, the lower octave is very nice and resonant the upper octave was a little scratchy/raspy sounding at first. This has mostly disappeared now so I think it just needed to be played-in a bit. I've also given the whistle its first almond oil treatment (see below) and this may have helped as well.

The Grinter has many similarties in sound and playability to both Abells and Thin Weasels, but is probably most like the Abell. I'd say 60% Abell, 15% Thin Weasel, and 25% its own unique sound. It's very responsive to ornaments and the highest few notes of the second octave, while fairly loud, are still sweet sounding.

It does have quite a bit of back pressure and is low on air (quantity) requirements...probably takes a bit less air than an Abell. I'm prety sure the windway is shorter than an Abell (don't have an Abell anymore to compare...). Someone else mentioned that their Grinter sounded "reedy" and I would agree.

It does sound better after it's warmed up and played a bit. I wouldn't have expected this of a wooden whistle (as much as metal) but it seems to be the case.

It's very in tune with the slide out about 1/8 of an inch, which gives a bit of room for sharpening and quite a bit for flattening. The holes are smaller than those of an Abell or Thin Weasel and I think it's a bit quieter (not much through) due to this. C natural fingered OXXOOO is great and half-holing F natural and G# seems to work well.

It does not clog AT ALL. The entire head of the whistle (fipple, block, etc...)is wood and it just soaks up any moisture that gets in there.

The instructions that came with the whistle suggest oiling with almond oil inside and out AND _soaking_ the actual block and headpiece in oil (windway and all). I did this and didn't encounter any problems afterwards.

At $255 (including postage from Australia) it is a bit cheaper than Abells and Thinweasels. My wait was about 3 months.

-Brett

[madguy]

You guys are killing me! With wooden whistles being my number one favorite, and now so many more choices to select from to add to my TW and Abell, what's a poor Jersey boy to do?

[Jim_B1]

On 2002-10-12 16:23, madguy wrote:
You guys are killing me! With wooden whistles being my number one favorite, and now so many more choices to select from to add to my TW and Abell, what's a poor Jersey boy to do?

Wow, another person in NJ on the board. What exit you from

[Paul Anderson]

Exit 17 off I-78 and then 15 miles to Oxford/Buttzville (you think I picked the name?). That's where I hang my hat.But I'm still trying to figure out where Frankilinville is. Is it one of the two in northern N.J? There are a few more from N.J. on this forum.

[madguy]

On 2002-10-12 20:02, Jim_B1 wrote:

On 2002-10-12 16:23, madguy wrote:
You guys are killing me! With wooden whistles being my number one favorite, and now so many more choices to select from to add to my TW and Abell, what's a poor Jersey boy to do?

Wow, another person in NJ on the board. What exit you from

Exit? Believe it or not, as I haven't been on the turnpike in so damned long, I have no idea! If it helps you any, after crossing the Delaware Memorial Bridge we take route 40 to head to Franklinville, which is about 15 minutes north of Vineland.

[Brian Lee]

Just out of curiosity...

One of the local players at our sessions here had mentioned that there was a certain maker who used only rare (and in many cases endangered) exotic hardwoods for his whistles/flutes. I wnat to think I remember him saying it was Mike Grinter, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, my musician friend, swears he'll never buy one of hiw whistles due to this fact. Anyone have a thought or comment? Just curious really. I would hope our makers are more responsible than this sounds...and if at ALL possible, it'd be nice to put my friend in the right with contrary info. Thanks

B~

[chas]

Michael definitely makes whistles only out of cocobolo, as I asked him about other woods.

Most flutes are made out of African blackwood (a type of grenadilla). There are some who say it's endangered, but that's not really the case. If they continue unsustainable harvesting practices, it might be endangered, or at least threatened, soon.

There are some exotic woods used by some makers that are endangered. I have read in a couple of different places, for example, that kingwood is endangered.

[PhilO]

I think perhaps it would be nice for the makers to respond here, as there are several I know who use exotic hardwoods; perhaps there is a distinction between exotic and endangered. Glenn Schultz uses all sorts of beautiful exotic hardwoods, as do Paul Busman and Michael Grinter. Grinter uses a lot of red lancewood which is found in Australia, so I don't know whether that is rare or endangered; only that it is very beautiful.

I have always had tremendous love for trees and remarked just the other day to my daughter that when all the trees are gone, I wouldn't want to be around anymore either (a bit maudlin, I know, but true). Ivory also has limitations on how it can be procured legally, and well it can from certain museums etc. that I know of in the South for example. I know legality is not the only issue, but I often find that people who make such remarks are wearing leather shoes, for example.

I personally would never kill an animal or a plant unless I had to defend myself or others or had to survive and avoid dying of hunger. OTOH, I guess I just don't make an issue with others who do as long as I'm not around them and they stay within legal limits.

Regards,

Philo

[sturob]

Yeah, I'll have to second that Michael Grinter doesn't deplete the rain forest to make his instruments. Blackwood, cocobolo, and red lancewood, and from what I've read red lancewood is far from endangered. And it's a very nice timber.

Stuart

[Wombat]

On 2002-10-13 10:03, Brian Lee wrote:
Just out of curiosity...

One of the local players at our sessions here had mentioned that there was a certain maker who used only rare (and in many cases endangered) exotic hardwoods for his whistles/flutes. I wnat to think I remember him saying it was Mike Grinter, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, my musician friend, swears he'll never buy one of hiw whistles due to this fact. Anyone have a thought or comment? Just curious really. I would hope our makers are more responsible than this sounds...and if at ALL possible, it'd be nice to put my friend in the right with contrary info. Thanks

B~

I'd be very surprised if it were Michael. His whistles are all made from cocobolo now, I think. He also makes flutes and recorders. you can find out what he's doing from his website—there's a link from the low whistle section of C&F I think.

Just one point though. Even if he were using wood from endangered species, you'd need to ask how he was obtaining it before you'd be in a position to condemn. If he plants three trees for every one he uses, what's the problem?

[PhilO]

Good point Wombat; but I recently got a beautiful Bflat whistle from Michael, in red lancewood; granted, that was to match a set that I already had in that wood.

Regards,

Philo

[nickt]

I actually spoke to Michael about this when I met him three months ago: he uses cocobolo (South American blackwood) now almost exclusively because it's available and not endangered. He did add that he would use African blackwood if he could, but the world's limited supply all goes to Europe and North America, he can't get it in Australia.