disclaimer: I am a novice, this is my first experience with a hand-made whistle, so if you don't think my review is legitimate because of that, well don't read it. All flames will be used to roast my marshmallows.
1. Appearance/construction: *Beautiful* Polished copper w/brass fipple. If you don't believe me, look at the "copper whistle" picture on Serpent's website. That *is* my whistle in fact, the identical same one that is sitting in my lap right now. The first difference you notice between this whistle and cheapos is the weight. If I cared to, I could smack someone over the head with this thing relatively hard with no damage to the whistle and a good bit to their skull. I wouldn't recommend throwing it out a window or running over it with your SUV (get a molybdenum steel one if you want to do that), but it's not going to dent and ding every time you look at it funny. The engraving is obviously hand-done but it is quite attractive.
2. Playability. The air requirement is higher than what I am used to(I am used to playing an Oak D, okay kids???), but it isn't unmanageable at all like some people seem to think about Serpie-Pie's whistles. The air requirement for second octave G and up is actually less than some whistles, and has none of that earache-inducing shrillness that chases off all the dogs in the neighborhood (as well as me). The tone is quite pure, particularly in the upper octave, sort of simlilar to an Oak (minus the buzz that some people claim they have, though I have not experienced it) crossed with a good brass generation with a touch of the warmth of a sweetone. It's medium-loud: you could perform in public with it with no problems, but you aren't going to wake up the neighborhood either. I can't say anything about the crossfingerings as I don't use them (they confuse my poor fingers). You can half-hole a Cnat easily, at any rate.
My only major complaint is the rather strong bitter taste the brass fipple leaves on your lips, but I'm hoping that will fade with time.
I would not recommend this whistle to an absolute beginner. The breath control is a bit touchy and it takes a little getting used to, but for someone with either patience or experience, go for it...
Happy now, serpie-pie?
*edited for crappy grammar*
*and for a couple last minute smarty-mouth comments*
*and for clarification*
Serpie-pie seemed confused about my comment about air requirements. Let me put it this way: it takes a little more than in the 1st octave, but less in the 2nd octave than you'd expect. It's not a bad tradeoff in my opinion, even if Bill's skeptical *coughparanoidcough*...
Okay, I'm going to make this as clear as I possibly can.
Air requirements:
my Oak < my Generation F < my Serpent = my Meg < my Generation D < my crappy 2pc Clare D
*brain explodes* *breaks into tears*
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: TelegramSam on 2003-01-22 16:33 ]</font>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: TelegramSam on 2003-01-22 20:28 ]</font>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: TelegramSam on 2003-01-22 20:58 ]</font>
