Disappointed in Dixon A/Other Rambling Whistle Thoughts

Whistle
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I received the Dixon Low A I’d ordered from the Whistle Shop last night, and to my dismay had to send it back. I have a Dixon High D and love it, but this A whistle was flat on some notes in the lower octave (F#), sharp in most of the higher octave, and sometimes balked at producing any notes. This whistle is supposedly tunable, but I didn’t have luck at that either–I’d remedy the sharpness and make the flat notes worse or vice versa. It was frustrating since while I’m nowhere near a great player, I’m not a total novice either, having played whistle for a few years and flute before that. I guess what I’m saying is perhaps it’s me and not the whistle, but I have many other whistles that play fine. I’m going to try a Shaw Low A since I like the whole Clarke breathy sound.

I also have to agree with some others in recent threads about Susatos, whether you love 'em or hate 'em, and yes they’re hard to control sometimes in the upper octaves, at least mine are in tune. I have the D/C/Bb set, as well as a Kildare A, which is pretty nice. Also have some low ones but haven’t developed fingering skill for these yet. If Susatos in general had a bit more chiff, they’d be perfect, but I do come back to them.

As for D whistles, I’ll just have to wait for the Burke that I have on order.

The search continues . . .

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I’ve heard of some inconsistent Dixon Low A’s. In my case, I have both a Low G and a Low A, and their personalities are quite different. I have no difficulty getting either in tune, and can tune them a half-step low with some creative breath control.

The big difference is in the breath requirements. The Low G takes little air and does not sound too breathy, and you have to be careful to keep the bell note from flipping up into the second octave. Also, it takes three fingers for the F natural. The Low A is loud and breathy (it looks like the windway is as wide as the one on the Low G, if not wider) and you must blow quite hard to keep most of the second-octave notes from falling back into the first octave. Also, any more than two fingers on the G natural will make it sound flat. However, it’s fairly easy to get that cool double-octave sound. I’m not complaining, but I was expecting something more like the Low G. I may have to try a reversible tweak, like the guitar-pick tweak, to narrow the windway a bit.