Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2002 10:23 pm
Well, I was at Sam Ash today wandering around and saw this little lonely Oak D in the cabinet with all the Acorns (guess he grew up or was chaperoning or something) anyway, one of the other students in my whistle class has an Oak and I really liked the sound so I picked it up and have been playing with it most of the day so here are my first day impressions. Just as a fore word, the first thing I did when I got home with it was to scrub the mouthpiece with hot water and mild dish detergent because it was unwrapped in the case at the store and I've read a few issues with Oak having some chemical residue issues. Anyway, here's the review:
Build and Finish:
The first thing I noticed about this whistle is the weight. It feels very solid and is slightly heavier than my Feadog or Clarke. I liked the feel right away, it doesn't feel cheap. The finish is superb and I don't know how they could have made it any better. The chrome shaft and black fipple are very classy looking. It's definately and eye catcher.
Finger spacing and hole size:
The finger spacing and hole size is comperable to my Feadog with a very slightly larger 0X0000 hole (may be an optical illusion but it looks that way to me). Overall it's very comfortable and I only have problems with the lower two holes, most likely because I'm used to the Clarke with its conical shaft.
Playability and wind requirements:
The windway on the mouthpiece is perhaps 1/3 taller than the Feadog but looks to be about the same width. This whistle requires much more air control than either the Clarke or the Feadog. When I first started playing it, I was getting sqeeks and squaks all over the place, so much so that I almost gave up on it. Then, after an hour of playing around with it I started to get the hang of how it needs to be played and started to adjust to it. The lower octave requires very little air. The higher octave takes about the same amount as the low octave on the Clarke. There seems to be a third octave as well but I don't know how in tune it is but I can get 3 distinct octaves from G, F and E so I have at least a partial third octive that takes about as much air as the higher octave on the Clarke. The tone is absolutely beautiful on this whistle, if you play it right. A little too much air on the lower octave but not enough to push you to the higher octave will make it sound buzzy and squeeky and not at all nice but once you figure out the wind requirements, its great. For the lower octave I seem to do best with it if I keep a little air in my cheeks, not enough to puff out my cheeks, but enough to slow the wind velocity coming out of my lips, if this makes sense. This is the first whistle that I've tried that also allows some amount of volume control. The Clarke and the Feadog seem to just have on and off, meaning if you blow less air, the tone either disappears or gets squeaky or chiffy. The Oak's tone can get thinner as you blow less air in so you can effectivly quiet the whistle in the lower octave simply by blowing less. I have to play with this more but B - D seem to work OK by doing this. It does get more breathy sounding as you use less air but it will still play the notes without cracking them which is nice.
Overall:
This is a really nice whistle.
The Pros: Inexpensive (I paid $11 for it), Can be played loud or soft to some extent, Is absolutly beautiful in finish, Has an absolutely excellent tone, is very well built.
The Cons: Needs good wind control, (tough for a person that has never played a whistle before, better for someone who has a few tunes under their belt), Possible issues with chemical residue on the mouthpiece that a few people posted about but I personally haven't come across, All your friends will want it.
This whistle may well become my favorite. It's definately a contender.
Hope this helps anyone looking at the Oaks.
Thanks for reading,
Build and Finish:
The first thing I noticed about this whistle is the weight. It feels very solid and is slightly heavier than my Feadog or Clarke. I liked the feel right away, it doesn't feel cheap. The finish is superb and I don't know how they could have made it any better. The chrome shaft and black fipple are very classy looking. It's definately and eye catcher.
Finger spacing and hole size:
The finger spacing and hole size is comperable to my Feadog with a very slightly larger 0X0000 hole (may be an optical illusion but it looks that way to me). Overall it's very comfortable and I only have problems with the lower two holes, most likely because I'm used to the Clarke with its conical shaft.
Playability and wind requirements:
The windway on the mouthpiece is perhaps 1/3 taller than the Feadog but looks to be about the same width. This whistle requires much more air control than either the Clarke or the Feadog. When I first started playing it, I was getting sqeeks and squaks all over the place, so much so that I almost gave up on it. Then, after an hour of playing around with it I started to get the hang of how it needs to be played and started to adjust to it. The lower octave requires very little air. The higher octave takes about the same amount as the low octave on the Clarke. There seems to be a third octave as well but I don't know how in tune it is but I can get 3 distinct octaves from G, F and E so I have at least a partial third octive that takes about as much air as the higher octave on the Clarke. The tone is absolutely beautiful on this whistle, if you play it right. A little too much air on the lower octave but not enough to push you to the higher octave will make it sound buzzy and squeeky and not at all nice but once you figure out the wind requirements, its great. For the lower octave I seem to do best with it if I keep a little air in my cheeks, not enough to puff out my cheeks, but enough to slow the wind velocity coming out of my lips, if this makes sense. This is the first whistle that I've tried that also allows some amount of volume control. The Clarke and the Feadog seem to just have on and off, meaning if you blow less air, the tone either disappears or gets squeaky or chiffy. The Oak's tone can get thinner as you blow less air in so you can effectivly quiet the whistle in the lower octave simply by blowing less. I have to play with this more but B - D seem to work OK by doing this. It does get more breathy sounding as you use less air but it will still play the notes without cracking them which is nice.
Overall:
This is a really nice whistle.
The Pros: Inexpensive (I paid $11 for it), Can be played loud or soft to some extent, Is absolutly beautiful in finish, Has an absolutely excellent tone, is very well built.
The Cons: Needs good wind control, (tough for a person that has never played a whistle before, better for someone who has a few tunes under their belt), Possible issues with chemical residue on the mouthpiece that a few people posted about but I personally haven't come across, All your friends will want it.
This whistle may well become my favorite. It's definately a contender.
Hope this helps anyone looking at the Oaks.
Thanks for reading,