Hello everybody,
I’ m considering buying a Gene milligan high d all delrin whistle. Has anybody experience with this whistle? Perhaps in comparison with his other high d whistles. Tone, playability, air requirements, volume…. any advice on this whistle is wellcome.
Thanks everybody
I have one, but sorry that I can’t articulate in a way to answer your questions. All I can say is that’s a good whistle, decent volume, does require some air, 2nd octave is a little harsher than the 1st. Nicely scooped (deep) beak. I have not played his wooden whistles to compare, but have owned Burke brass session, Sindt, Busman (blackwood), Abell, Freeman, Hoover whistles. Been selling a few off, but always plan to keep the Milligan.
Milligan (who, incidentally, is a great guy), makes 2 different head joints - a delrin session head that is louder, and a delrin ‘quiet’ head. The quiet head has brass rings around it. I bought my Milligan used from a person on C&F and it came with the quiet head, which I couldn’t play because I’m a hard blower (and probably a bit of a blow hard, too). Not knowing there were two types of heads, I called Gene Milligan and he said I needed the session head. He was spot on. I sent it to him and he replaced it.
In terms of sound, my Milligan (delrin session head and blackwood body) is loud, but not as loud as a Chieftain Custom and plays well in the first and second octave. It’s got a flutey character to the tone (not whistley - like a Gen or an Oz). Tuning, overall, is very good including the standard Cnat fingering, and I’d consider this a ‘fast’ fingering whistle because of the larger tube, and more room to move around.
Regarding delrin, I think the only advantage that may be gained by getting an all delrin whistle is maintenance. The wooden whistles have to be oiled once in a while - depending on the climate where you live. The delrin may affect the tone, but not by much - and if played side by side most folks could not tell a difference. A wood tube would give you some aesthetic, but probably not enough to impress the fiddler who you’ve been wanting to date.
One of the bands I play in (there are 4 whistlers in that band, but usually only 1 or 2 at a time) sometimes will groan when I bring out the Milligan because they know there’s no competition for volume (except, when I bring out the Chieftain - then the sound man has to crank up everybody else). As a soloing instrument, mine is superb.
Hi kkrell, and toppish,
thanks a lot, it’s useful information since you both own and play a milligan (delrin vs blackwood)(and other beauty’s). I’m also used to play the high d chieftain (and the other chieftains) so hard (controlled) blowing won’t be an issue. The maintenance issue is a big one for me because sometimes I don’t have the time to dry the whistle properly. (working in the emergency sector). And I want a beautiful whistle to play on, at least tonewise.
Aesthetics won’t be necessary either since my beautiful pianist won’t allow me to impress the fiddler. Got married to her a long time ago and plan on keeping her.
I made up my mind and will go for it. Heard a lot of good things about Milligan.
Thanks a lot, you were really helpfull.