Williams Low G ?

[Trout Mask]

Anyone comments about 'Williams' whistles?

Never heard of them myself, can't find anything either:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Low-G-whistle-flu ... 1c1b98ffa1

Any info welcome

[Mr.Gumby]

It's the Professional Equivalent of the penny whistle!!

[MTGuru]

Apart from the (seller's) utter nonsense about "Low whistles have a far superior quality" and "Players who wish to play a low D should always play a low G first" ... No, not familiar with Williams.

[Trout Mask]

The sales rhetoric is superb (must be tongue in cheek ... surely)

I like this comment:

'These are expensive instruments carried by few music shops'

By that he mean 'NO' music shops as the most exhaustive Google search draws a total blank!!

The mouthpiece/fipple looks a bit Alba/Chieftain V3 like, but I wonder what gauge the tube is with that 'Williams' embossed so heavily

It's earned him a 'few coins' so it must be 'professional' sounding, he is remiss in not pointing out that you need to play a Bb 'as a bridge' to the Low G

[hoopy mike]

Maybe the owner's name is William, so this is William's whistle. You can get practically anything customised these days.

[Trout Mask]

I need to know more so I've sent him the following message:

Hello, I'm a long time whistler (as are many of my cohorts) yet none of us are familiar with a 'Williams' whistle (nor is Google)

Can you tell me more about this item, where you purchased it from, when etc

It's certainly is very professional looking instrument

Most grateful for any information

I will let you know 'Williams' response

[Hotblack]

Item in the UK, there is no reserve on it

Now I've never really used eBay but if there's no reserve why's it got a start price of £40? Surely if there was no reserve starting price would be £0???

[Trout Mask]

If you set a 'reserve' on an item, you set a minimum price you are willing to sell at. I had the 'winning' bid on a Kerry Pro Low F recently (£51.99) but the seller had set a 'reserve' of £100.00 so I didn't get it sadly.

[Feadoggie]

Now I've never really used eBay but if there's no reserve why's it got a start price of £40?

The seller can set any starting price on eBay. That way the seller can set a minimum acceptable selling price without setting a reserve. The reserve price with a zero starting price can spark interest in some bidders but many experienced buyers on eBay won't even look at an auction with an unstated reserve price. So it all comes down to the seller's tactical thinking.

And in regards to the whistle in question, I've never seen or heard of a Williams whistle like that one. Maybe it is the long sought after Hank Williams Lonesome Whistle number one! The seller certainly has a gift for whoo-ha in their auction descriptions. I did not know that the plastic mouthpiece was the greatest innovation in re(^(&er design until just now. You have to read the one about the crystal snail shell.

Feadoggie

[Trout Mask]

The 'lost 17'

[Trout Mask]

These notes are very helpful:


Note 1: I live in a place where you have to drive to the post office, so postage is not only the price of stamps. Sorry about this
Note 2: If you think you would like to own this whistle, please bid, even if you only bid the minimum amount. You may not be at a computer when the auction ends..

[Mr.Gumby]

I thought the whistle reminded me of something, but let's not cloud the issues.

[Trout Mask]

The 'yoke' ?

Tell us more

Those holes look HUGE

[narrowdog]

What I know about Williams whistles is that they
were made in the north east of England and were
made in keys of G, F and D and were pretty much
a copy of a Cheiftain V3.
I think there were only a dozen or so made.
I've played one in F owned by a Northumbrian piper friend.
It played quite nicely from what I can remember.

Edit..forgot to mention, they were sold from just one
or two shops and sold for around £100.

[talasiga]

I don't do ebay so I can't discuss all that stuff you blokes are going on about but when someone says Williams I think of Williams flutes made in England. Might he have made whistles also? Is that the Dave Williams who died in 2004?

I have a traditional music instrument catalogue I picked up in London in 1993 which lists two wooden Williams D flutes, one unkeyed and the other 4 keyed.