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Cranberry - there’s an element of subjectivity in it, so one person’s nightmare could be another person’s joy. And in between is the maker trying to make a living; it may not be fair on him/her.
The “good” whistles get talked about a lot, more buy them, therefore less buy the not so good ones, and therefore the makers see the need to improve.
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Cran, the “bad” whistles are going to differ from person to person. One of my favorites is the Feadog, but a friend of mine had one that was so bad that when you blew into it, there was no music at all, but only the sound of air thru a tube. I had two Doolins that did the same thing, but there are many folks on the Boards here who love their Doolins. I used to hate Generations because they either squawked in the upper octave, or they’d slip from the lower octave D to the upper, no matter how softly I blew. The quality control is better now, and I learned to tweak so that the octaves stayed where they were supposed to.
You won’t find any one whistle that we can all agree on to be consistently bad.
Hi Cran & Co,
Odd that Blackhawk should mention Doolins, I’d have to put these on my list of “Bad” whistles for the following reason - I have bought 3 over the last couple of years, and all 3 had heads that were unplayable as bought. Looking closely, there is a measure of excess plastic left around the blade & window from the moulding process. I could trim this off, but why should I have to?
This indicates to me a problem with their quality control, and would steer me away from Doolins. However, with a Generation head attached, the tubes are actually very good - the problem is purely with the head.
If Doolin have cleaned up their moulds lately, there’s every chance the whistles would be winners, but when I’ve been stung 3 times, I start to get shy.
The only other whistle I could label as “bad” in my experience would be my Shaw - it took so much air straight out of the box that I used to see stars when I played, and could barely finish a tune. A bit of squishing of the mouthpiece has alleviated this, but it’s still not a “go to” whistle for me, more a “let’s see if I can get a whole tune played on this without passing out” kind of whistle. But this is probably just the one I got, and most of them are fine.
Shaws! 
I also had to smash the airway on mine. I found it was very good for hyperventilating.
My Generations came in yesterday and each one has it’s own little foible.
There is some excess plastic around the airways on each one. That’s called “flash” in the plastics biz. I’ll be sanding them slightly today.
I just discovered a little piece of flash on the blade of my Walton as well. I’m thinking of filing it off with a nail file.
All the bad whistles should be given a time out and will go to bed without supper.
Mike
Bad whistles, for me, equals Susatos… but perhaps it’s due to my tinnitus and the fact I can’t tolerate loud, shrill sounds!
~Larry
Great, all we needed was a whistle-bashing thread. 
On the other hand, I have had very good luck with Susatos and found them to be consistently good.
I have had Generation D’s arrive in unplayable condition, especially those bought a couple of years ago. I have bought several lately that were great, right out of the box, no tweaking necessary.
I have had similar experiences with Feadog–my first was horrible, but tweaked up nicely enough. My second is a great whistle, no tweaking necessary.
Clarke originals usually come in solidly playable condition, but not all the same. Some are very pure and easy on the breath, others have a lot more bite and chiff and have no resistance at all: just like blowing down a barrel.
I’ve never (yet) had a whistle that couldn’t be at least tweaked up to a playable condition. However, I have once had a flute (bought in an internet auction) be both unplayable and unfixable:
http://www.flutesite.com/a_really_awful_flute.htm
Fortunately, I didn’t pay much for it.
Best,
–James
Most cheap whistle brands will have their hits and misses. Some are magnificent, some are servicable, others are outright unplayable. It all depends on chance really. Most can be tweaked into decent little whistles, if you’re willing to put a bit of work into them. If you want something guaranteed to be magnificent off the shelf, you’ll have to spend some money on a hand made job. (and if it isn’t magnificent, you send it back to the maker to be fixed, so either way you’ll get a decent whistle).
No bashing, just giving my opinion, okay?
~Larry
Made in China, okay. By orphan children? I’ll need some documentation on that one.
So do I, man, so do I.
Now read it before you react before you think. I said “thread”, okay?
I agree that there are generally lines of whistles that just don’t suit certain individuals for various reasons, notwithstanding an actually defective whistle. I both play and collect whistles, but mostly only collect whistles that I enjoy playing for a variety of reasons (air requirements, physical comfort, tone, volume, transitions, craftsmanship, etc.) and some that are ok to play but are knockouts with respect to both craftsmanship and cosmetics.
My personal dislikes are very high air requirements, low volume, difficult transitions, screechy high end, weak low end, tone that is boring or just not at all inspirational. To my tastes, Shaw and Alba, both samples from many years ago, take too much air, but I kept them because they are unique and beautiful in construction, i.e., the collector me won out over the player me; it’s especially nice when the two are together.
Philo
MM - When were you last on Rte. 66?
I used to think that my Walton was bad. Then I got my “Chinese orphan child labor made” Meg (ahem) and thought that was a bit bad as well. Then I joined C&F and am convinced that they can both be turned back from the dark side.
I’ll be inspecting them both quite closely with a cup of tea, a nail file/sandpaper and whatever other little items Dale recommends in the tweaking section of the site.
Little John
Cooperman. I have the tin whistle and the wooden whistle. The tin is just crappy. I gave it to my (then) 1 1/2 year old to use as a toy. He banged it up a bit and started insisting that I let him play with better whistles. Like my crappy Generation D. (Please note that I now have 2 Gens that I consider to be very nice whistles. One is a true gem and I hope it lasts a long, long time. The red top that I was given is lousy.)
The wooden whistle is kind of a wierd thing. It cost $15. It is made of maple and looks quite pretty. If they had someone who knew whistles making them and spending maybe 10 more minutes before glueing in the fipple, this would be a nice little whistle. As it is, there are some problems that make it one of the two I reach for least often. It is overly sensitive, but won’t stay in the upper register when I want it to. Rather breathy, needs some finishing on the blade and inside the windway. All stuff that could have been fixed before the glue was applied. But I am not going to try to drill out the fipple at this stage. I seem to be the only one here who owns a Cooperman Maple whistle. They also come in Persimmon wood, for $30.
So, my vote for consistently bad whistles (NOBODY here has ever praised a Cooperman, as far as I know) is Cooperman Tin Whistle.
That’s funny…I was just about to say resoundingly ‘Cooperman’. There is no redeeming feature other than its cost. It is simply and utterly a toy.
My next up would be Oak, just because of the chemical problem and numb/tingly lip that has been an issue for a while. There is a recent thread that says it may be cured, so that may take that off my ‘won’t have it’ list.
Beyond that, talking trash about a product has caused enormous flame wars, and made people VERY unhappy in the past. Probably the best way to get this info is to solicit private mail, read between the lines on posts, and meet and try out as many whistles as you can and talk with their owners.
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Hey Cran,
Yep, I’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews about many whistles but have never heard anything good about Coopermans (Coopermen?) Ditto exactly what Patrick said. The tin is barely playable and the wood makes a nice table decoration.
The best thing I’d heard about a Coopeman on this board is that it was a good window prop. Colonial Williamsburg here in Virginia sells them as Colonial Penny Whistles and over the years (through no fault of my own) I’ve collected several of them. Even tried tweaking one to no avail.