My wife and I often go for walks and hikes, and I keep thinking that it would be nice to have a durable whistle that I can carry with me in my pocket.
Right now I hive a high-d Feadog, and the rest are low keys that wouldn’t fit in a pocket. I don’t think the Feadog would survive me falling on it, and I don’t want to worry about bending down the wrong way and bending the whistle to heck either. I’ve looked at Dixon’s plastic whistles, but I’m afraid it would break too if I fell on it.
So what’s a really durable d or c whistle that’s under say $50?
You might check out the Carey Parks whistles at http://www.parkswhistles.com . Plastic, solid and almost indestructible (you can even run them through the dishwasher). He also makes a three part whistle - the Walkabout - that breaks down and can be carried, in its case, in a shirt or jacket pocket or attached to a belt. I have the three piece and it works fine for the activities you propose. Prices are just about what you mention, or you can check e-bay where they appear new from time to time sold through Heritage Music in Canada.
I’ve looked at Park’s whistles before, I like the concept of a compact whistle, but I doubt I’d take the time to take it out of the case and put the three pieces together (hmm, I suddenly feel very lazy). And I have this fear of plastic whistles that I’ll trip over a root or something and end up with a cracked instrument.
I have in my head some kind of thick-walled metal whistle, if such a thing exists in my price range.
My indestructible go-everywhere whistle is a PVC non-tunable D by Mack Hoover. It was given to me a few years ago by a C&Fer who gave up whistles for other things, and turned out to be be a very sweet little tooter. It now lives in the glove-box of my car, year-round.
“Best whistle for sticking in your pocket?” I was going to say that it depends on how deep your pockets are but I see you want to stay below $50.
Most two piece whistles will easily fit in a jacket or pants pocket. Also several providers make whistle bags that can mount on your belt to carry an assembled whistle.
I wouln’t be so concerned about the durability of the Dixon polymer whistles. They are pretty tough little whistles. I’ve had quite a few of them. All have been long lasting. They are more sensitive to heat than some other plastic whistles. Still, I carried a few (different keys) in my car to work every day for several years without any harm. I’ve hiked and cycle-toured with one as well and it has also held up fine, better than I have in fact.
The Parks whistle is a good choice, as Steve suggested.
I was thinking the Parks Walkabout D, too. The longest piece is around 4 1/2 inches. I think you’d really have to be Mr. Destructo to damage the PVC in its compact case, in your pocket. If that happened, you’d have more to worry about than your, er, whistle.
The Clare 2-piece D is also pretty compact, longest piece around 6 1/2 inches. Standard brass 1/2 inch tube. Of course, the plastic head is no less vulnerable than a Feadóg.
by the way, I don’t mind if it sticks out of my pocket. I’ve experimented with my feadog and it’s actually rather comfortable to carry in jeans pockets.
You seem to be comfortable with the Feadog. Then why not make some armour for it. Get a piece of PVC or CPVC at the hardware store. Cut it to the appropriate length. Glue an end cap to one end and leave another end cap loose at the top. Slip the Feadog inside and your done. It will keep you from denting the Feadog, costs very little and is an easy project. Just stay away from the homeland security boys. It may resemble a pipe bomb.
I “carry the Carey” (walkabout) with me a lot, and almost always when I go on walks. My favorite walk is through a local cemetery - the acoustics inside a mausoleum are REALLY incredible! You just have to get past the odd odor and not play if anyone (alive, that is) is in there - I’ve never had anyone interrupt me, however. The Parks takes about 10 seconds to set up, btw. I had my lovely spouse make me a case for mine…
Instead of thinking about the whistle, why not think about the pocket? I had a really great light weight jacket once that had a hidden zipper pocket at the breast. The zipper was hidden in the seam of the actual jacket zipper. Plus, the jacket was that microfiber stuff. Whistles comfortably sat in the pocket. I don’t know how but the zipper broke. I also carry whistles and harmonicas in my fishing vest.
Find a wooden dowel that matches that internal diameter of your feadog. If the dowel is slide up inside the whistle then you won’t be able to crush it if you fall on it. If you need a way to keep the dowel in the whistle, then maybe a little strip of cloth tacked to the bottom of the dowel and secured around the bottom of the whistle with a rubber band should work.
There’s a Clare Eagle 2-piece cheapie. And there’s a great Busman delrin that breaks down into 2 pieces that are relatively equal (ok, that’s probably not a smart statement) in length to make it easy and with a pouch, but those are definitely not under $50.
O’Brien 3 peice for me. I take it everywhere. It’s never been damaged yet and it lives in my front hip pocket of my jeans. I do a lot of heavy lifting in my job and nothing untoward has happened to it yet. It’s a fairly tough little number and sounds good too.
not in your price range, but solid, thick with a great sound and playing well outdoors, being loud and good in cross winds, is a brass Reyburn. The tube is much thicker than your standard brass whistle, I think a car can go over it. The mouthpiece is Delrin and very solid as well. Its a top whistle for all purposes.
I’ve got one of the older two-section telescoping O’Brien Stowaways that I carry with me a good portion of the time. I know it’s over your price limit but it is a truly marvelous whistle. I think it has the sweetest tone of any whistle I’ve played (Burkes, Sindts, Weasels, Blackbirds). It’s more work to play in tune than any of the aforementioned whistles but its sound and response keep me coming back to it. It also fits nicely in a jeans pocket.
My $10, nickle plated Oak pennywhistle in D is a beastly thing. I’ve seriously considered that I could use it as a weapon if I had to. It doesn’t have the best sound, though, and the second octave is tricky. But if ever there was a donnybrook at the pub I’d be well prepared!
