Hi Guys,
I hope this doesn’t sound like a dumb question but I would like a high ‘e’ whistle. Does anyone make one?
I own both high ‘d’ and also high ‘Eb’ whistles but an ‘e’ whistle would be useful at times. Can either a ‘Eb’ or a ‘D’ whistle be “modified” to achieve this.
Thanks,
Micheal
Burke do an expensive one
http://www.burkewhistles.com/home.php?cat=262
Shaw do a cheap/mid price one about £15
Abell, Hoover, O’Brien, Humphrey, Sindt, Susato & Syn (Bartlett) also make them. Can’t say I’ve every played an E before though.
Not dumb at all, Michael! I also think the E whistle is very useful, especially for sessions. It’s great for using easy G fingering to play those many Scottish and Donegal type tunes in A. And for Cape Breton and French Canadian tunes in E. Sometimes playing in B minor with A fingering is also handy.
I use a tuneable Susato high E narrow bore (V-series), another inexpensive option. Bigwhistle.com don’t list it online, but I’ll wager they carry one. The price would be £18.50 for the tuneable version, and £12.95 for the non-tuneable. It has good session volume, and is a nice-sounding and playing whistle. A good price-to-value proposition for occasional use.
I was speaking recently with a very well-known maker of quality whistles, and he was surprised when I told him I thought that E is the next most useful session key after D and C. So maybe we’ll start a trend. Cheers …
When I asked Pat O’Riordan about a high E, he suggestedd I look at a B whistle since it would be able be to play in the key of E…the equivalent of G on a D whistle. He didn’t steer me wrong. I wanted something in E since a friend plays and sings several songs in the key of E. The key of E on the B whistle is much less intrusive than a high E whistle. That O’Riordan B whistle is now my favorite when I’m playing alone. A lovely, lovely sound. I now have a low E whistle is nice but the high B is outstanding.
Just my thoughts and experience.
jim d
I use a set of Oveton E whistles (high and low) that I like pretty well. The E is the second most useful key for me as I accompany a singer/guitarist who plays in open D and G and then uses a capo to raise the guitar to E and A. So I use a D whistle half the time and an E whistle half the time. I’ve never had the need for an Eb oddly enough, and I’ve never owned one.
You may want to do a search on threads here, I myself posted one regarding this topic sometime back, there may be more info already posted for ya there. 
-Eric
Agreed. But it also depends on the range of the tune, and whether the melody is plagal (centered around the tonic) or authentic (spanning two tonics). Sometimes an E whistle will work better without octave folding, sometimes a B. The B whistle is also useful for playing along with flat set pipes in B.
I think this is Eric’s thread:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=45399
Yup, that be the one. 