So ive been playing and taking lessons for about 4 months, im not great but im progressing. My significant other plays the mandolin. We tried to play something together the other night for the first time and it sounded awful. I know my whistle is in tune on the A and on the G… but not so much on the other notes ( he has a tuner for the mandolin). None of my whistles (sweettones, generation, shaw, feadog) are in tune on all the notes. Is this a factor of the cheap-ness of the whistles or just a factor of whistles in general? How much do i have to spend before I have something that I can play with a group of people? Any suggestions for this newbie would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
Kel
Most whistles, even the cheap ones, are reasonably well in-tune with themselves. (I said most…you will find an occasional lemon). If one note is in tune with his mandolin, then really the rest should be pretty close. I’m guessing it’s more a matter of getting some good breath control, which comes with practice.
If no notes are in tune with him, you’ll need to either have him tune to you, or find a way to tune the whistle, such as by sliding the head-piece a bit up or down on the barrel. Good luck!
I’m just a beginner but I have heard people speak quite a lot about needing to listen and blow the notes into tune. I’m sure some whistles are different than others, but my impression is that you would expect to have to make some adjustments as you play. I think most or many wind instruments are this way (I could be wrong) which is what makes them quite different for me, since I’ve never had to deal with intonation note by note before. If your whistle is not tunable, then maybe that is the problem although you say that the A and G are in tune with the mandolin.
Maybe you could take your mandolin player to one of your lessons with you and then your teacher could play your whistle with him/her and help figure out exactly what the problem is. I would do this before getting a new whistle myself.
I’m not that much of a whistle player, but I have a little bit of experience with them. Try some moving of the head, try to get an in-tune G first and then see what’s up with the other notes.
I also have had tuning trouble when I was new (esp on a Sweetone). Your finger pressure changes the pitch, aside from anything you may or may not be doing in your throat. Usually I have to speed up the air on the high notes or else they’re flat.
My favorite whistle is a thin 3 yr old Feadog and its a little flat overall but I set the head there (a little pushed in) because that’s where most all the notes are in tune with each other. So I use that when playing alone or if everyone else is flat too. 
I think the most in tune whistle is a Burke, at least the kind with the very small bore. He does something on the inside to make his whistles very true to pitch.
Hope this helps!
Lesl