My Dixon non-tunable, soprano D is fairly well in tune in the 1st octave, but it’s about 20%-25% sharp in the 2nd octave. Have other Dixon owners experienced this? Is there anything I can do to fix it? Does this occur with Dixon tunables? I’m curious, because I am thinking about buying Dixon whistles in other keys.
~ Thornton
How long ago did you get it, and from where?
I bought a tuneable D from the whistle shop a few months ago. I play by ear and the second octave D seemed off to me. I tried to get used to it but no avail, so I contacted Thom. He had me return it to him and Tony Dixon sent me a new one. It’s wonderful and is now my favorite whistle.
Tony Dixon has excellent customer service. If you truly feel the whistle is out of tune, he will listen to you.
I bought it about 8-9 months ago from The Whistle Shop. At that time, I wasn’t too concerned about tuning, but now that I have started playing with other people, I’m starting to pay attention to it. I put the whistle on an electronic tuner, and it’s definitely sharp. I play the Dixon most of the time and would hate to return it after having played it so much. If a tunable would solve the problem, I’ll just buy one. I want some other keys anyway – C, A, Bb maybe, low D.
Thom, what’s your take on this?
Tony Dixon has excellent customer service. If you truly feel the whistle is out of tune, he will listen to you.
Amen to that.
Jens
Well, I have been playing a Dixon High D and Low D both bought at the Whistle Shop, and both can be played perfectly in tune. The High D is flawless (I record at home with it - probably the most stressful test I could find for tuning), the Low D a little sharp (but that’s a technique problem for me, not a whistle problem - it can be played in tune)… so, the problem doesn’t seem to be all the Dixons, certainly.
Richard