I'm hibernatingMichaelR wrote:Has anyone on the OZ Whistle Tour (or anyone else) heard from Mitch in the last month or two?
I heard from him May 3rd but he's been very quiet since.
Whistle tour: The Oz Whistle
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jemtheflute
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Euro tour whistle arrives!
EURO TOUR UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My postman caught me as I arrived home from my school run this morning and handed me a cardboard tube from Holland.......
It's The Whistle!
Safely arrived, but no communication from Theo enclosed, so I'm none the wiser on that score. Still, it's back with us. Yay!
I have had a quick exploratory toot but won't comment properly until fully assessed and I can post a review. First impressions are generally good, though.
My postman caught me as I arrived home from my school run this morning and handed me a cardboard tube from Holland.......
It's The Whistle! Safely arrived, but no communication from Theo enclosed, so I'm none the wiser on that score. Still, it's back with us. Yay!
I have had a quick exploratory toot but won't comment properly until fully assessed and I can post a review. First impressions are generally good, though.
I respect people's privilege to hold their beliefs, whatever those may be (within reason), but respect the beliefs themselves? You gotta be kidding!
My YouTube channel
My FB photo albums
Low Bb flute: 2 reels (audio)
Flute & Music Resources - helpsheet downloads
My YouTube channel
My FB photo albums
Low Bb flute: 2 reels (audio)
Flute & Music Resources - helpsheet downloads
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jemtheflute
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Oz European Tour Whistle (High D in Grenadilla) – Review.
Here is another attractive and nicely made whistle. This example is in nicely grained dark reddish brown Grenadilla or African Blackwood with an acetal fipple plug, brass tuning slide tubes and foot inner reinforcement and silver beak/wind-way cover and ferrule rings. The silver rings and the collar of the beak cover are all stamped with Mitch’s OZ logo, of which there is a larger version on the top of the beak, and the ring above the tuning slide carries the serial no. (7909) while the one below displays the tonality – D. I like this informative detail. At somewhat less than a third of the total length, the head-joint looks a little stubby, but that is of course just a visual, not a functional matter. This whistle is also rather head-heavy, I found, though that did not bother me at all while playing it.
The tuning slide is very stiff, even after wiping clean and applying fresh slide grease. I actually could not close it up fully as the last 2-3mm are too tight to do so and I feared rupturing the body tube if I pushed and twisted too hard. It wasn’t necessary to close it that far to play in tune at A=440, fortunately, but even more extended positions are tighter than they need to be.
The beak cutaway is quite steeply curved and the tip that goes between the lips is quite slim and comfortable at a variety of playing angles. The tone holes are generally on the large side and several of them show signs of fine-tuning, being not perfectly circular but somewhat irregular in shape where they have been enlarged with a file. They have quite sharp edges which are easy to positively locate but not uncomfortable. The wind-way is particularly shallow – see comparative picture below showing my Swayne and my pupil’s O’Brien.
.........O’Brien..................................Oz......................................Swayne
It is also not perfectly even, being slightly narrower to the left-hand side as one looks down it from a player’s viewpoint, apparently due to a slight eccentricity of the assembly of the elements of the fipple mouthpiece.
The window and labium ramp are visibly hand cut and in particular the corners of the ramp where it meets the side walls of its channel are not cleanly and sharply finished. Here are some pictures to try to show what I mean and another comparative shot with the Swayne and O’Brien.
The bore is medium-narrow, I’d say, subjectively by comparison with other whistles – not as narrow as the Anderson I’ve just reviewed, but narrower than most aluminium tube whistles.
Sound/playing wise, this whistle is a bit of a mixed bag. It has a nice strong, clear tone between 1st 8ve F# and 2nd 8ve D inclusive that is near enough ideal. Low E and D are noticeably weaker than the notes above and cannot be pushed at all – they immediately become wolfy and break up the octave involuntarily far too readily. The 2nd 8ve from E up has essentially a good sound, clear, bright and sweet, but the player can hear some over or undertones reminiscent of the “carrying note” produced by a good fiddle. I suspect this is not audible to an audience, but it just gives a touch of edginess to the tone from the player’s perspective, which I found increasingly annoying the more I played the whistle. This whistle is not at all breathy, but I did find it somewhat prone to wind-way moisture clogging, at least in GB – here in summer Spain where I am writing this review that is scarcely a problem! Interestingly, the low register tone seems to be a bit stronger here than it did back home too. It will play up to 3rd 8ve G quite happily and the high A is there, but whilst not unpleasantly shrill, the notes above 2nd 8ve B are quite forceful. Generally in playing tunes I found I had to vary my breath pressure more across the range of the instrument than I am used to on other whistles (my preferred ones), in particular needing to ease off the bottom end when my inclination is to push more there, although a scale of slurred octaves is easy to produce with good control. 1st 8ve C natural is, as usual on cylindrical whistles, clearly best with oxx xox while the second 8ve C natural seems best with oxo xxo. Top D seems to be better with oxx xxx than the normal oxx ooo. Most of the other common cross fingerings for the chromatic scale work tolerably for passing accidentals in both octaves except, as one would expect, nothing serves for F naturals or Ebs save for half-holing.
Since it arrived with me I have taken the whistle to several sessions and, as well as playing it myself, have handed it around to interested whistle and flute players of a wide range of standards including some very good. It can certainly hold its own fairly well in quite a noisy session except in the lower half of the first octave, to the ears of both the player and the listener. I think I can fairly represent a consensus amongst those who tried it that they liked it but didn’t have their socks knocked off by it and wouldn’t have wished to pay the kind of price the maker needs to charge to produce such things viably and to reflect his skills! When I thought to ask, most scored it about 8 out of 10, which is pretty much my feeling too. However, several listeners have commented to me on what a nice tone it has.
Overall, a very well made whistle with a good tone, but which can yet be improved (I think Mitch actually offers a range of voicing styles anyway?) – I’d suggest a fractionally deeper and maybe wider wind-way to improve the low register and reduce clogging. I would also prefer an all-wood head/mouthpiece assembly – I’m not keen on metal in my mouth (one reason I generally don’t like aluminium whistles) and the balance would be less top-heavy. The labium cut is not messy, but minute changes there have profound effects on voicing and might also help to even out the response across the range.
Downloadable video demo clips (I have deliberately used the same material as for my Anderson whistle review see this post):
Scales & Arpegios
Reels: George White’s & The Congress
Slip Jig: An Phis Fliuch
Hornpipe: O’Carolan’s Concerto
Air: Breuddwyd Dafydd Rhys
The two Aussie wanderers
I will send the whistle on to its next recipient, pjuuldk in Denmark as soon as I have an address (pm sent, Peter.)
I've enjoyed having this whistle around to experience and experiment with. Thanks and kudos to Mitch for putting it out!
Here is another attractive and nicely made whistle. This example is in nicely grained dark reddish brown Grenadilla or African Blackwood with an acetal fipple plug, brass tuning slide tubes and foot inner reinforcement and silver beak/wind-way cover and ferrule rings. The silver rings and the collar of the beak cover are all stamped with Mitch’s OZ logo, of which there is a larger version on the top of the beak, and the ring above the tuning slide carries the serial no. (7909) while the one below displays the tonality – D. I like this informative detail. At somewhat less than a third of the total length, the head-joint looks a little stubby, but that is of course just a visual, not a functional matter. This whistle is also rather head-heavy, I found, though that did not bother me at all while playing it.
The tuning slide is very stiff, even after wiping clean and applying fresh slide grease. I actually could not close it up fully as the last 2-3mm are too tight to do so and I feared rupturing the body tube if I pushed and twisted too hard. It wasn’t necessary to close it that far to play in tune at A=440, fortunately, but even more extended positions are tighter than they need to be.
The beak cutaway is quite steeply curved and the tip that goes between the lips is quite slim and comfortable at a variety of playing angles. The tone holes are generally on the large side and several of them show signs of fine-tuning, being not perfectly circular but somewhat irregular in shape where they have been enlarged with a file. They have quite sharp edges which are easy to positively locate but not uncomfortable. The wind-way is particularly shallow – see comparative picture below showing my Swayne and my pupil’s O’Brien.
.........O’Brien..................................Oz......................................Swayne
It is also not perfectly even, being slightly narrower to the left-hand side as one looks down it from a player’s viewpoint, apparently due to a slight eccentricity of the assembly of the elements of the fipple mouthpiece.
The window and labium ramp are visibly hand cut and in particular the corners of the ramp where it meets the side walls of its channel are not cleanly and sharply finished. Here are some pictures to try to show what I mean and another comparative shot with the Swayne and O’Brien.
The bore is medium-narrow, I’d say, subjectively by comparison with other whistles – not as narrow as the Anderson I’ve just reviewed, but narrower than most aluminium tube whistles.
Sound/playing wise, this whistle is a bit of a mixed bag. It has a nice strong, clear tone between 1st 8ve F# and 2nd 8ve D inclusive that is near enough ideal. Low E and D are noticeably weaker than the notes above and cannot be pushed at all – they immediately become wolfy and break up the octave involuntarily far too readily. The 2nd 8ve from E up has essentially a good sound, clear, bright and sweet, but the player can hear some over or undertones reminiscent of the “carrying note” produced by a good fiddle. I suspect this is not audible to an audience, but it just gives a touch of edginess to the tone from the player’s perspective, which I found increasingly annoying the more I played the whistle. This whistle is not at all breathy, but I did find it somewhat prone to wind-way moisture clogging, at least in GB – here in summer Spain where I am writing this review that is scarcely a problem! Interestingly, the low register tone seems to be a bit stronger here than it did back home too. It will play up to 3rd 8ve G quite happily and the high A is there, but whilst not unpleasantly shrill, the notes above 2nd 8ve B are quite forceful. Generally in playing tunes I found I had to vary my breath pressure more across the range of the instrument than I am used to on other whistles (my preferred ones), in particular needing to ease off the bottom end when my inclination is to push more there, although a scale of slurred octaves is easy to produce with good control. 1st 8ve C natural is, as usual on cylindrical whistles, clearly best with oxx xox while the second 8ve C natural seems best with oxo xxo. Top D seems to be better with oxx xxx than the normal oxx ooo. Most of the other common cross fingerings for the chromatic scale work tolerably for passing accidentals in both octaves except, as one would expect, nothing serves for F naturals or Ebs save for half-holing.
Since it arrived with me I have taken the whistle to several sessions and, as well as playing it myself, have handed it around to interested whistle and flute players of a wide range of standards including some very good. It can certainly hold its own fairly well in quite a noisy session except in the lower half of the first octave, to the ears of both the player and the listener. I think I can fairly represent a consensus amongst those who tried it that they liked it but didn’t have their socks knocked off by it and wouldn’t have wished to pay the kind of price the maker needs to charge to produce such things viably and to reflect his skills! When I thought to ask, most scored it about 8 out of 10, which is pretty much my feeling too. However, several listeners have commented to me on what a nice tone it has.
Overall, a very well made whistle with a good tone, but which can yet be improved (I think Mitch actually offers a range of voicing styles anyway?) – I’d suggest a fractionally deeper and maybe wider wind-way to improve the low register and reduce clogging. I would also prefer an all-wood head/mouthpiece assembly – I’m not keen on metal in my mouth (one reason I generally don’t like aluminium whistles) and the balance would be less top-heavy. The labium cut is not messy, but minute changes there have profound effects on voicing and might also help to even out the response across the range.
Downloadable video demo clips (I have deliberately used the same material as for my Anderson whistle review see this post):
Scales & Arpegios
Reels: George White’s & The Congress
Slip Jig: An Phis Fliuch
Hornpipe: O’Carolan’s Concerto
Air: Breuddwyd Dafydd Rhys
The two Aussie wanderers
I will send the whistle on to its next recipient, pjuuldk in Denmark as soon as I have an address (pm sent, Peter.)
I've enjoyed having this whistle around to experience and experiment with. Thanks and kudos to Mitch for putting it out!
Last edited by jemtheflute on Thu Aug 14, 2008 6:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
I respect people's privilege to hold their beliefs, whatever those may be (within reason), but respect the beliefs themselves? You gotta be kidding!
My YouTube channel
My FB photo albums
Low Bb flute: 2 reels (audio)
Flute & Music Resources - helpsheet downloads
My YouTube channel
My FB photo albums
Low Bb flute: 2 reels (audio)
Flute & Music Resources - helpsheet downloads
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CranberryDog
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jemtheflute
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Just to confirm that the euro-tour whistle has been posted today to Peter in Denmark. Enjoy!
I respect people's privilege to hold their beliefs, whatever those may be (within reason), but respect the beliefs themselves? You gotta be kidding!
My YouTube channel
My FB photo albums
Low Bb flute: 2 reels (audio)
Flute & Music Resources - helpsheet downloads
My YouTube channel
My FB photo albums
Low Bb flute: 2 reels (audio)
Flute & Music Resources - helpsheet downloads
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daiv
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sounds nice jem. the whistle sounds really nice for the most part.
however, it appears you are struggling every time you go down to the lowest notes. the whistle sounds like it is struggling to. so, the low D thing you talk about it is not only apparent to the player, but it is very apparent to the listener. so, the low D sounds not only weak, but slow to respond.
for some reason, jem, it sounds like you were struggling with the c natural, too, in the slip jig.
however, it appears you are struggling every time you go down to the lowest notes. the whistle sounds like it is struggling to. so, the low D thing you talk about it is not only apparent to the player, but it is very apparent to the listener. so, the low D sounds not only weak, but slow to respond.
for some reason, jem, it sounds like you were struggling with the c natural, too, in the slip jig.
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jemtheflute
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Thanks for the comments, Daiv. I agree with most of what you say! However, regarding the C naturals in the slip jig, no, no problems at all with those. I just reviewed the clip and suspect what may be making you think that is that I ornament the vast majority of them - I either slip into it from a D by raising R2 just fractionally after the start of the C's time allocation (kind-of an apoggiatura), or start the C but then immediately tap R2 to get a D double-cut substitute effect (or something like that????). The two or three times I hit a C nat without any gracing, it comes out fine and clear from the off, and it wasn't unresponsive with the ornaments either. Does that make sense? What did you make of the Anderson whistle equivalent clip?
I respect people's privilege to hold their beliefs, whatever those may be (within reason), but respect the beliefs themselves? You gotta be kidding!
My YouTube channel
My FB photo albums
Low Bb flute: 2 reels (audio)
Flute & Music Resources - helpsheet downloads
My YouTube channel
My FB photo albums
Low Bb flute: 2 reels (audio)
Flute & Music Resources - helpsheet downloads
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Mitch
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That's a great review jem!
I much prefer it when a reviewer finds any flaw and explains it - specially explained so well!
I think that whistle should come back to me for examination and adjustment. It is an easy matter to fix those lower notes.
My apologies for not posting sooner - I have been unwell and unable to work or even do much with the computer for quite some time.
My health is much improved now and the whistles are rolling out the workshop door once again - I must get that door fixed
A new whistle will soon be complete to re-start the US tour. A wooden one this time - I have a few candidates - trying to decide which one.
I much prefer it when a reviewer finds any flaw and explains it - specially explained so well!
I think that whistle should come back to me for examination and adjustment. It is an easy matter to fix those lower notes.
My apologies for not posting sooner - I have been unwell and unable to work or even do much with the computer for quite some time.
My health is much improved now and the whistles are rolling out the workshop door once again - I must get that door fixed
A new whistle will soon be complete to re-start the US tour. A wooden one this time - I have a few candidates - trying to decide which one.
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chrisp
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Hi Mitch,
It's good to hear you are well now, and agree that maybe that particular whistle needs to be sent back for you to adjust.
I have only read good reviews for the Oz whistle and it's unfortunate that this ONE lets you down.
It's great to hear the whistles are rolling out the door again, but do you really have time to fix the door
Chris
It's good to hear you are well now, and agree that maybe that particular whistle needs to be sent back for you to adjust.
I have only read good reviews for the Oz whistle and it's unfortunate that this ONE lets you down.
It's great to hear the whistles are rolling out the door again, but do you really have time to fix the door
Chris