I would appreciate any suggestions about obtaining a wooden Alto A whistle. I don’t have a problem with the recorder type beaks (as per Sweet whistles).
Price range not exceeding US100.
Any sane suggestions?
Uh…I got an eight dollar paki cane whistle that is actually pretty good. Supprizingly good. If I had paid 60 bucks for it I wouldn’t have felt ripped off. But it is a crap shoot ordering such things.
Vomit Bunny,
You have the nicest way of telling me this is a stoopido expectation:-
OKAY then, lets lift the range a bit, say not exceeding US450.
Any owners of same can offer a review?
IE do you have an Alto A wooden whistle? Lets hear about it.
I promise not to tease you.
Check out Thinweasel.com . Glenn Schultz makes A whistles in wood within your price range. I haven’t played his A, but I’ve played high G, C,D, Bb and low G and they’ve been uniformly excellent. He da man! Tell him Paulie sent you…
If you live in Australia, then you should check out Michael Grinter.
He is a well know flute maker who also makes wood whistles in many different keys.
I e-mailed him about his prices more than a year ago. His asking prices were in Euros, which I thought were strange. I think an A was around 300 euros.
He is listed in the expensive whistle guide. Don’t go to fast or you will miss it. There is a link for a nice review with some pictures.
Good Luck,
Nate
Here is part of the e-mail I got from him…
Hi Nathan,
Thanks very much for your message and your enquiry regarding my whistles.
The whistles are made from Cocobolo and come with a brass tuning slide.
They are available in the keys of high D,C, B flat and E flat and low F, A,
G and D. Prices are as follows…High D and E flat - 270 euros, C & B
flat -
300 euros, G & A - 320 euros, F - 350 euros and low D - 380 euros. You need
to add around another 20 euros to cover postage and insurance costs.
If you decide to go ahead and order, then I don’t ask for a deposit, but
just let me know what you would like and I could put one aside from the next
batch. Waiting time for a whistle is presently around four months.
His e-mail at the time was: grinter(insert at)castlemaine.net.au
I do not have one–and have never even played one, so feel free to tease me. However, now that your price range has gone up a tad, another possibility is Bleazey http://www.bleazey.co.uk/. I have a blackwood soprano D that’s very nice, but I’ve also played NorCal’s mopane alto G, and was quite taken with it (and it would have been taken with me if I’d thought that I could get away with it).
thanks for all the comments.
I have decided all this is too expensive.
I already have 3 custom ordered flutes in the pipeline.
Maybe I should try a Dixon first.
So I am changing this topic. Its no longer limited to wood.
Any comments on any Alto A (that is not Low A) whistles
except Alba. (Alba is already covered in another recent topic)
Thanks.
Wowie Zowie Darwin! That Bleazey Wooden A at 145 pounds looks ever so tempting! Maybe I shouldnt have changed the topic title so fast …
My choice for a metal whistle in the key of A
would probably be a Burke (aluminum or composite) or an Overton (Goldie).
I have a Burke low E that is excellent and an Overton F and narrow bore G, which is the same bore size as an A. I have a great deal of respect for both makers. There are pros and cons to both. Do a search and you will have more than enough information. Buy them both if you can afford it!!
Nate
Yes, Mr Burke calls his A “low A”.
Does he mean Alto A?
A low A would be lower than a low D wheras an Alto A
is 5 semitones below the standard D or 7 semitones above a low D.
I have always been told that alto is low, mezzo is medium. So when you are asking for a low A, it is an alto, isn’t it?
Most people I have discussed this with call the A below Low D a Bass A.
When I ask for alto in tin whistles my request is consistent with the meaning of it here:-
Alto is only low in relation to soprano and mezzo soprano. In Italian alto literally means high and although etymology does not oblige current semantic, alto continues to refer to the high end of the range second only to soprano in all European (including English music terminology).
I am not being pedantic here. Rather I really find the term “low” something confusing unless it refers to the low end of a given range.
This is ENTIRELY OT (it’s a talent of mine really…), but NorCal, my daugther says that your avatar is way cool. She never says that about mine, so you should feel special 
On Colin’s website he refers to the A as a mezzo soprano.
He refers to the G as an Alto.
Past a low D he makes a bass A!
Cheers!
Nate
talasiga, Good Job!
C-E : Tenor
F-Bb : Alto
C-G : Soprano
I think “Low” and “High” should be used only as following:
LOW from D to Bb
HIGH from d to g.
That’s not very scientific but if you think that for example a Bb is not “LOW”… neither does an A nor does a G…and so on… (obviously everything in higher or lower to everything) that’s anyway the best system.
However speaking of altos tenors and sopranos is easyer and makes no misunderstandings.
What’s your opinion?
Haven’t been around here long have you. 
This discussion was held recently, both here and on GC I believe. Most people agreed that Bb is the divider key.
Bb (above the tenor or low D) and up are high whisltes
Bb (below the tenor or low D) bp to the next G are low whistles
Below that Bb would be the Bass whistles. This divides each group by an octive.
Is that the right way? Dunno. Does it make sense to a lot of people, YUP. Quite simple, really.
I think its pretty clear what I mean by Alto A whistle and if you dont know you can all look up the ALBA site to see what I mean.
I really would like to hear the personal experience of anyone who owns and plays a WOODEN ALTO A WHISTLE.
Thanks.
You sound testy, my dear. Take a deep breath. They’re only whistles you know.