Review - O'Brien Whistle, Soprano D with Delrin Fipple Plug

[dfernandez77]

I'm going to save me some time. All you have to do is see my last review for the O'Brien Whistle (1 head & 5 bodies). Then read below for the difference in appearance and voice. The rest of my impressions are the same.

I received basically the same soprano D whistle with the following differences:
Old whistle = copper fipple plug and un-plated body
New Whistle = Delrin fipple plug and nickel plated body

The whistles are nearly identical except for two things:
1. The appearance of the nickel plated body is very nice. I do like the look of the custom 2 tone whistle I had first, but this plated whistle looks really sharp too. Check out the pics;
2. The voices are very similar in character but for the following difference. The copper fipple plug gives the voice a bright sound - while the Delrin fipple plug gives the voice a smooth sound. Very different, yet very similar - both having a round, rich, and complex voice.

I had no idea that just a difference in fipple plug material could make such a difference in the voice. The sound samples on this page give a good feel of what the difference in fipple plug material does to the voice.
http://www.obrienwhistles.com/OBPWlisten.html

Here's the price page.
http://www.obrienwhistles.com/OBPWpricing.html

To be fair, David O'Brien liked the photos I took for the last review. I told him he could use the photos on his site. He sent a gift of a new whistle head with the Delrin fipple plug and a plated Sop D body in appreciation. I can't argue with that.

Here's the pics of the new beauty:

[khl]

Great pictures (again).

I have a full set of these and all three fipples (copper, clear lucite, and delrin). I liked them so much I wanted the different voices. (Lately David mentioned he's updated his fipple model. Not sure I can convince my wife I need a fourth fipple.) I agree with the way you describe the difference in sound and would add that the lucite fipple sort of falls in between the copper and delrin in its voice. I like the delrin fipple best for most things I play (and it is less prone to clog than the others), next the copper fipple, then the lucite.

If you are going to buy just the D whistle, you might want to consider buying the Rover (the one whose body separates, making it very pocket portable--two body pieces and the fipple). It has the same great sound as the regular D. There are pictures and more info on the website.

David is really good to do business with. The O'Brien is a step up in price from the inexpensive models, but it (or a set) is still a very good deal. Can't go wrong here.

[Henke]

I've recieved two rover whistles from O'Brien. One is nickel plated body with metal plug (don't know if it's nickel plated copper or nickel), the other one is un-plated body with delrin plug. They are really nice, solid whistles. I've had so much things going on so I haven't had time to really review them. They have been sitting here and I've grabbed one up on occation, usually a few times per day, just to get a feel for them. I'm getting ready to send them over to the next person on the list now.
I agree they are nice whistles, very solid and hand made feeling, they sound nice as well. I've had quite a hard time getting used to them however, because they have very little back pressure. I think I prefer whistles with a little more resistance and purer tone, these are basically on the completely different end of the spectrum from my primary whistle, the Syn, which is pure and has lots of back pressure, these have a rich, mellow tone and very little back pressure. With time, I'm sure I could grow to love them as well, but for now I'm satisfied with my Syns.