Kerry Optima review

[trill]

Greetings all,

Here are my notes about the Optima currently on tour:

Sound - timbre
Very similar to an MK Kelpie.

Sound - volume
Softer than a Kelpie, but takes noticeably less air. Louder than a 10 year-old Dixon polymer by a good bit.

Sound - rushing of air sound (ROAS)
ROAS is definitely present in the voice, but noticeably less than Kelpie. Quite the opposite of, say, a Reyburn, which almost no ROAS.

Air Requirement
Less than MK Kelpie. I'd put it at middle-of-the-pack. Ditto on backpressure.

Tuning Slide
Nice and firm. Certainly wont drift on you.

Blade+Window
Widest I've ever seen on a low D.

Toneholes
Sharpest hole edges I've ever touched. My fingers actually felt a little tender after a while. Hmmm.... All the others I've tried have smoother edges, with a wee bit of rounding on them. I agree with the comment by cboody: the spacing between B2 and B3 is a little long. But,once you get used to it, it's no big deal. For me, any new whistle takes a little getting-used-to, especially low whistles.

Beak
Liked the plastic (vs metal). Liked the shape. No need for lip adaptations as with Chieftain V4.

Weight
Very light: 190g on my kitchen scale. I like this a lot.

In many respects, this is a very nice whistles. Yes, the hole edges felt sharp to me. But, I really like the light weight.

And of course, thank you to reitired and Kerry Whistles for letting us try it out !

trill

[retired]

What I find interesting is that I have a Kelpie and an Optima ( and have also played the tour Optima) and my experience is quite different than yours Trill. After playing Pancelticpiper's Reyburn aluminum low D and reading Ted's review of his Reyburn aluminum low D I came to very different conclusions about that whistle also - Sirchronique found his Reviol and the tour Reviol to be very different also - which leads me to believe, again , that these whistle vary quite a bit from whistle to whistle, even within the same model. The closest I've seen to consistency is the Optima - I've played three. I guess you just pay your money and take your chances.

[ytliek]

that these whistle vary quite a bit from whistle to whistle, even within the same model. The closest I've seen to consistency is the Optima - I've played three. I guess you just pay your money and take your chances.

Buying a new whistle and learning of variances within same models... whistlers are different in their playing and they may change with aging = subjective.

Buying any used whistle without knowing the entire provenance and exact original specs is buying "as is" = subjective.

My point in buying new from a reputable whistlemaker ought to get you what you wanted... its a customer satisfaction thing.

My point in buying any used whistle is the original buyer specified what was desired from the whistle and hopefully the whistlemaker fulfilled that. Without knowing the original specs a used buyer's expectation of the whistle may be the whistlemaker's description from standard off the shelf model, but, the custom ordered whistle with buyer (stylistic) specifications may vary from the whistlemaker's off the shelf model. Once the used whistle enters the secondary market its buyer beware. Too many unknown factors to be had so I cannot understand comparing a used whistle to a new whistle.

What about a custom made whistle for a wee bit part in a tune, or special gig, and then whistle sold off in the secondary market? Or an original buyer specifying a particular type whistle, soft blower, medium blower, hard blower and a particular type doesn't match your playing style/desire. Buyer beware.

Too many variables, whistlemakers continue to perfect their craft, materials may vary in grades or time periods, along with environmental variations (humidity, elevation, indoor/outdoor), and players, well they change too.

[trill]

retired,

I very much agree with the notion that there is
unit-to-unit varition in any make/model of whistle.
Here is some evidence from other players that supports this:

. . . I have both a new MK (my third try)...

. . .I hauled out my seldom-played Burke Low D
the other day and played it for a while, switching back and forth
between it and my (fifth!) MK Low D. . .

(both of the above are from the Chieftain V4 tour thread:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=95526&p=1127063&hil ... h#p1127063 )

In my own personal experience, I've played two
wooden Sweetheart Resonance Low D whistles.
Their voices were *VERY* different. One sounded
like a flute. The other, I swear, sounded like a clarinet.
I couldn't believe my ears.

Honestly, since the Optima uses an injection molded head,
there *may* be less variation. But, it's no guarantee.
I worked for 3 summers in an injection molding shop.
Even once the molds have been tweaked, other issues can
cause variation.

One biggie is whether the mold temperature
has stabilized. As the mold heats up from a cold start, the
shrinkage in the parts changes. By how much ?
Answer: depends on the mold shape, the plastic, and the
degree of temperature rise. The most consistent parts come
after the mold has run a bunch of pieces and has achieved
thermal equilibrium. The early parts should be trashed. Further,
the molds degrade over time + use. The shutoff surfaces erode,
leading to "flashing" (those thin little remnants of plastic that leak
from the mold's parting line). That flashing has to be trimmed
by hand.

I've found whistles to be *very* sensitive to even teeny-tiny
variations in head shape. Modify a fipple at your peril. Think of the
phrases "butterfly effect" and "sensitive dependence on initial conditions".

What's a player to do ?

trill

[retired]

Rule : #1 win the lottery rule#2 you have to ask?

[pancelticpiper]

I should stress that the variances in the MKs I've had have been subtle. All are much more like each other than like any other whistle. There hasn't been enough variation to have something happen like one MK being louder than Brand X and another MK being softer than Brand X, or one MK being more air-efficient than Brand X and another being less air-efficient than Brand X.

[pancelticpiper]

The Optima arrived today!

First impression: feels good in the hands, light weight, nice tone, excellent tuning, cool distinctive looks. Had fun playing some tunes!

The tone is particularly nice, having quite a bit of the dirt/gravel of the MK but with some of the foggy quality of the Reyburn poly-head alloy. Overall tone distinct from the various other Low Ds I have, though closest to the Reyburn.

Looks are a taste thing but I really like the looks of this whistle. Red makes it toylike I guess. I would think that most people will go with black. I would go with clear... really cool.

As it happens I have quite a few Low Ds laying about so I measured various things between them, to see how this Optima stacks up against 'the competition'.

I have:
Burke Pro Viper alloy
Dixon all-plastic two-piece conical bore
Susato keyless with angled neck
Reyburn alloy body/poly head
Reyburn alloy body/maple head
MK tunable (like the MK pro but made before that designation was used)

I rounded up the usual suspects for the lineup



Tuning:
The Optima's scale is quite precisely tuned to ET, with a perfect ET crossfingered C natural.

Octaves:
Low D's vary quite a bit in their approach to octave tuning. This Optima has the sharpest 2nd octave of any of the Low D's I have to hand. In fact it's quite difficult to blow the low octave strong enough and blow the 2nd octave softly enough to keep the registers in tune; I have to blow the low notes right to the verge of them beginning to flutter/break (their tone becoming less than optimal) and blow the 2nd octave right at the verge of falling to keep the octaves in line.
The various whistles flattest 2nd octave > sharpest 2nd octave:
Dixon > Reyburns/Burke/Susato > MK > Optima
With the Dixon the low octave must be rather underblown. The Reyburns, Burke, and Susato have the 2nd octave in the (for me) most natural place. With the MK you must strongly blow the low register and be careful not to overblow the 2nd octave but with practice it's easy to keep the octaves in line.

Volume:
Without being able to measure volume, it's more of an impression than a scientific reality. My overall impression, playing a tune that mostly dwells in the low range, is:
Loudest > Softest
Maplehead Reyburn > MK > Burke/Susato > Optima/Polyhead Reyburn > Dixon

Bottom D strength: There's a big gap, with Susato, Burke, and the Reyburns having very powerful Bottom D's, and the MK, Optima, and Dixon having weaker ones.

Evenness in strength in the Bottom D/Low E/Low F# range:
This is something I really become aware of when playing tunes that dwell down there. You go to play E and it breaks because it can't take the same pushing its neighbors can.
The MK, Optima, and both Reyburns are remarkably even and you can play down there with confidence. The Dixon, Burke, and Susato have E's which are considerably weaker than their neighbors.

Air efficiency:
A little difference, a couple seconds in how long you can sustain a note, makes a huge difference in how you phrase tunes. I prize an efficient instrument on which long phrases can be played, and you can just play without having to put in frequent gaps.
Most efficient > least efficient (measured by how long I can sustain G in the 2nd octave):
MK > Susato/Dixon > Burke/Optima/Maplehead Reyburn > Polyhead Reyburn

Timbre:
This is of course entirely subjective. The Susato and Dixon have pure colourless timbres. The Maplehead Reyburn is pure but adds an NAF-like resonance. The Burke is pure but adds a bit of dirt/gravel. The polyhead Reyburn has a unique foggy NAF-like presence. The Optima and MK have the most gravel/dirt. The MK combines this dirtiness/graveliness with a strong 'core' in a way that sets it apart from the others.

[pancelticpiper]

Comfort/ergonomics:
As I play Low Ds more and more I'm realizing that upperhand comfort, for me, seems to be hugely impacted by fairly small differences in tube fatness, hole spacing, and hole size.

The Dixon with its close, small holes and skinny tube is by far the most comfortable for me to play. The Susato and MK are next, with narrower-than-average tubes and smaller-than-average holes. A fat tube and far-flung big holes make my upper hand less comfortable.

Tube OD:
Susato .89 > Dixon (at C# hole) .91 > MK .96 > Reyburns/Optima/Burke .985

Upperhand finger spread/hole size measured from edge to edge, smallest > largest:
Dixon 3.12 > polyhead Reyburn 3.24 > Susato 3.28 > MK/Optima 3.31 > Burke 3.33 > maplehead Reyburn 3.46

The differences might seem small, but the difference in upperhand comfort between the MK and the maplehead Reyburn is huge.

BTW the lowerhand spread measured the same way:
Susato 3.16 > Dixon 3.18 > Optima 3.24 > maplehead Reyburn 3.25 > MK 3.26 > Burke 3.36 > polyhead Reyburn 3.4

Odd, isn't it, how some whistles have among the biggest spread in one hand and the narrowest in the other. Would be nice to have the upperhand spread of the polyhead Reyburn and the lowerhand spread of the Optima. (The Susato's placement is obviously not optimal tonewise.)

[Ted]

As usual, Pancelt. has been ahead of me and gave a very exhausting account of his experiences with this whistle. I find myself in almost total agreement with his review and have only a couple of things to add. I really like this whistle much better than the more expensive V4. The tone is much more in line with what I like in a whistle. It sounds and plays much better than any of the other less expensive tunable whistles on the market. One downside is the narrow pressure range available in the low octave, especially the bottom notes. The E is not subdued, as in many whistles but the whistle cannot be pushed without jumping the octave. I found it easy to get a solid tone on the lowest notes but there is almost no headroom to add pressure for more tonal range without switching octaves. There is a little room there and it does respond well within the narrow pressure range it has, giving some expression. The other negative is the tuning of the upper octave vs. the lower. This was well covered in Pancelt's review. It would be a good entry level whistle for someone who does not want to invest in an MK Pro, Reyburn or Goldie, to name a few, but wants something that will be heard in a session. It plays more like a high d whistle, having a solid bell note, but without being able to lean into it much. I like the tone and feel of it and it will do a good job for someone not as demanding as I am for what I want in a low whistle.

Thanks to Phil and retired for setting up this tour.

[SKC]

After a week with the whistle I have very little to add to what has already been said. The solid low E stands out, the volume is nice, and the plastic head is much nicer than I expected. (Can't say I care for the red, but there's no accounting for taste. ) The Optima would be a useful piece of kit to have in the gig bag for colder environments. Its an interesting instrument that fills a niche I think has needed filling for quite some time, and it meets all the criteria that Phil set out in the introduction video; I like the results very much indeed. Bravo Mr. Hardy, keep up the good work. And thanks again to both Phil and retired for the chance to get my hands on one these. I will definitely be ordering in the near future.

[retired]

I see the Optima low D is on sale at the Kerry Whistles website for about $95 at this time.

[Tommy]

I see the Optima low D is on sale at the Kerry Whistles website for about $95 at this time.

Seems a good price for a budget low D. I do prefer the Optima over the V4. The voice of the V4 did not appeal to me as well as the Optima. I would rather have a low D that can be muted to lesser volume than one that is fixed at a low volume.

[Reyburnwhistles]

I spent a bit of time with the Optima and am in total agreement with what almost everyone has said about it so I won't repeat that. Bell note is too quiet for me and a bit of a push for the upper end, but all in all a quite nice entry level Low D at a very good price. I did like the Optima better than the V-4.

One concern I have about the compression molded head is what Trill has pointed out so I hope there is good consistency on this molded part. I've sent the whistle on to Slowair so he should have it soon.

Thanks Patrick and Phil for sending this whistle around as it's been fun to try it out.