I am looking for a Chieftain ‘Gold’ preferably Low ‘D’ though I would consider other keys
Anyone want to part with one?
Thank you
Hulbert
You must be joking, they are like Gold Dust, I have a mezzo C Bb & A, what remarkable and stable whistles.
Anyone parting with whistles like these needs their heads examined.
Wiz
Or their wallets filled.
No I wasn’t ‘joking’ it was a sincere request
A Low ‘D’ was on sale recently but sadly I missed it, perhaps I can put you in touch with the seller so you can tell him how to go about the cranial ‘examination’ you recommend?
Much rarer items then a Chieftain ‘Gold’ have changed hands on here without such hysteria
Calm down, it IS only a whistle when all is said and done
Hulbert
The ‘Gold’ Low ‘D’ I missed out on recenly went for the modest sum of £130.00, a mere £15.00 more than the current Chieftain V3 non tuneable
So not a huge ‘wallet filler’ was it?
Hulbert
I have a “silver” one that is looking for a new home. 
Yes your right Hulbert the gold ( brass ) low d’s are rare, I had one early on in my trad startings, nice whistle mellow sound and easy octave jump, it was heavy though, I would say if you can get one its a nice whistle but not legendary, hence the the used price, is not like O’riordans, I sold my one 2 years ago for £100. I can’t comment on the other keys though.
when I sold mine, I had no counselling…
yvie 
Ha Ha
Classic post
Thank you
Hulbert
Truth be told, the Low D Chieftain gold is a nice whistle, and even an historical whistle, with the all brass construction. Fantastic?-no, even though Tony Hinnigan makes it sound so (so much depends on the player). Just different, with a solid fog horn low end and a harder to obtain and maintain high end. It gets pretty shrill and loud in the upper octave, but with better technique, and practice, maybe not as bad. Just watch those front teeth-if you hit a speed bump with one in your mouth, you’ll wish you didn’t!!!
I’ve had two, and the last one I sold for about $150 a few years ago, and even then it was a hard sell at the time. Not on par overall with a Copeland Low D, but still nice in its own rite. I once played mine in a vacant apartment, and it sounded fantastic. Though in retrospect, many a whistle would have sounded great in that echoey environ, or even miked.
Now though, I’d opt for a new Gold Reyburn Low D (brass), if I could afford it, especially before the end of the year! Ronaldo’s prices will be jumping up again, to keep up with costs and the other big dogs prices. Now’s the time to buy, if you got the dough. It sounds from the recent reports that he’s got a new and excellent version of his Low D available.
If you want another nice low stick in the edgier aluminum, then go for either an MK (preferred by many) or (my choice for tone) a Reviol, instead of the mellower brass, but the Reviol I think generally takes more air to play well.
Ah, just wish I had the bucks, and have been missing having a low D for a while now, though flute helps keep the best part of that pain away. Still think the Low D has a lot to offer, and there are still many to be had that can make you smile. Wonder what the Burke Gold Low D feels like to the senses to play?-probably another very nice one that I’d like to try someday too, if I’m here long enough!
Nevermind trying to find the perfect Low D-get one you like, and just play it. More is in the music (and technique), than the instrument-enjoy the journey, and smell the roses when you find them. By all means, if you can find a Chieftain Gold, try one. But don’t expect it to be the answer to all, just a nice and different whistle. And if you get one, or not, try your Low D’s in an echoey place (stairwell, bathroom), and you may find new bliss in your playing.
Hello Barry
Thank you for such a lengthy and helpful response, indeed I am also considering the new Reyburn in the New Year. lovely chap too Ronaldo he’s been kindly mailing me last day or so with advice
MK: am I the only person in the world to be seriously underwhelmed by these (please no abuse from anyone we all have opinions) WHAT is all the fuss about? Although it’s hardly a consideration if they play well but I also think they look incredibly effeminate and would feel mightily self conscious playing one (again NO abuse we all differ do we not?) Misha also a nice lad, offered to do me a ‘plain’ one but I passed
Perfect whistle … mmm I’ve had eleven Low D’s this year (12th due tomorrow) my problem is I’m a frustrated Sax player, did play Sax for years but injury/health precludes hence the smaller, lighter non keyed Low whistle. Whistle will never sound like Steve Lacy’s Soprano Sax no matter how many times I change
Time to get serious in 2011, pick one instrument and get the best I can out of that and that ALONE. Problem with whistles they are so darn cheap, I can get a Low D for less than a decent Sax mouthpiece so it’s to easy to indulge whims
Oh dear
Thanks again
Hulbert (‘Experience will teach me no more lessons’ K. Rowland)
My own $0.02 on the Chieftain Golds is that they are great whistles. They are heavy, as some have pointed out, but one gets used to that, and the trade off is a great sound. I had a low G until earlier this year when I sold it, and I can honestly say that not a week has gone by in the past few months without missing that whistle. If ever I come across another, I’ll surely buy it if I have the means. I have a Chieftain in aluminum now… nice enough whistle, but it’s not the same. Personally, I don’t care for aluminum at all. It’s a dirty metal in the way that it oxidizes, and it’s weak. Given that nearly everything else on earth reacts with it, it makes for bad electrical wiring, bad beer storage, and as such, I prefer that my whistles aren’t made from it either. 
I was the lucky person who bought the last gold low D here a couple of weeks ago. To me it feels and sounds like a quality whistle . It polished up like new. I don’t think I would ever sell it .
Has anyone any idea why they are not made anymore… is brass a more difficult metal to work with, that its not possible to produce them at a reasonable price.
also has anyone any idea how many were actually made.
Glenn
Last I knew, Phil Hardy was banned from posting on this site (not sure why). I certainly won’t pretend to speak for him, but it seems I remember him remarking some time back that the Golds just weren’t hot sellers, and he had decided to focus his energies on his aluminium whistle designs. I suppose if I were making these, aluminum would be somewhat more attractive than brass, as it is cheaper and has much better availability. The weight is likely what hurt the sales of the Golds, I would guess - it just wasn’t / isn’t for some people, and the aluminum, obviously, doesn’t present as much of a problem in this respect.
I have a lot of admiration for Phil, and his whistles. He puts an enormous amount of genuine effort into the world of whistling. He presents us with a well-rounded contribution, not just through his whistles, but through his efforts to further the music and a passion for the instruments, for which he doesn’t always get the recognition he deserves.
Phil has been making the Kerry Pro with both an aluminum tube and a brass tube. He has been selling them for 200 pounds.
Ron
Thanks - I had forgotten about that…
Actually, it’s the “Chieftain Custom” and “Chieftain Custom NR” that are available with either an aluminum or brass body. Phil sent out an email some time back explaining that he had bought a quantity of brass pipe for this purpose. My memory is unclear as to whether this option was to be permanent, or if once the pipe is gone, the option goes with it.
I respect Phil, however I’m not surprised he might have been kicked off. In my experience Phil doesn’t have the best customer service. That said, I still respect the quality he puts into his whistles. In my most recent encounter, I asked for a flute head for my Songbird D. He could have been nice about declining my request. Instead he went off about how he is a whistle manufacturer.
I knew it was a stretch, yet I hoped he would see the value of producing a more versitle product. I also went to him because, even though as far as I know he hasn’t done this, I still belief if he tried he would have made a quality product.
Just so readers understand. Even though I haven’t had the best customer service with Mr. Hardy, I still respect his product. I also hope to eventually own a whistle in every key he makes.
Best of luck with the KWL Gold 
No, not quite true. Another of those hard-to-kill memes, like alligators in the NYC sewers.
After a suspension, Phil chose not to reactivate his account because of his disagreement with the rather restrictive Chiffboard policy on Commercial Posting. He’s welcome to request reactivation of his account and rejoin the Chiffboard community at any time if he agrees to stick to the rules. His absence here has nothing to do with the details of either his business or his whistle products.
“His absence here has nothing to do with the details of either his business or his whistle products.”
Glad to hear it; I’ve been craving an alto A Chieftain [and a few dozen other Chieftains, Goldies, Dixons, et very cetera. ]
I’d seen that meme mentioned a few times in reading through many of the threads in the last 45 pages, so far, but had not found out what really happened. I’m a newby to membership in the forum and to whistling, so I thought I’d read up before asking too many already answered questions. Anyway, thanks, Guru, for clarifying the point about Mr. Hardy.
–
I hope you find ‘Gold’, Hulbert. I’ve seen and more importantly, heard, those videos of Tony Hinnigan playing several of the Gold series Chieftains. I want an alto of some key or other.
Lance
RE: Phil Hardy - Customer Service
Customer service with Mr. Hardy has been a mixed bag in my experience, he did kindly replace the tuning slide of my Low D free of charge BUT then he routinely ignores emails and questions
I bought one of those half brass/aluminium Low D’s he does but didn’t get a receipt or invoice, after a series of increasingly fractious emails (WHEN he chose to respond) where he questioned my sanity and I questioned his Ponytail, I sent the Low D back to him with ‘compliments’
But, a neighbour of mine who has taken up the Low whistle after hearing me picked up a plastic head Kerry off Ebay, it was okay apart from a tendency to leak round the block, he used a ‘Superglue’ that was purportedly suitable for plastics and it started dissolving the mouthpiece and worsened the leakage. He emailed Mr. Hardy asking if he could purchase a new mouthpiece, he was advised to buy a V3 Low D, when my neighbour replied and stated he was unable to afford a V3 with Xmas approaching etc, he received a tuneable V3 Low D FREE OF CHARGE
Quite stunned we were
Hulbert
Wow, that iS stunning. Maybe his general unresponsiveness is partly due to his time being occupied by gigs and recording other people and such. I should imagine that the sheer numbers of whistles being sold reduces the possibility of giving much direct personal attention to each whistle and its owner. The consequence of being a mass producer rather than a maker of custom ordered instruments. I don’t know the man; just trying to be fair and look at the bright side.
Anyway, good luck in your search for the Gold series whistle.