I mentioned the Impempe above, which cost me $76 US or so, shipped. But I agree with the comments about the Mellow Dog and Dixon Trad. Concerning the Dixon Trad (not the new improved model, which I don’t own), I find it to be the easiest to play in the 2nd octave, of all the high D whistles I own (which isn’t a huge number, but includes a few that are closer to the $100 mark). The low D on the Dixon Trad sounds a bit coarse, to my ear, but might not bother you at all. I own two other Dixon whistles, a low G and low D, and I’m very satisfied with all of them.
Others have mentioned the Parks Every Whistle. I’ll mention the Parks Ghost whistle. It’s well under $100, and it plays very nicely and has a strong, full sound.
But seriously, and to continue with the citrus theme, some individual whistles are lemons. IMO it’s better for a beginner to pay a little bit extra rather than risk having to struggle with a dud.
I’m a newbie, so hope ya don’t mind me butting in!
I’ve been learning to play on a Faedog for about a year now and enjoy playing it very much. I think I’m ready for my next whistle now!
Knowing nothing much about whistles or what makes a good whistle or how one whistle might differ from another, it’s a bit of a minefield, but this thread is proving very useful, so thanks!
My main problem with my Faedog is that the natural c sounds really bad, is it just I’m playing it bad you think? I only realised I had an issue with natural c when i started learning to play Wild Rover! Are there any particular whistles that play natural c especially well?
Can you be more specific about why it sounds “bad”? Is it out of tune, lacking in intonation, etc? Also, are you using the oxx ooo cross-fingering (or a similar modification) or half-holing?
You shouldn’t be having an issue with the Feadogs. Their tuning is pretty well in my experience and I’ve not noticed any issues with Cnat that are characteristic of that make. It is possible that you are overblowing the note. Most whistles require gentle treatment of the Cnat and it will behave well at slightly less pressure than the surrounding A and D. When playing slowly you’ll notice it more than when playing a quick passage.
One Cnat cross-fingering I’ve noticed works well on that whistle for me is oxx xox.
Experiment with different fingerings and play them in front of a tuner if you have one - that will help to give you an idea of whether you’re over-blowing the note or not.
Got to listen carefully for the C natural. It’s a nuanced thing. I’m guilty of sliding through it for some tunes. God didn’t grant us an easy natural here, and there’s probably a reason for that.
BTW, I’m a newbie too, but an old opinionated one, so anything I say will likely be challenged.
So i think the lesson is:
buy as many whistles as you can (supporting the WHOA foundation, as it were), and sell the ones you don’t like on this forum (WHOA is contagious by the way…), then use that money to buy more whistles! Rinse and repeat.
I think the Clarke original is vastly underappreciated. With the famous “thumb tweak” the air requirement is not that much different, and it has that flutey, airy sound that I miss on more “air-efficient” whistles.
Interesting observation! I don’t know if that is true or not. How the Clarke is perceived may have changed over time. When I was coming into music, the Clarke was about the only whistle you could buy and it was only available in “C” as I recall. The Clarke is an enduring standard for the “tinwhistle”. Many other whistles have come along in the last 170 years or so and a good number have disappeared. The Clarke is still here and pretty much the same whistle as Robert Clarke first offered. There are a lot of decent whistle in the market now under $100, more than ever I suspect. Still the Clarke goes on. For many, it’s all you need, really! It’s one whistle which is most available to more whistlers world wide. It’s a great instrument on which to get started in music (with the thumb squash). It’s an iconic whistle. I wonder just how many have been made over time.
It is a difficult choice for me which I like better, the Clarke original or the Every whistle. I have several of the Clarkes, both plain and black in C and D so I can have one in the pickup, one within reach and one in my backpack. I don’t think you can get a better bang for the buck than with the Clarke original design.
The Every whistle ($55) is tunable with a built in volume control! It’s the only whistle that I know of that can go from really breathy to session loud. I want to get one in C, but I need a few more spare bucks…
Nothing to be embarassed about, we have to start somewhere, right?
I started on Clarke whistles which are very easy to get a pleasing sound out of and it was years before I addressed many issues I had with tuning and intonation because of it. Feadogs are a great place to start because you can get a good sound from them but they make you work for it and I think you’ll be a better whistler for it.
I have succumbed to WHOA (at the moment, I’m working through my obsession with the Impempe Bb, which arrived two days ago and with which I have fallen deeply in love), but I still keep returning to my first whistle, a Feadog D, which is ancient and decrepit and still completely lovely. There’s just something about the tone that hasn’t yet been replicated by any high-end whistle I’ve tried.
There’s just something about the tone that hasn’t yet been replicated by any high-end whistle I’ve tried.
The problem is that some designer whistles are called ‘high end’ while all they are is ‘high price’.
There are a few things very cheap whistles are just very good at: they are easy to play well balanced and sound pretty good.
Most of the the more designer whistles I have ever bought fail miserably at one aspect or other and leave me wondering if their makers can play at all.
Two days ago I received a whistle (used, from a board member) that is often praised here and highly recommended on the C&F whistle pages. In reality, the notes above g’ need an unbelievable increase in wind to hit properly and shout at you like a fecking banshee in heat (interesting enough the C&F whistle guide says they high notes don’t have that ‘scream’) and on top of that the whistle is so prone to clogging you can’t play more than sixteen bars before all sorts of things start going wrong. It is really impossible to use in a situation where you’d want to play a couple of tunes without interruption.
There’s a whole lot of hot air being blown around anyway. More makers should become good players so they can actually judge the things they’re making and sending out.
Interesting enough I found this gem, after making this post. I add it here:
The whistle takes some extra air at the high end to hold it up, which is a common characteristic in high end whistles. It is also louder on the top few notes with the extra push.
It perpetuates the myth that a badly balanced instrument is actually desirable and typically ‘high end’.
Pure nonsense.
Another one I always love is the old chestnut ‘but he’s great to work with, is the whistle is defective, he’ll take it back and try fix it’.
When did not sending out defective instruments go out of fashion?
I can remember a thread a while ago where different whistles were played, and the game was to guess the whistle it was played on It was interesting to see the answers, and how one player could make a whistle sound.
Here’s the topic https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/guessing-game/60393/1
The problem with WHOA is that it is a distracting and insatiable quest. Sure, it’s a cute little thing for whistle enthusiasts to goof about on the internet but when it comes down to it you’re just going to end up spending a bunch of money and collecting or selling a bunch of whistles that won’t do anything for your playing. I know, I’ve been there and I landed just about back where I started; playing slightly modified Feadogs and Generations. I probably didn’t lose much money in the buying and reselling as most of the “high-end” whistles retained their value but I can tell you I wasted a lot of time and focus. Trying something new all the time isn’t the best thing for someone trying to get their bearings on an instrument.
People make the arguement that you need a quality instrument to avoid frustration and encourage progress but the whistle really is a simple instrument when you get down to it. If people can win the all Ireland championship with a $10 whistle then why do so many beginners have the notion that “I’ve been practicing for six months and so it’s time to upgrade my whistle now?”
To get better on the whistle you don’t need a [insert any maker’s name here] whistle. Sure, there is some unplayable junk out there on the market but buying something that is easier for you to get a nice sound out of is only tricking yourself. What is needed is an extended focus (listening and playing) with the same instrument.
By the way, I’m not picking on the quoted person here, just extending a warning to you would-be WHOA-ers. Contentment is wealth. Save yourself from a lifetime of thinking the grass is greener on the other side of your current whistle and just learn the music.
Oh, I realise. My main objective in picking up some mid-range whistles (I shouldn’t really have called them “high-end” in that other post) was to escape the constant “And now we all have to tune to your whistle…AGAIN” comments from the other members of my band. In other words, I wanted to acquire a few tunable instruments. I’ve also run into the do-we-tune-to-the-whistle-or-the-accordion? dilemma, which is never pretty. I also wanted a few keys other than D, as singers have an unfortunate tendency to go, “But this song is a semitone too low for me! NEED…KEY…CHANGE!” Then there are tears and headaches and drama, and somebody will slam a door hard enough to break the glass in it. It’s easier just to pull out another whistle and keep my mouth shut. I suppose I could learn to play in Eb on a D whistle. Wait…naaaaaah.
In other words, I started the Epic Whistle Quest with the best of intentions. I’m done now; I’ve got enough whistles for my current needs.
By the way, pretty much any whistle that has a metal tube and a plastic head can be made tunable. That could solve some of your band frustration.
The only models I’ve had trouble with this are some Oak models (due to a lip on the top end of the tube) and Generation C models (due to poorly matched tubing/head sizes).
It’s just a matter of breaking the glue seal (if there is one) by submerging it in hot water and twisting the head off immediately upon removing it from the water. Usually does the trick. If the head is too loose afterwards a bit of pfte tape will snug it up while maintaining the makeshift tuning slide.
I know, but I’m a coward; I don’t want to risk ruining my favourite whistles. Knowing me, I would ruin them. I can break things by looking at them funny.
I agree that WhOA can be a major distraction from actually learning to play. Whistles are different enough from each other that little touches that work well on one work less well on another. I made the same discovery on ocarinas some time ago. It’s better, for me anyway, to find something I like and try to master it.
That said, it can take a while to find something you like. When I got my Walton “Little Black” I thought I’d never want another whistle. It broke, and I got a Dixon Trad and once again thought I’d never want another. But I found that I wanted something with a better voice in the low notes. In the high notes, I couldn’t ask for anything better than the Dixon. But of course strengthening the low notes takes a toll on the high notes… The best high D whistle that I’ve found for doing both is the Mellow Dog, followed by the Parks Ghost and Impempe.
As I played more I started doing more half-holing, and I made the discovery that not all whistles half-hole equally well. There’s another thread just about half-holing low D#, but I observe that, in general, some whistles sound more muffled than others when half-holing. And I don’t think it’s just my technique, when I play them back-to-back. I have no idea why this should be so, but I’m convinced that it’s not just my imagination or ineptness. So that becomes another thing to look for in a whistle, to which I was previously oblivious.
bucks… 
It was interesting to see the answers, and how one player could make a whistle sound.