My whistles, from most to least preferred, are: Dixon Trad, Clarke, Feadóg and Walton’s Irish D (tie), and the Walton’s Little Black D last and least. I’d previously thought of picking up a Generation, but with their tonal quality being all over the map, I’ve reconsidered. Picking up an Acorn and/or an Oak remains a possibility. I’d also consider a Clare, but they seem rather difficult to find. Are there any other inexpensive makes I should look into? And are Acorns and Oaks worth a shot, or should I just stick with Ckarkes and Feadógs for my inexpensive whistle needs?
That post, out of all I’ve read in the last 6 months, most indicates a case of that whistle obsessive acquisition disease. Welcome to the Chiff And Fipple! The preferences are so subjective, I can’t compose an answer. If I had such questions in my head, I’d be searching YouTube for demonstrations of the different models and figuring out what the differences were and what they could be used for. I’ve seen some demonstrations of Oak whistles that I liked the tone of. I know zilch and a half about Acorn. Yer N Yer Own
The easiest way to buy a Clare is on eBay. I ordered a brass two-piece whistle a couple of months ago, and it made it to the U.S. in about 10 days (if I remember correctly). It’s one of my favorites right now, after my Dixon Trad and Timothy J. Potter.
And in that post, I made no mention of the two Dixons that are on their way to me. If I continue at this rate, I’ll need to acquire another drumstick bag and/or thin the herd.
I’ll poke around on the YouTubes and see if I can find any demonstrations of those two makes. That will suffice, as hearing them in person–never mind trying before buying–is an impossiblity. Maybe it’ll amount to fewer chances taken before money is paid.
What little I know about Acorns is: they come in several colors, and I’ve only found two Stateside dealers that carry them. I know of only one Stateside dealer that carries Clares, and he’s been out of stock for quite some time. I’ll keep eBay in mind as a possibility, but I’m holding off on buying anything from outside the U.S. until I have a better idea of how well our Customs system is performing (in other words, how quickly I receive the order I placed directly from Dixon).
My Clare was here in less than 2 weeks (the eBay posting was from the actual store, not a third party). I just bought Mary Bergin’s Whistle Tutor at the beginning of the month, and again it arrived in less than 2 weeks from Ireland. There is always the chance that something will go sideways (I bought a book from an eBay seller in Spain that took nearly 2 months to arrive, but I think it had more to do with the shipping company than customs).
Dan,
I’ve got an Oak D (Nickel). I just got through playing it and my Feadog Pro D to refresh my memory of both of their sounds. To my ear, the Oak sounds very similar to my Feadog Pro D. They both seem to have thicker tubes than the “normal” D. Both mouthpieces look very similar on the outside (what they are like inside where it really counts I don’t know!). If you like Feadogs then you will probably like the Oak also.
I’ve got Waltons, Feadogs and Generations in both C & D (brass and nickel). To me the three makers have subtle and some not so subtle differences in sound. But my Oak and Feadog Pro could be cousins or brothers.
I can’t help you with the Acorns; however, I’ve had a hankering to try one. 
WhOAD…
Hope this helps a little.
I suffer from this affliction. In looking to replace my Walton (RIP, etc.), I had to talk myself out of buying one each of several cheap brands (since it’s not like I could try them all before I decided on the one to buy), keeping the one I liked best, and selling the rest on… (part of the reason for that was that I was afraid I’d like more than one and… just no.)
Thanks to all for the feedback! However, my thoughts’ journey from mind to text was once again fraught with peril.
Feedback on tonal quality is great, but I should have stated explicitly that I was seeking input on manufacturing consistency. This is a known issue with Generations, documented in this thread, and doubtless elsewhere.
The only whistle I’ve played multiple examples of is the Feadóg D. Mine are pretty consistent, with the red one sounding slightly better than the green. I may eventually get another Clarke and see how it compares to my current one. Trying out another brass Walton’s is possible, but I have no desire whatsoever to try multiple examples of the Little Black D. An Oak is a potential purchase (especially if I want a “filler” item from Musician’s Friend), but unless I can more accurately gauge Acorn’s consistency, I won’t roll the bones on one.
Oh, and I’ve alluded to having two Dixons on the way. One is actually a piccolo, and the other is a PVC whistle/piccolo duo. Transverse instruments and those made entirely of synthetic material are both things I’ve really been keen to try as of late. Once I have them in-hand, any case of WhOAD I’ve developed may go into remission.
Feedback on tonal quality is great, but I should have stated explicitly that I was seeking input on manufacturing consistency. This is a known issue with Generations, documented in this thread, and doubtless elsewhere.
Injection moulding will always vary to a degree. It’s inherent to the process. So this will affect all injection moulded whislte heads, be they Generation, Feadóg, Oak, Clare and what have you. It’s one of those things, facts of life. If you can’t try and select a whislte that suits you, you take your chances. Last whistle I bought untried, a Feadóg pro, was a non starter. I binned the head. For the duration of the pandemic I am off whislte buying.
That all said, not all makes are equal, I have yet to meet a Clare whislte I would want to play, for example. YMMV, obviously. I have an Oak that’s fine but I bought that twenty years or so ago and I am not sure they’re still working the same design so it won’t rtell you much aboiut the current state of things. They’re light to the touch.
My Waltons Little Black is one of my better cheap whistles, I’m surprised you don’t like yours, same goes for my Feadog & Generations.
My Clarkes, I can never seem to make my mind up about, sometimes I like them, other times, not so.
None of them sounded particularly good, until I got used to them, & how they wanted to be played, (I’m far from an expert whistler, but they sound a lot better after a few months with them).
Regarding Dixon ABS, I really like the sound of mine, both the whistle & the piccolo, & it’s one of the easier to play too, of my piccolos.
All of these cheap whistles/piccolos are worth investigating, I think, because they hardly cost anything but a bit of your time - the only trouble is that they accumulate very quickly - I’ve got more than I’ll ever really need already.
At the peak of my disorder (now in remission), I had a many whistles, including the Acorn and Oak. I liked them well enough, but only if I packed the cavity with putty. Between the two, I found myself picking up the Acorn more. The Oak has a nice, bright tone, and the nickeled tube feels pleasantly “heavy”.
By the way, I am proud to announce that I now only have two whistles per key, but stoke my disorder vicariously by enjoying listening to other people play various whistles.
Interesting enough, perhaps, when I bought the Oak theis forum was raving on about the necessity of the cavity fill. I tried it on my new Oak and found it made no difference at all to the playability of the whistle but it dulled the tone beyond recognition. I left it there for a few weeks and eventually took the stuff out again. I felt like a relief, the tone came back to life again.
Have tried the cavity fill on a few Feadógs since, with similar results: no noticeably impact on playability but a definite duilling of tone. I have never used it since. So there you have it. 
[edit/add:] I’ll add to that the Oak I have does not have the same design head as Feadóg uses, for the pro or otherwise. I have recently seen Oaks that do resemble the Feadóg design.
I have a red Acorn and an Oak. Both play rather well. I dare say the Oak is among the best “trad style” (plastic head + metal tube) whistles that I own. The Acorn is also nice. But my sample size is certainly too small to say anything about consistency of the whistles.
Interestingly, the non mass produced whistles are made with the cavity filled. I did try the putty tweak on the Dixon Trad out of curiosity and didn’t like it. The only Generation that I prefer untweaked is the Bb; in this case, the tweak dulled the tone terribly.
I suppose not injection moulded designs are made without a cavity because their production process doesn’t require one.
There have been experiments with materials of lesser density to avoid. or lessen, the dulling effect. Cillian O’Briain uses a polyfiller like material Jerry Freeman tried something like that in his early Blackbirds but the ones I received suffered terrible outbreaks of black mould on whatever he was using so, on balance, I am not sure how successful that was.
Still more insight…thanks again to all! This place is great!
I’ve dealt with variances in injection molding before; I used to build plastic model kits. Some of that comes from the mold wearing, and some kit makers were just better at molding and quality control than others. I seem to recall that when I made my Walton’s Irish D tunable, I trimmed a fair amount of flash from inside the head. (Now that I think about it, I assume whistle bodies are cast, and therefore subject to the effects of worn dies.)
The Little Black D has a brighter sound than my other whistles. It’s also the least forgiving. I seem to have gotten used to the former, but it remains my least favorite whistle. Should I feel the need to thin the herd, it’ll go. Perhaps I’ll use it as a test-bed for tweaking; if something goes wrong, I’d only be out about $6.50 US, plus the cost of whatever materials I’d waste. As Mr.Gumby likes to say, YMMV. Keith and I had wildly varying mileage in this case.
And Tyler, congratulations on somewhat beating WhOAD!
My WhOAD may well be in remission. Two Dixons in their nice little cases fill a pocket in my drumstick bag pretty well. I don’t think I’d get a third such case in that pocket. There could be a second drumstick bag in my not-too-distant future. Making storage pouches for the Clarke and Feadógs will have to get bumped up the priority list…but that’s another story.
I had forgotten about the filler Jerry uses on some of his whistles. The ones without the solid fillers look like a honeycomb cluster. His Bb, A, G use the honeycombs, the Mellow Dog is solid. I’m not sure what his current Bluebird uses.
- this place is great
- nobody beats WhOAD or the BORG
- I used a Walton’s Guinness on a recording (the Little Black D model except they use white plastic instead of black) which featured a lead whistle with quite a few notes in the upper second octave. It has it’s limits but why I preferred it was the thin peculiar tone as contrasted to other instruments, and then in the upper half of the second octave and higher, when the notes start breaking up (if they do), it was an attractive sound of the whistle tone blended with white noise, rather than screeching, lost windiness, intonation loss or raspiness, and if used carefully with suitable musical phrases, it sounded like an extension of the whistle’s expressiveness, like music instead of instrument failing. So I stuck with it, practiced with it and recorded. No regrets. It’s certainly not for all applications and it’s a peculiar light thinnish tone not a standard thing.
So much for my disorder being in control. I just ordered a previously used MacHoover brass Bb Whitecap.
If it’s an out-of-production instrument that isn’t on the market very often, you needn’t worry. Otherwise, perhaps a one-in-one-out rule would help?