Description

Silkstone Alloy Irish whistles are available in the keys of:

• High D - Regularly Stocked
• High D-Plus - Special Order
• High D Narrow Bore - Special Order
• High C - Special Order
• Low D - Regularly Stocked

Backorders / Special Orders take approximately 4-8 weeks to complete.

About the Alloy High D-Plus

The Alloy High D-Plus has a longer barrel than a standard High D whistle and a seventh hole for the fourth finger of your right hand. If you ignore the extra hole, it plays exactly like a standard High D whistle. However, covering the hole extends the range down to C Natural in both registers. It is quite easy to half-hole for C#.

The bottom hole is offset slightly to suit average sized hands. This is bound to be something of a compromise but Paul believes that the offset should be OK for most people. It can easily be altered on request. You may find the hole a bit of a stretch if you have very small hands. It has to be fairly low down the whistle to avoid weakening the bottom D.

About the Alloy Narrow Bore High D

Paul developed his narrow bore model for folks who need an ultra-quiet whistle (so as not to disturb the roommate, spouse, neighbors, etc.). Please note that as it is ultra-quiet, it is also ultra sensitive and could be described as finicky. We have had a few people return these to us as they found them to be too finicky so please do consider this before placing your order.

About Silkstone Whistles

Silkstone Whistles are hand crafted by Paul Hayward at his workshop in Silkstone Common, Yorkshire, England.  Over the years Paul has endeavored to produce whistles that both sound great and are easy to play.

Paul’s range consists of Irish whistles made from PVC, aluminum and acetyl.  He also makes tabor pipes out of PVC in the keys of D, C and G.

The Silkstone Sound

Ace Body Detail

Interestingly, Silkstone whistles do have a certain refined silky quality to their tone.  Rich and strong in the lower octave, clear and sweet in the second, Silkstones strike a gorgeous balance in tone that is well suited for Irish traditional music. 

The different materials that Paul utilizes color the tone ever so slightly; the aluminum range being on the brighter end of the spectrum and PVC on the warmer.  The Ace whistles, in a league of their own being made from solid acetyl polymer, which has similar tonal properties to exotic hardwoods such as African Blackwood, have an inherent woodsiness to their tone.

The Making of a Silkstone

Numerous machining processes are required to make the main components: the whistle head, the mouthpiece top, the fipple plug, the tuning sleeve and the barrel. As dimensional precision is essential for consistency, Paul works to an accuracy of less than 0.001”.

High D Aluminum Alloy Mouthpiece Detail

The windway of all Silkstone whistles is curved to discourage the buildup of moisture. Except on the Low D, the windway tapers in height towards the blade, which produces a sweeter upper register. Conversely, the Low D sounds better with a parallel windway.

The mouthpiece design is unusual in having a separate top, which is fixed onto the main part of the whistle head. There are several benefits of this design.  One of which is that having a polymeric upper surface, even in a metal whistle, can reduce condensation in the windway. It also allows fine adjustments to the window length, which affects both tone quality and loudness.

The blade (labium) is carefully carved and filed to the correct shape, and the plug and mouthpiece top are adjusted to achieve the optimum tone or voicing. At this stage the balance between upper and lower registers can be adjusted, as can the hardness of the tone. Once everything is right, the fipple plug and mouthpiece are pinned in place, and the end of the mouthpiece is shaped with a coping saw and drum sander.

PVC Body Detail

After a thorough cleaning to remove any dust and debris, the next stage is to drill and tune the tone holes. The holes are first drilled undersized and then reamed by hand to tune the instrument. The holes are undercut which helps improve the tone. Tuning is done by ear and with the aid of a tuning meter. A few tunes are then played on the whistle to make sure it sounds right with the sort of breath pressures used for real music before rounding off the top edges of the tone holes to make the whistle more comfortable to play.

The whistle is then cleaned and inspected closely to ensure that there are no rough edges before being painted and lacquered (PVC whistles) or polished (alloy whistles).

Silkstone Whistles are supplied with pouches hand made by Paul’s wife Sue.

Specifications