It's hard to believe it has been over three years since I first started this webpage. I know I have been an absent parent for most of that time, but I have at least managed to add a whistle review here and there every know and then. Like most parents when their child is first born, one has grandiose plans and wishes for their child, but as life and events happen things get put off and reality sets in and pretty soon your just happy you got as far as you did without going crazy. My personal focus has certainly left whistles for the time being, and I have sold off 95% of my whistle collection after finding I really didn't play anything but my MK's these days anyway. I do occasionaly get an email from someone who stumbled across the page on their begining journey with the low whistle, so I feel like I at least accomplished a piece of what I set out to do. There are many things I had wished to add to this website, and who knows, maybe one day I will get to them! Until then, thanks for looking and happy whistling!

Buying used whistles rant, a cautionary tale

In acquiring whistles for review, I have naturally purchased allot of used whistles via ebay and the chiff and fipple forum. In doing so, I have discovered that the old adage, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, definately holds true. When you go to buy a used whistle, make sure to ask very specific questions about the condition of the whistle, like does it have any nicks, dents, how many scratches does it have (because a used whistle is going to have scratches. Aluminum whistles especially scratch if you look at them sideways!) Photos can often be deceiving, and may not show damage, especially on black whistles. Some people seem to think that a certain amount of damage is acceptable, and will say that the whistle is in "excellent" condition, when in actuallity it's liberally covered with scratches. This has happened to me so often that I have just come to expect it, and take it into account when I decide how much I want to spend on a used whistle. My worst case incident was when I purchased a chieftain gold low D from a guy who said it was in "perfect" condition. When I received the whistle it actually had a thumb sized dent and a deep gouge (not a scratch, a gouge, you could feel the depth of it with your finger)! When I pointed this out to the guy, he refused to take the whistle back or refund my money. Now I understand that when someone wants to sell their whistle, they naturally think they won't be able to sell it or that they won't get as much for it if they disclose it's actual condition. But you need to stop and put yourself in the buyers shoes for a moment. How would you feel if you paid money for what you thought was a "perfect" whistle only to find that it really wasn't? Most people expect and understand that when they go to buy a used anything that it's not going to be "new", and many are fine with paying less for a slightly dinged instrument rather than paying full price for a new one, but no one likes to be tricked into buying something. I later put that same gold low d on ebay and fully disclosed the damage. Not only did I sell it, I came very close to recouping all my money as well.

An end in sight..

Recently I came into a bit of money, and naturally I started buying up some low whistles. (I often say I don't know if I buy whistles to review for the site, or if I made the site so I could buy whistles!) Most recently I finally obtained a Copeland brass low D, Kind of the final big name low whistle I had on my list to get. While there are still a few brands out there I'd like, SZBE, syn, O'brien, the list has definately gotten shorter, and I'm starting to wonder what it will be like when, gasp, there are no more whistles to buy! Maybe then I'll be able to concentrate on writing the reviews on what I have instead of looking for that next whistle...

The junk drawer

I decided to attach a blog to this site as I kept coming across things I wanted to mention on the site, but that didn't really seem to fit in any of the other sections. So this is kinda like the junk drawer of the site. You know the drawer that collects everything that doesn't have anyplace else to go. Of course, now I have another new section on the site that I have to upkeep when I haven't even finished some of the others (Not to mention the embarassingly long backlog of whistles I have to review). I also liked having another way that people could leave feedback, requests and comments. Course I suppose a guestbook would have worked just as well, but I figured, hey, everyone else was blogging...