Key Personnel
| Ralph Sweet: |
 President/owner, designer and
instrument maker, retired physics teacher, caller and teacher of contra and
square dancing, fifer and drummer since 1946. |
| Walter Sweet: |
 Walt (Ralph's son) is now co-owner, specializing in technical design (i.e., improving the performance of instruments). Walt's other hats are math teacher (MAMT), industrial engineer, musician, and technical consultant. |
| Jerry Briere: |
 Jerry has been our finisher and quality watchdog since 1996. He also does CAD drawings, shop maintenance, tricky machining of experimental tooling, and much of the fine craftsmanship.
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| Joseph Morneault: |
Joseph is our shop foreman, in charge of scheduling production so we will have instruments in stock, when you
order them. He does wood turning, boring, sanding, voicing of whistles, and more. Joseph has been a member of four fife and
drum corps, and a fife instructor for 8 corps. He is a military music historian focused on fife and drum, 18th century and
earlier. He has played mandolin, fife, and whistle with several folk bands, including the Wild Colonial Boys, and
still plays with The Jovial Crew every Monday evening at the Griswold Inn, of Essex, CT. and more. He perfected his
skills for 14 years as the fife-maker at Cooperman Fife & Drum Co.
Hear Joseph play:: Joseph playing mandolin and Sweetheart's new 1/2" bore D whistle
Joseph playing military fife and field drums |
| Jonathan Warner: |
Mac is our voicer extraordinaire for pennywhistles. When
he’s not learning the rest of the flutemaking craft
from us, he’s busy making parts for Uilleann Pipes.
See & hear Jonathan play Sweetheart Whistles at: http://www.youtube.com/user/macwarner57 |
| Amanda Warner: |
 Amanda works
part time, processing and shipping orders. Amanda and Jonathan have been married for 6 years. |
We don't have regular store hours, as
we are too busy making instruments. However if you would like to visit
us to try out instruments before purchasing, or to see our workshop, call for
an appointment and directions.
Ralph also runs events in his Powder Mill
Barn. See the website for more information.
|
raw tubes |
Turned Whistles |
Polished Fifes |
The Sweetheart Professional Whistle
 |
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Ralph Sweet measuring flute diameter
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Ralph preparing to drill |
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Walter Sweet aligning whistle to drill finger holes |
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