Anderson European Tour Whistle (High D in Ringed Gidgee) – Review.
Visually this whistle is very nice – well proportioned, slim, with the head being slightly longer than ⅓ of the total length. The Gidgee timber is very attractive – a mottled dark brown with reddish brown that appears to have a textured surface but is smooth to the touch, the tiny worm-track like grain markings looking like miniature wave-made sand-ripples which can only be felt with a finger-nail. I don’t suppose it is other than a coincidence, but I suspect that texture would make one’s hold more secure in sweaty conditions than on other highly polished woods as a fringe benefit. The beak cut-away is only slightly curved but angled fairly acutely, so the whistle sits quite comfortably in the mouth at a good playing angle. The silver ferrule collars and beak are mirror-finished. The fipple plug is of acetal and the tuning slide tubes, both male and female, are of brass.
The window and airway are both quite narrow (as indeed is the bore) and the window is also quite short and the labium ramp quite steep. The general finish is slightly let down by visible tool marks and irregularities on the beak cut-away and the window and ramp are not as tidy as they could be -
– chisel/blade working marks are visible and I wonder why Brad has not finished these surfaces and lines off with a very fine engineering needle file – these work as well on hardwood as they do on metal in my experience - and then super-fine grade abrasive paper of some kind to get a smooth finish (which would probably enhance clarity of tone production). The head is stamped with Brad’s distinctive “A” brand – a nice design in itself, but the branding process has produced a general declivity in the profile of the head which I think detracts slightly from its lines –
- I’d suggest investing in an engraved stamp that can be roll-impressed into the wood while on the lathe without affecting the turned cylinder of wood would be worthwhile.
The top edge of the wind-way cover is quite sharply finished and one friend who tried the whistle at a session complained that it was uncomfortable against the inside of his upper lip and refused to play it further. I had not found it a problem myself but close examination does show the edge is rather sharp as can be seen in one of the pictures above - my friend had a point and I'd suggest Brad should round that particular edge off more (carefully) in future.
The whistle is supplied in a hardwood (mahogany or similar?) box with felt-lined routed cut-aways for the two joints and a good clasp. The lid is branded with Brad’s “A” logo. The box is sturdy and also attractive to the eye, though the finish is on the moderate side and it would be nicer if more highly sanded and polished (but that would of course make it more expensive to make). It is also perhaps less than ideally practical if one carries a good number of instruments around as I do, being somewhat bulky in proportion to its contents.
One point that puzzles me slightly about this general Abell/Schulz derived design of whistle, including the Oz whistle which I have for review simultaneously: why the metal beak/wind-way cover and acetal plug? I’d prefer an all-wood construction and would have thought it might be easier to manufacture.
Enough of the cosmetic/presentational aspects, what about the musical? Well, I do like this whistle a good deal. It is very sweet-voiced with excellent intonation, fairly even in tone-colour and response across its range and between octaves though it does seem to take a while to warm up, pending which it sounds a bit muffled. There is no breathiness at all, but the tone has a slight softness to it, is not as clear and bright as is possible. I mean no criticism by that comment, but am just trying to describe what I hear and feel in playing this whistle – those particular qualities make it perhaps more whistle like in character than some high end wooden instruments, and certainly make it very suitable for playing slow airs, though perhaps not ones that emphasise the bottom two notes. The narrow bore lets it play right up to 3rd octave G quite easily and sweetly without becoming shrill (and A is attainable) but as one would expect, limits the volume and response on the lowest notes, though one can push the low D moderately without it breaking up the octave unintentionally or sounding wolfy. It is easy to do a scale of slurred octaves in either direction with complete control. Given the fairly narrow wind-way there is moderate backpressure – just enough to aid control but not so much as to prevent a fairly open voice from the whistle supported by an open air-column from the diaphragm.
Verdict: a decent instrument overall, but with some aspects that could be improved musically and cosmetically. Musically I’d suggest a very slightly larger window and shallower labium ramp with maybe a shade deeper wind-way might improve the low response and slightly open out and clarify the voice without sacrificing the high register, resulting in breathiness or losing the particular tone-character. This whistle should record very well, and would be a fairly satisfying instrument for unaccompanied use in non-performance situations, but it is too quiet (or so I found when I played it in a session) for general session or acoustic ensemble performance uses unless one is playing predominantly in the upper 2nd and lower 3rd octaves.
Here are some downloadable video demo clips:
Scales & Arpeggios
Reels -
George White's Fancy & The Congress
Slip Jig -
An Phis Fliuch
Hornpipe -
O'Carolan's Concerto
Air -
Breuddwyd Dafydd Rhys
Brad hasn’t supplied pricing information with the whistle, but judging by Wanderer’s review of the American Tour Whistle (with which I substantially concur regarding the present example) he is asking cAU$230 – equivalent to a bit less than cGB£110 or cU$ 205 or c€140. I think that is quite a moderate price for a hand-made whistle and a reasonable market pitch, price against playing qualities. That said, and as Brad intimated he suspected would be the case in a pm before I received it, this isn’t really “my kind of whistle”. If I had to score it out of 10 against my desiderata for an ideal whistle, I’d maybe give it 7.
I shall endeavour to post the whistle on to the next tour listee as soon as I get home from holiday – probably early next week.
Two Aussie wanderers (Oz Whistle review forthcoming shortly!)
Edited to include a point I'd omitted previously, regarding the sharp upper edge of the mouthpiece - see above.
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