Chiff and Fipple Forums

Aside from all the technique suggestions, you have to consider that it may be the whistle itself. Not all whistles are created equal, no matter how they're created or who creates them. One person could order two Dixon brass high Ds (or any whistle) and find that one may be great on the high B, while...

You can always try contacting Lunasa.

DC

Mind you, this is just a personal opinion, but to me, the VSB's tone is very thin and one-dimensional with no tonal character, although it's easy to play, accurate, and requires little air. The high A & B notes in particular are shrill and particularly thin to me. It sat in a drawer for a couple...

Hey, I check out this site pretty regularly, and finally decided to register. I'm Eric. Anyways, I've been playing the whistle for about a year and half, and I'm pretty much self-taught. Can't read music either. I consider myself a decent player. Either way, I love playing. So, down to business, as...

Although not the song the original post was looking for, I just thought I'd mention that our band does a very powerful, driving, and moving version of this terrible massacre named "Cold Glencoe" (written by RISE guitarist, Gerry Geoghegan), which takes a different and interesting perspecti...

This sounds fantastic! I've a question - a friend of mine (also here in nj) ordered one of these a month ago via the Burke website and has not heard anything yet. How did you order it and find out the turnaround time? Many thanks, Lesl I've done a lot of business with Mike, and the best way to orde...

Welcome to the ever-growing family of Burke users. I'm a "Burkey" myself, and love my narrrow bore aluminum and brass blacktip Ds. I'm sure you'll love the whistle, and rest assured that Mike stands behind his work, should you have any questions or issues.

DC
SlipJig Celtic Band

They're basically ok. I have a tunable D, high C, and two As (one, a replacement for the first with problems that Tony told me to go ahead and keep). The D sounds nice with good volume, but isn't terribly accurate. The second register tends to be slightly sharp. Also, the finger holes are too close ...

I owned a Blackwood Sweet professional whistle (a D) and it was exceedingly intense, easily got shrill. It was also very poorly made and fell apart within a few months. I returned it to have the block refitted (and paid for that service), and it simply fell apart again a few weeks later, although n...

one problem i think with whistle in playing bluegrass is the ability to hit chromatic or "blue" notes cleanly at speed. playing a bluesy run in A requiring the flat 5 (Eb) on a D whistle seems pretty challenging to me, i'm no great whistle player but i can blow through jigs and reels at a...

I recently saw Nickel Creek in concert, and they did a couple Celtic tunes, as well as mixed some Celtic flavoing into others....which, naturally, was incredible. Their arrangements of everything are simply awesome.

DC

As a full time member of a working Celtic band named SlipJig , I like to get away now and then and play guitar and whistle with a local bluegrass band....maybe once or twice a month. Since the majority of songs are played in G, A, D, & Em, I use a high D most of the time. Depending on the song, ...

Whitmores75087 wrote:Hi DRC,

The Songbird was my first "high end" whistle and it drove me towards cheapos for a long time. It's a bad whistle. Then I discovered Burke and the simple fact that not all makers of high end whistles are....

AMEN!

Right now, we're concentrating more on songs.

Siuil A Run
Last Rose of Summer (Walking in the Air)
A Winter's Night in Dublin (original; music & lyrics by DC)
Isle of Innisfree
Culloden's Harvest
Mary L McKay (our own version)

DC
SlipJig Celtic Band

I had a Songbird high D a couple years ago and hated it. It was a very difficult and tempermental child, indeed! The upper register was impossible at best, and finally ended up trading Ronaldo Reyburn for one of his high Ds, which was a significant improvement. And yes, I was up front with Ronaldo a...