Hi,
Does anyone know if my ideal low D whistle exists? It would be:
All/mostly metal (ideally including mouthpiece)
Not humungous breath requirements
Easy to handle for a beginner
and
If so, it might be just what I’m looking for! (if not, and someone wants to make one for me for under £150, be my guest 
)
Thanks,
Ciara
I have NO direct knowledge to base this on (so you should really stop reading this post now), but I thought that the Alba Vibe was described to meet these criteria.
Pete
I had an Alba Vibe and I agree that this low D should match your needs,
as long as you like a “breathy” sound, a bit like a Chieftain V3.
I also personally believe that a Chieftain V3 itself should be a good option for youy. I find it very easy to play.
yes Ciara, your ideal low d whistle does exist. however due to new Chiff & Fipple protocol only thOse that haVE the actual whistle in hand may mention it by name. oR They cOuld seNd you a pm if you requested a pm. to mention whistles that one does not have may be permissible to ask about. but I think the spirit of the new addendum is to prevent those with out having a certain whistle elaborating on just what they have read.
You need to be more specific. There are OVER a TON of whistles that meet your specifications.
More specific?! Whoah, I thought I was being too specific already! So these are the ones that might potentially fit my criteria (in terms of being all-metal), but which I’m probably discounting because someone at some stage has said that they’re a) loud or b) require lots of breath.
Overton, Copeland etc are too expensive for me.
Of course it may be that the whole breath thing is totally subjective - that might be an explanation…
If anyone has fairly certain ideas that they’d like to PM me about, then I’d be very grateful.
Cheers!
Ciara
Loud? Is loudness a constant problem for you or just with practicing at home. If you just have a problem with practicing, then most whistles you can play quieter when you practice or you muffle them for home practicing, it may be not perfectly in tune with less air applied but for practicing the fingers, this is not a problem.
Lots of breath? Do you mean the amount of air an instrument takes and the higher number of having to take a new breath during a tune or the pressure you have to blow with? If it is the pressure you are having problems with, this is something you can practice to master, there are much harder blowing windinstruments out there than whistles i.e. clarinets, oboe etc. and it is all a matter of learning how to breath and push properly.
\
Burke viper (loud)
From what I know about Michael’s instruments, they are often refered to as easy players and they I not really heard that they would take an awful lot of air; they are not quiet but can be played quieter. There is plenty of feedback when you search up the archive for them.
Alba Vibe (quiet but lots of breath needed)
Have no Vibe, so cannot comment but if it is similar to the standard Alba, it is not a hard blower, it may take more breaths for playing a tune. Alba also has a model called Q1 which is refered to as quieter whistle, maybe someone can give input here or you contact Alba whistles and ask Stacey.
MK (loud and lots of breath needed)
They are not too loud for a Low D and breath amount needed is moderate and breath pressure maybe a little more but not overly.
The other thing you need to think of is to practice proper breath techniques. I am a bad player and I mean really bad; I cannot play more than 2 tunes and some fractions of tunes, no patience to practise tunes, what I can play is alright as my breathe technique (from other instruments) is good. The problems you have with the second octave can have to do with how you “attack” the second octave initially and how to hold the pressure once up there. Like with singers or other windinstruments also a whistle needs proper breath technique, just blowing into it or blowing harder for the second octave will not do the job long term. Basically you need to learn how to push from the diaphram area and how to keep the pressure constant (which takes a little conscious practice time) From all the whistles we have at home, there is none that I have problems getting and holding second octave notes, some need what I find little more amounts of air so I need to breathe after a shorter time but in general compared with other wind instruments whistles I think are easy blowers.
So an “easier” playing whistle can help you sound good quickly but with a little practice on a more “challenging” whistle like what you have borrowed, you may quickly find out that long term playing and adapting to other keys or other makes will be much easier. Of course you may want to have it the easy way, that is fair enough but as with many other things, the easiest way is not always the rewarding way long term. Technique is important, be it finger techniques for ornamentation or breathing techniques.
As you are based in Edinburgh, there are some really good players there who also teach, might be an idea to go out and try to take a few lessons at least on the basics, you surely will not regret that.
Hope this helps
Brigitte
Hi Brigitte,
Thanks for your reply. With regards to loudness, I’d like to go for a quieter one because not only will I be learning at home, but when I eventually start to play in sessions I’ll still be a beginner, and so I won’t want to play loudly for fear of making people run away/pour their pints over my head. Since that’ll take several years, I wouldn’t buy a loud whistle now with the intention of muting it constantly for the forseeable future - to me it makes more sense to get a quieter one right now.
About the Alba Q1, I think that’s a high whistle? But I’ll check out in case she makes them lower too!
Thinking about the breath requirements - maybe I’m worrying too much about this, because I used to play saxophone so I might actually be okay in that respect. I absolutely see your point about not necessarily going for the easy blowers…you might have convinced me on that one. And I’m definitely planning on getting lessons in Edinburgh. All this is so helpful to me - thanks everyone for your patience!
Ciara
Can I say, with no offence meant, that Tommy and yourself are acting like a couple of BURKES. That is, you’re both coming through loud and clear. I didn’t realise that there were so many DIX ON this forum… however, as such, you’re both easy to handle and at least you’re not blow hards like some folks…
Apologies but you started it 
I asked my friend Humphrey Bogart and he said:
"Listen, SWEETHEART, there’s really nothing to it if you’re a dame with a trust fund get something that’s a knockout in the looks department sounds great, handles like a Pierce-Arrow and is stylish in either black or brown.
Oh yeah,…and as far as breath, Baby…you just pucker - up and blow."
Well ALBA hogtied and complimented. HOWARD ya know if we are indeed a couple BURKES. assuming BURKE is a slang term for a dapper, and fine fellow. I have seen many whistle collections on the board here but I don’t think they weigh in OVER a TON. however if a person can’t COPE with the price of a great new whistle they could wait to LAND one at a fair price from ebay. Then after accumulating a good size collection they could have a JUBILEE music fest.
Highly amused. Didn’t get the OVER a TON in your first post…some might call me stupid…I prefer to call myself a literalist