Does anybody know where you can get a cheap B whistle? I’m trying to learn tunes off the Ronan Browne & Peter O’Loughlin album ‘the South West Wind’ and I’m using a C whistle de-tuned, but the intonation is not very good. Can you make a Bb whistle into a B whistle by sawing a bit off the end that goes into the mouthpiece, and if so, how much?
edit
Glenn Schulz (sp?) makes a Water Weasel in B. I have one. Also not cheap, but probably less than a Burke. I paid $55 for mine.
Carol
i have a hoover b whistle . . . it is awesome and would probably be less than the others mentioned here. mack’s whistles are are great!
Susato makes a B. Retail is US$22, I believe.
I suspect there’s a way to turn a Gen Bb into a Bnat. (Didn’t someone post something about that recently?)
On the first Deanta album, there’s a piece in B, and it ain’t no Burke or Overton that Deirdre’s playing. Does anyone know what B whistle she plays?
I recently came across some cheap whistles from Asia.
They were in the local incense/chimes/crystal/new-age type shop,
and were made of bamboo. I asked to try one, and bought the best of the bunch - £1. They were all B.
Have a look round. I would imagine that there are loads of these shops
in Nodnol.
HTH
I’ve seen these asian bamboo whistles as well.They were sold by a guy at the local craft fayre,and were all stamped ‘B’.I think this guy must have had a large family to support,as he was charging £2.50(no I didn’t buy one!).He also sold ‘Little Black Whistles’.I would imagine that these Bamboo whistlesare pretty easy to find at markets,trinket type shops etc.,BUT try before you buy!
I have a Sindt B that is lovely… I think it’s cheap relative to its quality… But… 8months later…
You can calculate the amount of tube you need to cut from the upper end of a Bb whistle at Pete Kosel’s “Flutomat” site.
http://www.cwo.com/~ph_kosel/flutomat.html
(to get embouchure diameter, add length + width measurements of your whistle’s square voicing. Make tonehole measurements to center of toneholes. If you need help,just ask! Damn,I’m soooo good! he he he 
)
Do you have any other tubes that fit your Sindt? The reason that I ask is that I have an ‘A’ on order,and ordered a supplementary Bb tube for it,when I placed my order..Ann Sindt told me that the ‘C’ tube didn’t work with the ‘A’ headpiece-would the ‘B’,I wonder?
Eek… Thomas, I have no way of measuring anything smaller than millimetres! And I don’t know what square voicing is… it all looks very technical…
Maybe you could just advise me on how much to cut off a Generation Bb? Have you ever done this, by the way? If so, what was the end result like, for intonation?
Yep… Just tried it… Works like a charm.
Before I got a Shaw (cost I think about £60), I did chop a Generation Bb down to play in B.
So here’s the lowdown, do the cut at the top of the tube (brass is easier to saw than the silver coloured things) and get the overall length to about 31.6cm. You then need to tape over a few holes to get them in tune, I had tape over E, F# and A. You need a good ear to do this in an unusual key or an electronic tuner to give you a hand. All the notes are within 5% of a semitone of true and the octave is about the same amount flat so for a generation that’s not too bad.
Always allowing for a bit of extra tuning by sliding the head up or down this should be good enough for playing along to CDs in B.
For the price of a generation, it’s worth experimenting.
Ken
Helen,Just out of interest,are you a piper who already has a B ‘flat’ set,or is thinking of getting one,or a whistler who likes Ronan Browne? By the way,I think that ‘The South-West Wind’ is a great album,and the follow up ‘Touch me if you dare’ keeps up the high standard. 
I’ll second the Susato B..very nice whistle,lovely sound ,great price…
I’m not a piper, nor ever likely to be, that way lies madness! I’m a novice whistler who thinks Ronan Browne is phenomenal. I’m really looking forward to hearing ‘Touch me if you Dare’. I’ve been saving it for a treat… I love ‘The Wynd you Know’ as well, and I listen to those CDs all the time. Fantastic stuff.
I think I’ll go and order TMIYD - I’ve waited long enough… 
Kenr, by the way - can you explain about the taping? I can’t picture quite what’s entailed.
Sorry, it’s piper speak, sadly we are always bunging bits of tape over part of a hole to bring a wayward note into tune. When you cut down the generation Bb you sharpen all the notes but some more than others and you need to reduce the size of the vent to get some notes into proper tune.
What I did was wrap some insulation tape partly over the holes that sounded too sharp to premanently flatten the hole. It’s not pretty but it does the job. This is where the chromatic tuner came in handy as you can figure out how much of the hole to cover fairly quickly without taking the tape on and off too much.
Hope this is a bit clearer,
Ken
Thanks Kenr for the explanation, I’ll give it a bash.