Chiff and Fipple Forums

Hello all, long time no see if you were here 15-20 years ago, and hello probably for the first time if you've joined since then.

I've recently dug out my Box O Whistles and there are a half dozen in there that I can't identify. Anyone want to take a look and take a guess as to the brand/maker of these? All were most likely made between 2002 and 2012.



I think you should be able to right click the picture and put it in a new window/tab to make it bigger if need be.

The top one is a wooden D, beautiful, sounds great (Martin asked to buy it off me), absolutely no maker mark. I think I got it around 2008 but not 100% certain. (Edit - Identified by Jerry and bigsciota as a probable Sweet.)

The next one down is a telescoping three piece brass D with a head that looks like a Mack Hoover whitecap but I'm pretty sure it isn't. But it's possible it was one of his early telescoping models? Normally the head is signed but this one is blank. (Edit - current theories from conversation are either a Hoover prototype or maybe a Reyburn, but based on my whistle tendencies it's far more likely to be the former. I'll check with Mack, and also with Parks to see if it could be one of their early three pieces.)

The third one down IS a Mack Hoover whitecap head, but I'm looking for an ID of the brass body. Whatever (black?) words were on the oval sticker label have long since worn away. This is one of my top five favourite whistles and I'd love to get another made. (Edit - identified by Jerry as a Feadog, and confirmed by finding a Feadog in Martin's collection and the label looks very similar to what I dimly remember being on there.)

Fourth one down. Plastic D, three piece, it came with a black felt three-slot travel case. Other than the fact it's in three pieces it doesn't look like a Parks, who is the only maker of three piece plastic whistles I know. (Edit - conversation suggesting it may be an early Parks Whistle Walkabout.)

The bottom two are both wooden, and kind of similar, but I don't think similar enough to be the same maker. The lighter one is one piece with a straight-angled mouthpiece and the darker one is tunable with a curved mouthpiece. Potentially from newer makers of the time? These may be one-offs and unidentifiable unless the maker happens to read this. (Edit - conversation suggests maybe early Busman or Oz? Still uncertain.)

Closeup of heads:



Guesses welcome, thanks!

Hello again. Indeed it has been a long time. When I saw your name I was pleasantly surprised.

The top whistle may be have been made by Ralph Sweet but I'm not sure.

The tonebody on the third whistle from the top is from an old Feadog. It will be exactly the same as current Feadog tonebodies but the stickers are different now. On current Feadog stickers the ink doesn't rub off and they don't have clear tape all around like the old ones did.

Best wishes,
Jerry

I would bet that the top one is a Sweetheart, or possibly made by Ralph's son Walt, it looks nearly identical to the ones of theirs I've seen and played. I would also bet that the second one down is a Mack Hoover for the reasons you state, it looks like a variation or maybe a prototype version of his whistles.

If I absolutely had to venture a guess on the second from the bottom I'd say it's an Oz, maybe an earlier model or something. Enough resemblance that it might be worth looking through some pictures of his whistles. I am not very confident in that guess though!

Thank you for the input! Yes, the telescoping could be an early Hoover - I'll ask him.

A Feadog! Excellent. I can get those cheap and send a few to Mack for re-heading.

Sweetheart, eh? I believe that one was a gift from some friends, now that I think about it more. I normally have metal whistles; I think it may be my only wooden one.

I don't know anything about Oz whistles, I will look into those more.

Wondering if the white one is a previous model from Parks Whistles. Their current "Walkabout ll" is 3-piece, so maybe that's a version 1?
Top whistle in black looks identical to a rosewood Sweetheart whistle I once had.
Bottom two look like early/trial work compared to finished work by current makers. Maybe early work from Busman? Something of that general style.

The Third one gives off Reyburn vibes. Especially with the sticker, because his whistles always have stickers. It looks a lot like his older wooden head ones, where the lip was part of the whistle head, and not the tube, like his new models.

The second could also be a Reyburn. They both look similar to these wooden ones
http://pipersgrip.50webs.com/Reyburnhonker.html

#1 could be a Sweet, however, Walt was pretty consistent at numbering and engraving his name/logo on his hand made instruments, so I'd say it might be something else.
#2 is probably a Hoover, or an early pocket Feadog with a different head - maybe a Hoover head.
#3 looks like a Feadog
#4 looks like a Parks, but he has changed his fipple design, so if it's his it would have been an early one.
#5 I've seen these whistles before, but can't remember what they're called. Maybe an early Chris Wall whistle?
#6 I've had one of these but can't find any pics or info on when I sold it. It is in no way an OZ whistle. Mitch's whistle metals are engraved, and thinner bodied than this one.

Good Luck!

[Thread revival. - Mod]

A bit of an old post but the whistle 2nd from the bottom looks near identical to one I own made by Greg Mahan.

Steamwalker wrote: ↑Wed Nov 29, 2023 9:25 pm [Thread revival. - Mod]

A bit of an old post but the whistle 2nd from the bottom looks near identical to one I own made by Greg Mahan.

Wow, it sure does. Which means it was made in late 2006 or 2007. I didn't take pics of every whistle I made back then, but here's a cocobolo by way of comparison. And I definitely made a few out of the wood in the original post.


Edit: I found my old tax records. In 2006, I made and sold 21 whistles. I didn't track who they went to, only the state/country (because I had to pay sales/use tax in Texas for texas-sold whistles). This one is almost certainly a cherrywood whistle, and likely was sold in Aug, 2006. In 2007, I started keeping better track of who I sold whistles to, but I only sold 7 whistles--1 cocobolo, 3 blackwood, and 3 "stonehenge" whistles, so it wasn't one of those. If it's the one I'm thinking of, it was the 2nd whistle I ever sold.

About that time, two other chiffers started offering wooden whistles for, if I recall, in the $30 range, and my sales dried up. It probably didn't help that my whistles weren't really where I wanted them to be in terms of quality, but I hoped my price at the time reflected that. That said, I couldn't really compete at a $30 price point because I was already only making like $3.00/hour making them.

So, I suppose since I only sold 28 (and I still own the first one I ever made, making 29), that makes it a bit of a rare find.

Hi Greg! Thanks for the confirmation. From around 2006ish makes sense but it might have been from before you were keeping sales records as I think we were in contact already...were you the one that got my mini lathe when I moved, or was that someone else?

I might as well update the thread, as I hadn't realised it was QUITE this old now.

Top one: Likely a Sweet. I need to ask Izzarina and Redwolf as I believe one or possibly both of them were involved in it getting to me in ~2008.

Second one. NOT a Hoover, confirmed by Mack. I believe it and the fourth one are from the same maker, and probably Parks from around 2010, give or take a year. I remember placing an order for telescoping/travel whistles since Laughing Whistles were no longer being made, and I am pretty sure Parks was the only one making them around that time.

Third one - Feadog body, Hoover whitecap head.

Fourth one - see info for second one. Wherever they came from, it was the same place. It's a three piece rather than a telescoper.

Fifth one - Greg Mahan, potentially from before there were any made for actual sale as I remember we were talking shop about woodworking circa 2003-2005.

Sixth one - still no clue. It's not one I bought as I don't typically buy wooden whistles. It has (well repaired) damage between the third and fourth holes and I am betting I was given it as a "plays OK but looks could be better" type of whistle. I should ask Mack if it is one of his...there are some structural similarities, but also enough differences that I feel like it can't be one of his...

avanutria wrote: ↑Fri Dec 01, 2023 7:02 pm Hi Greg! Thanks for the confirmation. From around 2006ish makes sense but it might have been from before you were keeping sales records as I think we were in contact already...were you the one that got my mini lathe when I moved, or was that someone else?

Someone else, I'm sure. I ordered mine from directly from Micro-Mark after researching on mini-lathe.com. A Micro-Mark 7x14, I think..though it might've been a 7x12. Though I was desperate for whistle making information before then, and I have some recollection of our conversations.

I'm positive the one you have didn't come before 2006, though, because I have a lot of dated pictures of my trials. In 2005-ish (I don't have a date on these photos) I tried making a whistle out of copper tubing from Home Depot, a hammer, and a hand drill. (image) It was awful looking, but it played and gave me hope. Then I worked out a rough process with CPVC and had my first prototype of that one done March 2006. (image) I bought my lathe and all the equipment I felt I needed to get started, and began learning how to bore and machine the wood in late April of that year. I started making lots of tubes, and trying to get a repeatable method down to turn those tubes into whistles.

My very first whistle I ever made in wood was birds-eye maple July 9th, 2006, but it wasn't very playable, and I kept working on refining the method for the blade. After a lot more tries, I felt I had made my first "salable" whistle out of zebra wood on 7-26-2006. I'd already made a lot of tubes by that point, so I started finishing them up and offering them for sale.

By 2007, I had been to the local Woodcraft store a bunch, and really loved the look of those Corian pen blanks and thought to myself "Why can't you make a whistle out of that stuff?" The answer was: it only came in 1/2" thick sheets. So i had to learn how to weld them together into 1" sheets to cut 1x1x12" blanks, and started making the Stonehenge whistles, of which I lost one to breakage during a whistle tour, and sold 3.

Turn the fourth one over and look for a 1/16” round dot? I use styrene pin to hold the white delrin plug in place. Also some of my black felt bags had a felt strip to fold over the top into, and some just an elastic pony tail holder?

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=58444

Note the black felt cut with pinking shears!

coming back to this, that last still-unknown whistle is giving me early Boisvert/Greenwood vibes.