CP: Goldfinch Whistle World Tour

[Chris]

The little Goldfinch is now on its way to Russia. I was sorry to let it go.

[dolphinjon]

I received the US/UK tour whistle on Monday. Due to the joys of dorm life I've mainly played it in the first octave. Tonight I got the time to go over to a practice room so I could really play it for a while. Over all, I have to mostly agree with what other posters have said. The only main differences I've experienced are with the air requirements and the octave jumps. Tonight this whistle really seemed to suck the air out of me, especially in the second octave. Part of it is probably that I'm a bit on the tired side right now. One thing that really surprised me is the weight of the whistle. The whistle that gets by far the most play time is my Parks Everywhistle, which weighs a bit less the the Goldfinch. They also sound quite different from one another. The Goldfinch seems very well made. The tuning slide is quite tight, as another reviewer mentioned, but it doesn't seem likely that it would slip even a nanometer! Overall, I really like this whistle. Keep in mind that the only other high D's I've played are the Parks, Susato, Dixon Trad, Walton, and Clarke original, so I don't have a great deal of experience. It does give a very clear tone that is different from the others and I love it for that. The only real downside I see is the price tag is a little bit steep, particularly when you have to get it shipped to the U.S. But then again, it's the only way to get it so it might be worth it. We'll just have to see how much I miss it once I send it on

[lixnaw]

That whsitle has a great sound!
The Goldfinch looks like my Parks, but i like the sound better, it's more mellow.
Has it got a volume controle-ring aswell ?

[Feaorn]

Thank You kindly for Your reviews!

No, it doesn't have the ring.

[Feaorn]

Hey, Jem! How is our whistle whistling?

Dear Safronov, have You received our whistle? Let us know how are things going!

...And feel free to share Your opinion!

[jemtheflute]

Whistle posted on to Nick Pope today. Review and clips to follow asap when I get a chance.

[Whistler Bard]

I'm honestly proud to have been the first to try the Goldfinch on Tour!

Just to let you know this

[narrowdog]

The tour whistle is now with me

I'll keep it for a couple of weeks and then pass it on.

Can the next person on the tour PM me their postal details.

Thanks

Nick

[jemtheflute]

Glad to know it has arrived safely, Nick.

Here is a link to a video clip of my young friend (& ex-pupil) Tom playing a set on the Goldfinch at our local session last week. I did a clip on it myself at home and have drafted some comments but have had no time as yet to sort them out and post them - and I'm buried in work hassles at the moment - they'll come eventually.

[ancientfifer]

Glad to know it has arrived safely, Nick.
Here is a link to a video clip of my young friend (& ex-pupil) Tom playing a set on the Goldfinch at our local session last week. I did a clip on it myself at home and have drafted some comments but have had no time as yet to sort them out and post them - and I'm buried in work hassles at the moment - they'll come eventually.

Jem:
Nice clip and well played by your student Tom. He gets a very nice tone from it. thanks for sharing.
Russ

[Feaorn]

Great one, indeed. The session squad seems grand aswell. Oh gosh, I wish we had sessions more often here, in Poland!

Thank You. We're looking forward to Your further remarks!

[narrowdog]

Hi
I've had the tour whistle for well over a fortnight now and it needs to
be moving on
Derek B is the next on the list but I've not heard from him yet.
@ Feaorn, any help?

Nick

[Feaorn]

I'll try to contact Derek at once!
Please, keep the whistle just for a little longer. We'll see if he's still active and conscious!

We would send You his address earlier, but, as we have already posted, we are not eager to share somebody's personal data.
Sorry for such a lag - we should have investigate this matter earlier, but were overburdened with organizational work due to a Celtic music event here, in Poland. (By the way: the concert and session music of Polish Danar band made it truly fantastic - feel free to check their music out at: http://www.myspace.com/danarband)

Do not hesitate to post Your opinions about the Goldfinch Whistle! That was our deal, wasn't it? We deliver a whistle, You tell us about it.

And on the European Tour:
Dear Safronov, have You finallly received the whistle? It's been a long time!

[jemtheflute]

I've eventually found a few moments to write up my review and to edit and upload my demo clip of the Goldfinch tour whistle. I think I may have been a bit too close to the phonecam (less close than the image suggests - that was zoomed in a bit) as the mic seems to be objecting a little to the whistle! Any shrillness/harsh edge in the playback is due to that technical problem and not to the real live sound of the whistle, which is pretty clean and sweet. The tunes are The Humours of Ballyconnel and The Bank of Ireland.

Here are my thoughts and comments - notes made while I still had the whistle to hand:

The Goldfinch is quite a nicely designed and carefully made whistle, well finished and mostly well presented. I like the logo-printed cloth bag, though the rather school-kid blanket-stitched hem for the drawstring lets it down a bit. Also, the buff-coloured tubing used is perhaps a little unattractive - black or pure white pvc would be far nicer if available. I agree with the previous commentator who thought the stick-on logo on the whistle itself won't last long, and some kind of stamp would be better. I was a little worried too about the durability of the tuning slide tenon which is turned very thin - less than 1/3 of the wall thickness, and was easily squeezed out of shape between two fingers. Should the PVC become even slightly brittle with age, or were the whistle left apart in heat, I think it would be very vulnerable. I was the more worried as I had to pull the tuning slide about 2/3rds of its range open in order to get A=440.

The whistle's pitch is very responsive to breath pressure - more so than many I have played, and I like to push quite hard (hence the need to tune down so much), but then, this whistle needed pushing to get the most it could give. If I blew more gently and tuned up it became insipidly quiet and no use in a session or performance context, though very sweet. Even leant into quite hard, this is only a medium volume instrument. It has a sweet, even tone across the range, is not shrill high up and has an easy flowing, balanced octave response. Its voice is, to my ear, very definitely "whistle", not at all recordery.

I think the Goldfinch has probably been designed to play middle C natural with oxx ooo and it does so fairly well, but oxo xxx is actually rather better in tone strength/colour and pitch. (The commonest-best cylindrical whistle fingering oxx xox is way flat, almost a B.)

The Goldfinch has a slightly odd tone-hole disposition - I have moderately broad fingers but rarely have any problems on high D whistles (I'm fine on Generation high F but can't play a G one) yet I found my L3 and R1 tended to bang together/be in contact when both down - no too badly, but....... The A tone-hole (L3) is rather large and low on the tube, the G hole (R1) is very small and high (hence the finger-clash) and the F# (R2) is also placed rather high giving an unusually long gap to the E hole (R3). I think these could be resized/redistributed to advantage. As the whistle does not seem to me to have been designed to optimise any chromatic cross-fingerings, such redesign should not be a major problem (and could perhaps seek to provide a good cross-fingered G#?). This is detailed technical design talk, though, suggestions for the future, and should not put anyone off buying what is a very playable whistle (unless they have very broad fingers) as it is currently produced.

I think this is a quite recommendable whistle as it now stands, but it could be fairly easily improved significantly, by amending the tone-hole disposition as outlined above, by giving it a somewhat bigger, freer voice (window/windway dimensions?) and maybe the body length/tuning slide configuration need to be set a touch flatter so that it is not necessary to pull the slide so far open when trying to play at a good volume with a well supported air-stream, whether in company with other instruments or just to optimise its solo voice. Lastly, I'd be happier if they went for a nearer 50/50 split of the wall thickness in making the tuning slide than they do currently - make that tenon a little more robust (though of course I realise there is a cost in that the walls of the socket will be correspondingly thinned/weakened.

Lastly, price. I think that at €40 plus P&P (c£35) this is a bit over-priced in terms of its place in the market, the prices of its obvious competitors. Susato Kildare Ds are $40 and are probably slightly better instruments, though with a less conventional "tin whistle" sound. The basic Dixon tunable all pvc model (ugly!) is just £18 (c €23) and the more attractive one with the brass tuning slide is £29 (c€35). I think the Goldfinch plays a bit better than the Dixons I have had goes on, but have not made a direct comparisons, whereas I own an older Susato and did make direct swap comparisons with that. I think they will need to drop the price if they're going to stick with the current design or to make some significant improvements to justify the current price, keeping all the good features and upping the performance.

It was a pleasure to try out the Goldfinch and the several friends who had goes on it were all reasonably impressed and positive in their reactions. Thanks, Feaorn, for including me in the tour and good luck with the ongoing development of your whistles. I hope my suggestions are helpful.

Jem.

[Feaorn]

Thank You very much for Your detailed review and criticism! We will surely take Your opinion into consideration while making new ones.
The journey of a whistlemaker and his whistles never ends.

We are grateful for Your participation!