Least Chiff Whistle

[jiminos]

oZ Vambrace? Mitch has a couple videos (one of Tony Hinnigan (sp)) on his website. it's worth checking out. i love the sound of mine.

be well,

jim

[Ballyshannon]

The other whistle/flute player in our band just received a new tunable Colin Goldie high D that he showed off at last night's session and it's superb. Clear, clean, and pure, very responsive with a bit of chiff (defined as chirp or that extra sound when hitting or coming off the tone holes). Dead-on tuning and easy playing. Wonderful sounding/playing whistle and needs to be included in the discussion.

[pancelticpiper]

My old c1980 Feadog is incredibly sweet and pure-sounding, and Jerry Freemans' tweaked Feadogs are very close to it. My old Feadog is too quiet for all but the softest sessions.

The Burke narrow bore D will give a sweet pure tone with a bit more volume, the session bore Burke D will give a bit more volume yet, but still sweet, not the somewhat blasting upper notes of the Susato D.

[chas]

Having owned many Burkes, yes, they're clean, but they're nowhere near as pure as Rose, O'Riordan, or Susato. Burkes aren't as loud as any of them either, although they are quite a bit louder than Dixons. If you want a pure, loud whistle, the Susato is a good choice that also won't break the bank. The Susato D isn't for the faint of heart, though, it needs to be played with gusto (very unlike the Dixon), but still if you don't like it you're out 20 bucks.

[mbkmckenzie]

Thanks for all the advice! I didn't mean to reopen any divisive arguments about sound quality. I'm just a newbie, so I don't have all the nuances of the language. By chiff I meant the "breathy" or "rough" sound during the notes, not the "chirp." It's all personal preference as far as I'm concerned, but I happen to like clean, pure tones, more like the Dixon and less like the Clarke.

And I have noticed better sound from the Feadog as my technique improves, so I have no doubt some of the sound quality issue is with my playing. I'm not really ready to lay out the cash for a Burke, but I might give the Blackbird or one of the other recommendations a try.

Thanks again!

[Mitch]

Interesting thread!

Chiff is one of those hard-to-define words ..

Generally speaking it seems most accurate to use "chiff" to describe the chirp at the beginning of a note before it resolves into its resonance.

All flute-style instruments have some of it - it's part of the physics. Some whistles resolve quickly some less quickly.

There are 2 other sound aspects that tend to get stuck with the "chiff" label:

1. The breath noise.
There is always some of this - it is constant - not associated with note-resolution, but a property of turbulence .. generally speaking, a more efficient whistle will have less of this. Technically it is "white noise" - as the frequency increases, the energy also increases. Many players do not like this noise .. if played alone, it wil be heard, but when one or more instrument is added, the perception of the noise vanishes to the listener. Kavals and Neys have a large amount of breath noise. Personally, I find that more noise in the note allows the player more harmonics to explore using breath pressure, shading, mouth/throat resonance and vibrato.

2. Ambient harmonics.
This is a function of the bore width in combination with the window dimensions. One can balance these to produce emphasis on different families of harmonics across the scale .. this produces the signature "character" of the whistle.

For many, the sound of the good old Generation whistle is desirable - its imperfection perfects it in many ways .. a player must submit to the instrument and find the emotional shades the instrument gifts through the loopholes created by the imperfections.

Others have no time for submission and demand absolute control .. for them, an instrument of maximum efficiency and minimum option, nil character and no un-asked-for expression are just the ticket.

Yet other players require some balance of control and exploration .. we are a rainbow

If you get a mass-produced whistle, it will be what it is - some better, some worse examples of what they are.

If you are dealing with a maker, he/she can customise these aspects to your taste .. however, such customisation will be within the tollerances of the maker. Also, a maker will be reluctant to have examples of their work in circulation that do not represent them.

In this way, the comments above are pretty much on the mark. However, the journey of finding a good whistle for you is still your journey, and yours alone. Just like you, the journey will grow.

Whistles are not a destination - they are a road.

Good luck!