David O'Brien makes brass,
aluminum and wooden
pennywhistles in Chilliwack,
Canada.  These
professional-quality instruments
are available in a variety of keys
and styles, as well as in sets with
one head joint and two or three
body tubes in different keys.
This page last updated on 6/3/2010
Woods Available Now
To the right, you can see another new wood,
torrefied maple.  This is Canadian tiger maple
with lateral stripes that has been heat treated at
about 200 degrees Celsius for two days.  This
dries, hardens and waterproofs the wood,
making it excellent for whistles.  It also
darkens and enhances the grain and the tiger
stripes.  When the whistle is moved in the
light, the patterns look almost holographic.  
Click here for a sound sample.
Two of my new woods can be
seen to the left: Flamewood, also
known as Cambodian Rosewood
and Zebrawood.  The flamewood
is almost as dense as African
blackwood and takes an
excellent polish, two qualities
that make for a sweet sounding
whistle.  The zebrawood has a
wonderful pattern of stripes and
speckles, that shows up
beautifully when the wood is
turned.
Here are three Rovers, in
torrified maple, African
blackwood and Bolivian
rosewood.  All have the
optional extra rings on
the mouthpiece.
To the left and above are whistles in African blackwood,
Osage orange, purpleheart, torrified maple, Bolivian
rosewood, wenge, zebrawood and flamewood.  All are
available, as of January 9, 2010.
New for March, 2010: C,D Stowaway set with a bag.  This is a set with two telescopic brass bodies in the keys of
C and D with one headjoint that slides on the bodies, making the whistles tunable.  Introductory price: Only C$150
Don't you need a C,D set that would slip into a shirt pocket?