Low D: Goldie/MK/Reyburn

[pancelticpiper]

I recently got my first Goldie Low D (yes I know I was very late to the party) and here are some impressions.

Firstly a mea culpa: I have 35 years experience with Overtons, and because Goldies look like Overtons I had made the mistake of imagining that they played like Overtons. Such is not the case, at least comparing this Goldie ("medium") with various Overtons in Low C, D, Eb, and E which I've owned over the years.

I've been playing this Goldie daily, setting aside my other Low Ds, to really get to know it. First impression: There's no flies on it, there's nothing it doesn't do well. It's comfortable in the hands, has even voicing, a strong Bottom D, a civilized 2nd octave, great tuning, great air-efficiency.

Though I no longer own any Overtons I well remember how the ones I've had played and this Goldie is quite different in one regard: the 2nd octave is tuned more like most other Low Ds rather than the flat 2nd octave of the Overtons I've had.

Now after a couple weeks of getting used to the Goldie I hauled out my other Low Ds and did some comparisons.

Air efficiency: from most efficient to least:

Goldie > MK/Reyburn > Dixon (conical all-plastic).

Keep in mind that this Dixon is one of the most air-efficient Low Ds out there, so we're talking rather rarified company.

Volume differential between the low and 2nd octave: This is something I've wanted to measure, because my impression is that all Low Ds have a built-in volume differential between the low octave and the 2nd octave. For sure at a session where it was four flutes and me on Low D whistle, I was "lost in the mix" in the low octave and louder than all four flutes put together on A and B in the 2nd octave, or so it seemed to me.

The only thing I had to measure volume with is a possibly crude and inaccurate app on my phone. What I got was this:

Decibles low octave G and second octave G:

MK: 91, 94
Goldie: 88, 93
Reyburn: 91, 95
Dixon: 81, 91

So as you can see the MK has the least volume differential, the Dixon by far the most. This exactly follows the octave tuning: the MK has a sharpish 2nd octave requiring underblowing, the Goldie and Reyburn have the octaves in the more or less usual place, the Dixon has a very flat 2nd octave requiring the low octave to be underblown and the 2nd octave to be strongly blown.

Here's something that really strikes me when playing, the "lightness" or ease of production of the 2nd octave, that is, how much more pressure is required to sound the 2nd octave, as opposed to the low octave.

From easiest to most difficult:

Dixon > MK > Goldie > Reyburn

There's a noticeable difference, or gap, between each whistle.

Here's another thing, how much "room" there is underneath the 2nd octave notes, that is, how much they can be underblown and not drop to the low octave. It was quite amazing to play a Burke and an Overton side-by-side in this regard: on the Burke the 2nd octave notes just sort of pop out right at pitch, and there's a very narrow window of pressure at which the notes sound without either dropping or becoming unstable, while on the Overton, due to the flatness of the 2nd octave, the notes had to be rather overblown to be at pitch, and I could keep backing off on the pressure until the notes were whisper-soft (and very flat) and still not have them drop to the low octave. Too bad I didn't think to measure this effect when I had those whistles to hand!

On the present group, I measured how softly I could blow G in the 2nd octave, any softer and the note falls to the low octave, in cents:

Dixon: 425
Goldie and Reyburn: 435
MK: 436

This once again directly relates to the tuning of the octaves.

About timbre, the Goldie is halfway between the very focused gravelly-yet-bright tone of the MK and the fat foggy NAF-like tone of the Reyburn, and a bit softer than both.

Anyhow the Goldie's combination of ergonomics, tone, tuning, and voicing makes it hard to put down.

[greenspiderweb]

Nice review and comparison, as usual (your other helpful reviews too), Richard! No doubt it will help many in their search for a Low D, or other low whistle. It's always good to inspire others on their journeys.

It sounds like your Colin Goldie will give a lot of pleasure along the way, and congrats to Colin who continues to help others find their instruments of choice. I haven't played a Goldie since the name change, but no doubt it has continued to evolve along the way since the Overton days, along with Colin's unique individual fitting of whistle to desires. That in itself is a very special effort and undertaking by any whistlemaker today, for sure, and rightly, greatly appreciated for his special approach to customer satisfaction. He spends a lot of time on the phone and some email to make it happen, so good for you Colin (and Brigitte too, of course)! A rarity today, no doubt. You must be blessed with a lot of energy to make it all happen!!! ; ) Continued good wishes and blessings to you for your service to the whistle community. You set quite an example!

[stiofan]

Richard,

Thanks for your comprehensive review/comparison of the Goldie low D with the MK, Reyburn, and Dixon. After owning low whistles by several other makers over the years (albeit others than those you included in your comparison), I've been playing a Goldie tenor D exclusively since 2008. From the quality of professional workmanship, to the nuanced tone and responsivity, and as Barry mentioned, Colin & Brigitte's personalized attention to every customer—professional or amateur—I'm definitely one of many who find Goldie whistles unparalleled. And although every player is different, and a particular make/design of whistle may not suit everyone's playing style and preferences, there's a good reason so many pros play Goldie whistles. We can all be grateful that the Overton legacy has been carried on by Colin's craftmanship. Hope you have many years of rewarding playing ahead with your Goldie whistle.

[retired]

Richard - if you have a moment I'd love to know the difference between the two B notes on the MK, Goldie and Reyburn. My own subjective experience between a non-tunable Goldie and an MK Kelpie was that the difference in volume between the two octaves was greater for the Kelpie. Again that was by ear. Regards.

[tomcat]

hmmm, which reyburn version of low d did you use in your test?

[pancelticpiper]

Yes I should do a low B/high B Db test, you're right, that note high B is so often an outlier, the loudest or roughest or most difficult to make speak note of the entire normal gamut.

The Reyburn is a new one that Ronaldo made with "tighter voicing" and much more air-efficient that the one I had before.

[pancelticpiper]

Thanks for your comprehensive review/comparison of the Goldie low D with the MK, Reyburn, and Dixon. Hope you have many years of rewarding playing ahead with your Goldie.

Thank you so much!

...Colin & Brigitte's personalized attention to every customer...

I've heard so many people mention this, which is quite a testament to Colin and Brigitte!

I didn't consider this in my review because I got my Goldie used, having no contact with the maker.

the nuanced tone and responsivity

As far as timbre goes, this Goldie, to my ears, has a less complex one than either the Reyburn or the MK. I could put a Burke at one end, representing pureness, and the Reyburn at the other end, representing growling foggy NAF-ness, and the Goldie would be pretty much in between. It's a pleasing tone to be sure, with some fogginess, some hollowness, yet some purity; yes "nuanced" might be just the word!

As far as responsiveness goes, at least with how responsive/nimble/easy the 2nd octave speaks, it was in the middle of the pack, the MK being the most responsive.

[Mikethebook]

Glad to hear you're enjoying the medium Goldie. I'm curious to know how much more air efficient it is than the MK. You once graded a bunch of Low Ds according, I think, to the number of bars you could play on one lungful of air.

You haven't mentioned clogging so I assume you're not having any problems there which is good.

Colin will be making me a medium Big Hole Low D so the playing dynamics of that will be interesting. No doubt it will require marginally more air than my standard medium Low D but the second octave should be easier to get, requiring less pressure, and it will have a fatter tone.

[pancelticpiper]

Glad to hear you're enjoying the medium Goldie. I'm curious to know how much more air efficient it is than the MK. You once graded a bunch of Low Ds according, I think, to the number of bars you could play on one lungful of air.

You haven't mentioned clogging so I assume you're not having any problems there which is good.

Colin will be making me a medium Big Hole Low D so the playing dynamics of that will be interesting. No doubt it will require marginally more air than my standard medium Low D but the second octave should be easier to get, requiring less pressure, and it will have a fatter tone.

Cool!

About how much air, what I used to do is to play a part of a jig which covered the whole gamut to get a 'real world' idea of how much air a whistle took.

What I do now is just measure how long I can hold G in the 2nd octave. I can hold it around one second longer on the Goldie than on the MK or new tighter-voiced Reyburn. Previously the MK was the most efficient whistle I'd had. I could hold B in the 2nd octave twice as long on the MK as on some of the Low D's I had... very strange how some Low Ds have not-too-bad air consumption in the low octave, but get up to High B and it's like a hole somewhere suddenly opened up and half the air you're putting in is being bled off to no purpose. How does that happen?

About clogging, very little. It was given the soap treatment, yes?

[Mikethebook]

Good to hear!

I gave it the toothpaste treatment (suggested by Colin) once in a while . . . far more effective and long-lasting than the soap treatment. See my post on viewtopic.php?f=1&t=92520&hilit=+toothpaste.

[Mitch]

Thank you pancelticpiper!

It's always good to get actual stats!

The low-D is beset by volume issues - depending on the setting.
For a small session, a low D can usually cope with one fiddle and a few other players without resorting to electronic means.

However, after the other fiddlers and box-players turn-up - you had better have a loudish flute that can get into the session so even the player can hear it!

I'd add Reviol whistles to the mix - those you mentioned are quite valid, and I am sure that there are many other makers who attend to the volume issue.

After all that, there is something that a low D whistle adds that no other instrument can do.

Thank you for this post!

[pancelticpiper]

I'd love to know the difference between the two B notes on the MK, Goldie and Reyburn.

I finally got around to testing the volume of Low G, High G, and High B on the Goldie and MK.

Once again keep in mind that this was done on the crude and probably unreliable free app on my phone.

The numbers overall are different from above, the phone being a different distance than it was when I did my first readings.

Here are the numbers for what they're worth

whistle : G g b

MK: 94 92 96
Goldie: 92 92 95

As usual I did these while watching an electronic tuner to make sure each note was right at pitch.

As you suspected there's a big gap in volume between G and B in the 2nd octave. Wow.

What surprised me was now, during this test, G in the 2nd octave was actually lower in volume than G in the low octave on the MK, and both G's were the same on the Goldie.

This contradicts the "ear test" of playing the MK in sessions and groups, where the low range tends to get lost and the 2nd octave tends to yell out. It makes me wonder about Irish flutes: perhaps they have a louder low range than high range? All I know is that when I played the MK and Burke Low D's in a session with four flutes I could barely hear myself in the low notes, and seemed to be louder than all four put together on high A and B. That range around low B, middle D, high E and F# and G, I was in the middle of the pack volume-wise. The MK has a much stronger low E than the Burke by the way; it's a very special note on the MK.

It does support the "ear" overall, in that I perceived the Goldie as being softer than the MK in the low range, and also that high B seems to shout out on the MK.

In any case both whistles have, probably, just about the best balance possible on a Low D.

[pancelticpiper]

I'd add Reviol whistles to the mix - those you mentioned are quite valid, and I am sure that there are many other makers who attend to the volume issue.

My Reviol experience was very limited, a Low C/D/Eb set (one head three bodies). I've owned a half-dozen MKs, which had subtle differences, but only that one Reviol.

Sorry to say my take on that Reviol was meh and I sold it.

[retired]

I'm still impressed by the tone and volume of my recent Reviol - for slow tunes it's the best I've had - uses a bit of air so I switch to the Lofgren for the faster stuff.

[megapop]

What surprised me was now, during this test, G in the 2nd octave was actually lower in volume than G in the low octave on the MK, and both G's were the same on the Goldie.

This contradicts the "ear test" of playing the MK in sessions and groups, where the low range tends to get lost and the 2nd octave tends to yell out. It makes me wonder about Irish flutes: perhaps they have a louder low range than high range?

I suppose the ear is more sensible to higher frequencies than it is to low ones; this would explain why flutes sound relatively even (when played in a normal way) and whistles disproportionally louder in the 2nd octave (and then there are also different harmonics involved etc.). As for measurement, it certainly depends on which frequencies of the acoustic spectrum your app/mic actually captures... I doubt that any whistle is objectively louder in the lower octave anyway.

But I can confirm that when I record myself on the flute (with my very crappy mic), the 1st octave waveform is usually a bit taller than the 2nd; on the (high) whistle however the 1st octave is way closer to zero, while the 2nd is close to clipping if I'm not careful. One should really do a proper spectrum analysis with a better mic. :/