Whistle ID

Franz · Post by **Franz** » Sat Nov 10, 2007 4:31 pm

I posted this link in the Youtube Thread and was wondering if anyone could identify the make of whistle he is playing. I think it is a great version of the "Lonesome Boatman".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kl-BiYhCCw

IDAwHOa · Post by **IDAwHOa** » Sat Nov 10, 2007 4:48 pm

Looks just like my Overton High D whistle from the side. Without a better view of the mouthpiece area it is difficult tell for absolutely certain.

MTGuru · Post by **MTGuru** » Sat Nov 10, 2007 4:52 pm

Burke aluminum session D whistle? Looks like it has the bulge at the tuning slide (around 0:44). And sounds more like a Burke than an Overton. And I could be completely wrong.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Sat Nov 10, 2007 5:22 pm

Overton hi D. Sounds & looks totally like an Overton - and played into the third octave.

(I doubt that Burkes were even being made when this video was shot - which I think must have been the late eighties or early nineties. And the tuning bulge sits much lower on a Burke - what you are seeing at 0:40-0:50 are the characteristic squared cheeks of the Overton head.)

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sat Nov 10, 2007 5:25 pm

Overton I think, though I wish there was a better view of the mouthpiece.

MTGuru · Post by **MTGuru** » Sat Nov 10, 2007 7:20 pm

As I said ... I could be utterly, irredeemably wrong.

It just looks like there's a collar around the tube (below the microphone head), then a gap, then the fipple/head. But maybe I'm just seeing things. The giant white rabbit standing next to me here is completely non-commital on the matter.

The tube does look like an Overton, and the head looks squarish. But the whistle sure doesn't totally sound like my Overton, which is chiffier up there in that range, especially when close-miked (one of the reasons I love it).

Of course, if there are historical reasons why it can't be a Burke, then that's that.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Sat Nov 10, 2007 8:44 pm

MTGuru wrote: The tube does look like an Overton, and the head looks squarish. But the whistle sure doesn't totally sound like my Overton, which is chiffier up there in that range, especially when close-miked (one of the reasons I love it).

My Overton sounds a lot chiffier to me than to a listener, esp. when miked. I What he's playing looks like a short-beak Bernard Overton Overton, which I think tend to be a little purer in tone (that's just based on my experience with 3 or 4 of them, and with Colin's whistles). That would also make sense since Colin didn't start making Overtons before '97, iirc. I am just guessing when that video was taken, of course. And I think they have a compressor and reverb on the whistle mic.

MTGuru · Post by **MTGuru** » Sat Nov 10, 2007 9:40 pm

Bloomie, you have nearly convinced me, despite the bulge. My mind is open ... or is that empty?

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Sat Nov 10, 2007 9:49 pm

Gotta go with Bloomfield on this one.

Holding my Overton up to the picture, I am nearly certain that is an Overton.

--James

IDAwHOa · Post by **IDAwHOa** » Sat Nov 10, 2007 10:32 pm

MTGuru wrote:despite the bulge.

An optical contusion or a shadow, you pick.

arnie · Post by **arnie** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 4:18 pm

It's an Overton. It sounds like one, most characteristic, but what's more: you can see the head in the dark and it's flattened on the sides. Most certainly Overton.