I always hear everybody talk about how important the “tunable” option is for whistles and I have to admit that all my whistles are tunable but…in the real world do you ever really use it?
Everybody in the band I play in uses digital tuners to tune up and I have never heard a real problem with my whistles. In fact, I have NEVER had to use the “tunable option”. I have them set to standard A 440 and that is that. No big deal, just wondering. 
How did you do that if not by using the tunable option?
Cheers – Larry
So you’re tuning your whistles to 440, yes?
Confused me thinks you may be. 
Of course. Anything less says you either don’t care about your audience, or about your fellow bandmates, or both; and that is as good as contempt, and just plain wrong. Either that or the band can’t tell what “in tune” is, and maybe should hang up their hats.
Here’s where I have a problem understanding you. First you say you don’t tune, and then you say you do. Which is it?
BTW, you may have noticed that however you tune a cold whistle, it will go sharp as it warms up. Thus tuneability is a Good Thing. I heartily recommend availing yourself of it.
In a hot venue in the summer, I often must retune my metal whistles to be at A=440.
Yes. Even if everyone else is consistently on 440, ambient conditions - heat and humidity - affect the working pitch of all woodwind instruments and make adjustability very necessary IME. And, of course, they ‘warm up’ and need tuning. I never believe it when I see someone write that they have a fixed pitch whistle or flute that is ‘always in tune’.
Same here. Could be they mean “in tune with itself”, but that’s a different issue altogether.
I tune my whistle and flute before I play at a session or even practice. It is nice to know what A=440 sounds like when in the session so you can adjust quickly and learn tunes better.
I am worrier, so that’s one of the reasons for my question. When you say they’re “set” in tune, does that mean that you are the Ron Popeil of tuning? Set it and forget it? Are you sure your whistle don’t get jostled or bumped after tuning? How long do you go between tunings? How are you storing your whistles?
I keep a silicon pencil gripper on my tunable whistles so that once they’re set, they’re set. When I play with other people, it’s always at room temperature and I warm my whistles with breath before playing them so I believe the humidity is consistent too. I’m playing with other non-wind instruments, including an electronic keyboard and I’m blending in fine. When I play my fife, which doesn’t have a silicon gripper, they’ll let me know when I’m sharp.
That would take care of the sharpening issue if you use a preset tuning position. Good for you.
In a performance situation you don’t always get that option, particularly if you play more than one instrument. Sometimes you just have to deal with it and tune, because the whistle or flute will have gone cold, and guess what? They can’t wait too long for you. Time’s a-wastin’.
It’s not just whistles; also guitars, fiddles, banjos, pipes, etc. etc. will go out of tune particularly if the weather’s wonky or you have to play in a chilly draft. Whatever you play (the free reeds stand outside of mention, for all practical purposes), keeping an ear to your tuning is a must, not an option.
ya left out the brass… whaddabout trombones?
Brass, shmass. You show up at my sesh with your trombone, and see how it goes for you.
But point taken. And true, tromboners are always tuning on the fly no matter what. Sorta like fiddle, but luckier: no array of strings.
Sorry I was not more clear but I think you guys had a roaring good time filleting me. 
I do know each of my whistles probably better than the back of my hand. I know where they are set and the few that are harder to judge at a glance I have a small mark on the back which is checked. I play in a worship band with a guitar, bass, keyboard and some times drums. We go through the songs, usually five to eight in practice once time each and then in another practice one time each on Sunday morning before the service, then we play the set. The band is not going to sit there while I mess with tunings and ding around with my sound. It is my job to get the whistle warm before the song comes up and in the right tune…as much as possible. Sometimes I just discreetly blow into it by blocking the sound hole instead of singing the first part of the next song so that it will be ready for it’s part. Sometimes it is stressful because I know the team has no idea of the dance that goes on with playing multiple whistles in different keys in performance and practices but, in my view it is just part of the thing I do so I just do my best. Once in a while I whistle the whole tune and have to just pick up fast and play and let the whistle settle in a bit, it isn’t a perfect world but our whole church just love that “flute”, and say it blesses them and that is my goal so for me…it’s working.
I store my whistles in a converted gun case, each one cradled in their own cut out egg crate spot so there is no sloshing around.
So are you cooked yet? 
Let’s say you show up at our session, and we’ve all decided to tune high to A445, around 20 cents high, because the fiddler likes the brighter sound. How will you handle that?
Or you’re playing along with a CD recorded on analog tape, and mastered at a lower speed than originally recorded. How will you handle that?
Or you’re recording a film soundtrack in a cold studio, and the score calls for 8 bars of C whistle in the middle of a long passage for D whistle. So you need to grab your C whistle cold and play it perfectly in tune. How will you handle that?
Or you’re playing a duet with another whistle player, and a tuning difference of even a couple of cents in the upper octave is going to sound way out of tune with nasty beat frequencies. How will you handle that?
The point is that because your own personal experience of playing whistle in a band that robo-tunes to 440 doesn’t call for tuning adjustments, doesn’t mean that there aren’t situations outside your experience where a tunable whistle is a useful thing. If you have it, it’s there if you need it.
We weren’t filleting you so much as your post just didn’t give us all the details and we ended up having more questions.
I play in the folk group at my church and there would be enough time between songs, at least during our services, to ready yourself and your next instrument. Also, since it sounds like you’re the only wind instrument, (as I am in our folk group), there is not the difficulty of blending with another wind instrument.
Do non-tunable whistles always come tuned to A440 or is there some unintentional variety where it was meant to be 440 but wound up flat or sharp for whatever reason?
All were good points that you made. I guess I was thinking about this before playing this morning because I had to play a song that is really just a repeated chorus that modulated from C-D-E. It was annoying me because I was running out of whistle heads so I had to use a non-tunable Susato for the D. No big deal but it isn’t my favorite in the first place. I went pretty well but my brain did not like to go from playing the first C round on the C whistle, then the D part on a D whistle, then the E part on a B whistle. My brain did not like that switchover from playing the same melody in the first on the C and D to the last melody in the forth of the B whistle. On top of that I had to wing the entrance to the choruses because of having to change whistles. That is probably why I was so tired when I got home. Sometimes I am not crazy about that kind of pressure sense it was not well rehearsed at practice.
I enjoyed the last part of your post. Someone knows what I go through. Not so much the part that you were willing to litter by pitching a CD out the window.
At our church service, I am doing all the things that you are doing, while also playing/wearing a guitar. And because our folk group transposes music for ease of singing, I’m making sure the other instrumentalists are ready to play in the right key, and I’m probably sight transposing the music that I’m playing. All while remembering that the music is all about worshipping and not performing.
Have you ever tried playing a whistle or flute while wearing a guitar? And once you’ve mastered this with the flute, also take into account that I play the simple flute left-handed and the silver flute right-handed. Actually, playing the whistle is easier and the guitar acts as a kind of shelf.
A good point you’re getting at, Jim.
I think the only non-tunables I’ve really played are Clarkes and Overtons/Goldies which work nicely at A440 at STP (standard temperature and pressure).
But I’ve tried a few whistles that were waaay off in pitch in terms of how the maker thought they’d be played. This can happen when the maker is not really a player but more a noodler used to blowing too softly, and they tune their whistles accordingly. So when you pick it up it plays way too sharp. With a tunable, you can usually back it off to where it’s OK again. If it’s non-tunable, not so much.
As I suspected, and that is probably the best reason for the OP to always get tunable whistles.