What is the advantage in buying direct from the maker?
What I found from experience is that different players have different preferences on how they like their whistles to play and sound. When I am making a whistle for a particular player I ask how they like their whistle to perform and try to make it to that specification i.e. when it comes down to a Low D I can make different finger spacings, hole sizes as well as breath requirements. I can sometimes play a couple of whistles down the phone and explain how they play which may give some kind of an idea and you can choose the whistle you prefer. There is NO perfect whistle for everyone as we all have our own view on what sounds good. Some people like a whistle that they can really "kick" into when playing whilst others like something that is really easy. All whistles I make to the same high standards and they are played and checked well before they go out but the playability and sound can vary a little as they are all individually hand made. When whistles are made for shops I do not know who is going to get them or specific preferences they may want. As a result of this experience I recommend that if you have a specific request for your whistle then to order direct from myself so that these requirements can be incorporated when making.
Why does my whistle sometimes clog up with condensation and how can I help prevent this?
All whistles that are fully metal can have a tendency to clog up when cold. I can give you some tips which could possibly help. What you can do and this is good to do every now and again anyway, is to get an old credit card or something similar. Cut it so that it can go into the windway and scrape the inside through. Do this for a few minutes and sometimes bits will come out of the end. Rinse the mouthpiece under some running water (preferably warm). This helps wash any bits out and when you have blown the windway clear again it will be at playing temperature. If the water is cold and this goes for the whistle in general being cold when you come to play it, condensation can build up in the windway and then make the whistle clog up. Have another look into the windway and check again for any bits. If there are any then start the process again. Try playing the whistle and this should have made a difference.
The other tip I can give you is when rinsing out the mouthpiece use warm soapy water followed by clean warm water to take away the soap.
Also when about to play a whistle I ALWAYS recommend the best thing to do is to put a finger over the vent on the mouthpiece and blow hard a few times to warm it up. This helps avoiding it clogging up. I also blow the windway out inbetween tunes because if the whistle is not played for a couple of minutes the mouthpiece can get cold and then condensation can easily build up when you start playing again. This will change depending on the temperature of the room and the humilidity.
How can I clean the outside of my whistle or get it even more shiny?
For cleaning the outside you can just use a clean cotton cloth and for the body using both
hands twist the whistle so you follow the polishing lines on the whistle. On the head wipe
it vertically with the polishing lines.
Alternatively you can get some aluminum polish (chrome polish) which is very fine. This can be bought cheaply from a car accessory shop. Use the polish and do the same as above. This will give it a real high shine like chrome. If you do this I would suggest washing the whistle with warm soapy water when finished and then dry it and buff up with a clean cotton cloth. It looks very good and to keep it shiny you just need to rub it with a cloth as described above when you finished playing it. You may then not need to polish it again for a long long time.
May I be able to handle the big finger spacing of the low whistles?
Since July 1998 I re-designed the low Ds with finger spacing, that is closer together. I made it so that a normal or even quite small handed person is able to handle this. Mainly the bottom three holes are closer together now so that the stretch of the second hand is not that big anymore. I still make on request the old bigger stretch fingering as well as the big holed version like the low Ds Bernard Overton made over 20 years ago.
I had problems to produce a clean sound on the low whistle by sealing the finger holes properly
I e-mailed you asking your advice about obtaining a solid and clear low D. I have since found what I think is the solution to the problem and would like to share it with you so that others might find it useful.
After years of working in steel fabrication my hands have developed rather tough pads and the pads have lines in them that run lenghtwise with the finger. When my hands are cold and/or dry these lines apparantly cause leaks that are detrimental to the low D and I am sure to a lesser extent other notes. If I wash my hands and play while they are soft or use hand lotion, the low D note can be easily produced and is in balance with the other notes (in volume).
Thanks to Gary Robertson for his tip to check if the hands are not too cold and/or dry when playing.
I have a tunable low whistle and the fitting is getting loose over the time, what can I do to make it tighter?
When you do take the whistle apart, the white tape you see there is PTFE (plumbers) tape. I used this as I know it is accessible to people all over the world quite cheaply in every DIY-shop. If the fit becomes loose between the joint of the whistle then you can either add a little more tape to it or replace it completly, both ways are quite easy done and you can adjust the tightness to how you would like it. Start with thin layers and bind it round slowly otherwise you have to take layers off again. If it is too thick you would not be able to put the whistle back together again. The other reason I choose PTFE-tape is that the joints should never stick together so that you will be able to take it apart again when need be.
If I am having problems with my whistle can I come back to you or even send it back for being repaired?
I have heard disaster stories from people trying to remedy their instruments and in the process destroying them beyond repair instead of sending them back to where they bought them from to be repaired by the maker. If you have any problems with your whistle please contact me and I will do my best to help out. I offer a lifetime warranty on my instruments.
I would like to buy CD "XY" which I found on your CD lists
CDs for sale you can find listed on the Winds & Skins Page. The CDs, you find sorted by style in the CD lists are from our private collection. We listed them as we wanted to give ideas about CDs you can get by which artist. As they are all our private ones, we can recommend all of them as we do like them but you would have to buy them somewhere else. If you are looking for a specific CD I always recommend to go to the website www.cddb.com. Here you can search for artists or titles and can find what an artist has to offer on CDs or find the name of them if you only know the title of a tune. Often CDDB provides you with information, where you could buy the CD as they do not sell CDs, they are "just" a data base for all kinds of music.
If you want to buy a CD mentioned on our list and are interested in doing a donation to a charity you are invited to use the "Amazon-Search-Banner" implemented in the CD-lists. When searching via this and finding that Amazon offers the CD, you can directly order it. Amazon will donate a fee for every sale coming from this banner to a charity we haven choosen . I hope this is appreciated and your ordering and the donation coming from this will be appreciated by the charity Zornröschen.
What about the Overton/Chieftain thing?
You will find below the email of Bernard Overton and myself to the Chiff&Fipple-Newsletter of Dale Wisely from July 1998. This statement was made to help end the confusion. Also have a look into the "Be aware" page, here you can find further information.
Hello Dale,
thanks for sorting out some of the "OVERTON / CHIEFTAIN" mess. You have helped
quite a lot.
There have been more developments which we think yourself and interested whistle players
should know about. One of the major changes is that Phil Hardy has had his licence for
building the OVERTON design whistle revoked. So now he can not make or sell OVERTON
Whistles.
We want to make it clear that the Chieftain and Kerry Whistles had and have nothing to do
with either Colin Goldie or Bernard Overton right from the concept through to marketing.
Information you may find linking these whistles to OVERTONs in music catalogues or
announcements are incorrect.
Our aim was and still is to make high quality whistles which are handmade to the OVERTON
design.
Bernard Overton developed the "Low Whistle" and then designed a comprehensive
range of whistles in every key from Soprano down to Baritone.
After looking around the market place we see that there seems to be some confusion about
the differences between genuine OVERTONs and their pretenders (copies). All of our
whistles will be supplied with a whistle bag, they will also be issued with a certificate
of authenticity signed by the maker. We hope this will help anyone who is thinking of
buying an OVERTON whistle.
We now have a website: www.overton.co.uk which gives us the chance to be in contact with
more people and through which they can if they want order directly from us. This then
gives us the chance to make each whistle to the players specifications i.e. hard blowing,
soft blowing, tunable etc.
Anyone should feel free to come and visit us at our website to find out about the range
and prices. Also about new models, news of which will be released soon. We are sure this
will make bis news.
We wish Chiff & Fipple much success and will keep in contact to let you know about
anything of interest that comes up.
ALL THE BEST
Bernard Overton & Colin Goldie
Please have a look in the Be Aware Page and find out more about the situation and how to identify a geniune Overton.
Update March 2001: Unfortunately this problem still is existing and we are finding shops - most of them new to the Internet - with misleading information, selling different brand whistles as being Overtons. We are sorry that it does not seem to find an end and still try to inform them and ask them to correct their information. If you know of any shop or vendor selling whistles as Overtons when they are not we would be very pleased to hear from you.
This page will be updated frequently when the collection of regular questions and answers grow. As I like to have this site also as a forum for players please contact me and send me your comments, corrections and of course questions.