Finally found a Harper high D...and well worth the effort

[kennychaffin]

Sounds an looks like a wonderful whistle. I may have to try and find one. Thanks for the review and the info everyone!

[eran]

great clip philip!

good to know you are here also.
see you soon in mollys, hopefully.

[Ballyshannon]

Ordered a Harper from Hobgoblin.
It will take a month or so for it to reach me (russian post sucks!). Will post my comments here when get it.

A month?

Looking forward to your comments. Which one did you order...engraved, non-engraved?

Only a month ago, Hobgoblin UK had nine of the non-engraved Harper Ds in the warehouse and now I see there's only one left. Glad Steve's whistles are selling well and hopefully the review has helped. BTW, if you've ordered one based on this review and don't like it, please don't blame me! As with all reviews, it's based on my own personal tastes, requirements, and experience. But I'd be very interested in hearing other comments about these whistles, good and bad.

[breqwas]

A month?

Yes. 3-5 weeks. Sometimes more. Russian post sucks. It usually takes 4-7 days for a package to come from US/UK/EU to Moscow, and 2-4 weeks to come from international mail exchange center to my home. Russian post sucks.

I've ordered an un-engraved one. No, I never blame reviewers - that's just personal experience :)

[Parkwood]

I was blown away by the Harper C that Hobgoblin had in their London store. It was part of a C/D tunable set with two bodies. The D was OK but lacked strength at the bottom end.

The C was absolutely beautiful....

[breqwas]

Got mine. Less than two weeks, that was damn quick!

Had almost no chance to play it yet, еxcept two tunes on the railway station (just couldn't stand ). It was an "open platform", but had a rain-roof which gave some reverb. Got a plenty of surprised looks

[Infernaltootler]

Not to upset you too much but I went to a session at the beginning of last month very near to where I live. It was going on fine then the leader pointed at a bloke at the bar. He whipped out a Harper Classic and played the most amazing music, not trad exactly, he bent the notes all over the place and kept everyone mesmerised.

Turned out he was Steve Harper. Dear me, was I embarrassed after my efforts on my trusty Susato.

Anyhoo, short story short, he's a really lovely bloke and he made me a tuneable engraved whistle with interchangable C and D bodies and I love it almost as much as my kids. When the fire alarm went off in the office I took my whistle.

Now I've had the whistle a month I have to go back to that session and play my Harper in front of Mr Harper himself. Yikes.

[Ballyshannon]

... and I love it almost as much as my kids.

Does that mean you love the whistle almost as much as your kids, or that you love the whistle almost as much as your kids love the whistle?

Great story and I'm envious...not only that you had the opportunity to meet Steve and hear him play, but also that he made you a D/C set!

[MusicalADD]

I might try to pick up an A/G set some time, especially given your observations about how these whistles play well even when not warmed up. There are a few tunes I love to play on an A whistle, but, not that many.... so, I hesitate to play my brass A at a session since it isn't warmed up. Perhaps a Harper A would solve that problem.

Has anyone posted a clip of an A or G Harper? I'd love to hear one.

[Ballyshannon]

I might try to pick up an A/G set some time, especially given your observations about how these whistles play well even when not warmed up. There are a few tunes I love to play on an A whistle, but, not that many.... so, I hesitate to play my brass A at a session since it isn't warmed up. Perhaps a Harper A would solve that problem.

Has anyone posted a clip of an A or G Harper? I'd love to hear one.

I can't guarantee a Harper A would solve your problem. I'm just passing along my observations based on the D in the review. However, the nontunable C that I recently got plays just as well as the D when cold, although as expected, both tend to clog more easily until they're warmed up. Hopefully someone with an A/G set will see this post and can provide some info as well as a sound clip.

Actually, you just missed one at an excellent price. Buckeye, who I got my Harper C from a couple weeks ago also had a Harper A/G set for sale but I see it's been sold.

[breqwas]

FYI: Steve Harper is back in business, after a few years of retirement. He even has a website now: http://harperclassic.com/

I do not play tinwhistle anymore (switched to b/c accordion), but when I did, the Harper Classic was my one and only D whistle since the day I bought it. That was the end and the final cure of my WhOA syndrome - and it was a heavy one (GFM, Burke, Busman, Thornton, Copeland, etc). That's why I spread the good word about this great instrument.

If you're looking for a yet another tinwhistle, consider getting a Harper. It's worth more than it costs.

[sfmans]

Just to add to the positives for these splendid whistles ...

I'm a very (very very) happy Harper unengraved D owner of many years standing, and my Harper is quite simply the best whistle I've owned and played in 30+ years of tin whistling.

Great tone, lovely under the fingers, excellent tuning, and nice and loud.

[HarperClassic]

Thank you for the shining endorsements chaps. It's great to see that the whistles have bought so much joy to people.

[jiminos]

dang... guess i'm gonna have to go find me a Harper classic.... darned WHOA!

be well,,

jim

[Mr.Gumby]

Like you do with any whistle, you really may want to try one before you buy one, just to see if it suits you. I bought one on back of reading these threads and deeply disliked the balance between high and low notes, in both air requirement and volume, on the one I got. FWIW, it was definitely not the whistle for me.

A test drive avoids such disappointment.