It has been a while since I have been here. I was glad to see I could still sign on.
Some time back I bought a new Dixon Trad in D as the research I did here suggested it was a good whistle. I have no doubt that it is, but I always had a problem with a lot of screeching. It sounded like the whistle was trying to jump up an octave and nothing I tried kept it from doing that. I didn’t want to blame it on the whistle, figuring it was me being a beginner. But the thought occurred that as the Trad is an assembly line whistle (I think it is, anyway) perhaps something had slipped by quality control. About that time I came across Jerry Freeman’s tweaked whistles which are individually voiced and figured that would be the new standard I could judge my whistling by. My new Mellow Dog D came in the mail today and I love it - hardly any screeching at all and I’m looking forward to going on with it!
So after all that, a question or two. I want to give the Trad the benefit of the doubt, and assuming the problem was me, what could a beginner have done to alleviate the awful screeching? Or could the problem have been the whistle (specifically the head) and could I do some kind of modification that would fix the problem?
Thanks for reading through all this, and for whatever comments may result. It’s good to be back.
Tony Dixon’s whistles are known to be a little sensitive. It uses less air and more breath control. As a result, the sound is sweeter and the second octave is less harsh and easier to reach.
This makes it a little difficult to handle for a begginer, but you will get used to it. I love these more sensitive whistles because of the gentler sound that they produce. IMO, they are well worth learning to play on. I prefer these characteristics since I play on a mic most of the time.
The Mellow Dog is a large bore whistle and takes more air and less breath control. All in all, it makes for a more robust, loud, but less sweet sounding whistle. It has a strong tone great for live sessions.
Different strokes for different folks, really. Each whistle has its own purpose though, some are great for recording, some are great playing acoustic, some for playing solo, some for different sized sessions, etc.
That being said, I can’t asses your Dixon without being able to handle it myself. It is not totally impossible that the whistle has a problem:
The air could be leaking - make the head tighter by wrapping some Teflon tape on the barrel. Be careful not to over tighten it or you might crack the head.
There could be some plastic flashing obstructing the wind way. Look into the mouthpiece and see if there are any leftover bits of plastic in the wind way. You can carefully (very very carefully) remove them with an thin exacto knife.
There could be the same plastic flashing underneath the blade of the fipple, in which case you do the same.
Happy whistling! I hope the Dixon works out for you.
I have a couple of Dixon Trad’s. I think they are great whistles. But, as mentioned, they are a whistle that loves a little less air. I also seem to prefer the whistles that work best on less. My favorites are an Oz Vambrace and an O’Brien Rover.
Whenever I read that someone is having screeching kinds of things going on… I always jump first to “too much air… Blowing too hard.” That’s not always the case, but it’s a good starting point.
Anyway… I blather too much. The Trad is a great whistle… Keep it in your kit. Someday you’ll come back to it and be amazed at what a great whistle it is.
I had the same problem with Dixon trad brass and I went for the poster putty tweak (I personally use candle wax, but the effect is nearly the same, really). Lost something of the tone complexity, but screeching was reduced significantly and it plays now better than before.
While that’s intended tongue-in-cheek, there’s some truth to it: the more experience somebody has the better they are at getting the most out of marginal instruments.
There used to be a fluteplayer around here who had the amazing ability to make mediocre flutes sound good. Give him a good flute and he could blow out the windows.
I prefer whistles with very easy 2nd octaves, such as really good vintage Generations, Killarneys, and Sindts. Whenever I hand my prized c1980 Feadog MK1 to anybody they wildly overblow it.
I played a load of Dixons when I met the man at the Hobgoblin booth at the NAMM Show. None of the whistles were screechy or difficult to play. That’s not to say that somehow a poor whistle didn’t get out the door! But I think Tony’s quality control is good, as far as my limited experience goes.
Tony Dixon and Yours Truly at the NAMM Show. I think I played at least two dozen Dixon whistles that day! They varied, but were all good.
I’m sorry I don’t agree. The Dixon Trad has a larger than standard bore and takes more air than most ‘Generation’ types. In fact I can play my Trad and Mellow Dog one in either hand in tune with (obviously) identical breath pressure since I’ve only got one mouth and pair of lungs. See what I wrote here two years ago:
I’m sorry I don’t agree. The Dixon Trad has a larger than standard bore and takes more air than most ‘Generation’ types. In fact I can play my Trad and Mellow Dog one in either hand in tune with (obviously) identical breath pressure since I’ve only got one mouth and pair of lungs.
Not all Trads are the same though, or so it is said. I had a very early one and it did take very little pressure. But there was something uneven about it, not quite sure how to describe it. I didn’t like it very much, both for the way it handled and for the way it sounded. It worked but had nothing that made you want to play it. A while ago someone was looking for one of these and I lunged at the opportunity to get rid of it. Happy ending for all parties involved.
Hi, I’m a newbie to the forum. I had a similar problem with a Dixon whistle, I realised it was caused by escaping air from the head joint, I solved it by using cork grease and putting a rubber seal at the base of the head joint. I did use electrical tape to start with but you have to reapply every time you tune it, the rubber o ring just slides up and down on the tube.
Thanks very much for all the feedback. Useful and educational it is and I have learned a lot! Probably going to stay with the Mellow Dog for a while until I gain some proficiency, then give the Trad a go again.
Peter, don’t apologize for disagreeing. I’ve learned a lot over the years from your posts. That said… Mine is an older Dixon. And while it takes more air than some whistles… It takes less than the other whistles in it’s price range, or so it seems to me.
Certainly, it takes more air than my Oz or O’Brien… And less than some of my Susato’s,but more than other of my Susato’s…
I guess, when all is said and done… To my inexperienced brain, the trad seems to like a little less… But, as with everything else… I could be wrong.
I played a around a dozen Dixon D’s at that booth- they had a metal tube body and an injection-moulded plastic head. I don’t know what he calls that type.
I liked how they played. One in particular was excellent. Not the big-bore stiff-2nd-octave type thing so many people make nowadays, but a sweet player, with an interesting dark tone.
