It’s a walton. I can add it to my collection of other cheap whistles and one not cheap Susato Low D that I bought in Dublin for way too much money, especially being that I live in the states.
The walton is the best looking of all the whistles I own. I like the way brass looks new. I think I like the nickle sound better, but who plays the whistle for the sound anyway? It looks so… authentic Irish, which I suppose makes sense, being that it is.
Put a little wax up in the space below the wind way, now the second octave is a lot easier to play without weird harmonics (there was a lot at first). Pretty much in tune, and tunable. It’s great, it’s sharp pushed all the way in, so you’ve got tuing room either way. Not that I play sessions or am capable of playing all the notes in all the time anyway, but at least I’m not fighting the whistle
by the way, my other cheap whistles were a mystery generation-style D with a black fipple, a Clarke sweet-tone C, and a Generation Bb (my favorite actually, sounds beautiful through both octaves, well balances, responsive, easy to play. A gem among Generations).
I don’t know what expensive whistles are like, never played one but if they are really that much better than cheap ones they must have magic powers or something. I really enjoy these cheap whistles a lot. A LOT!
Thinking of getting an A or G Shaw next… hmmm… Those look even better than waltons (all metal construction… Ooo)
Yeh. They’re great. Mine took me a while to get used to, in fact I couldn’t get it to play through two octaves without cracking up. The fault was with me, not the Mellowdog. With some practice it became one of the sweetest, clearest whistles I have.
As for normal Waltons, for some reason I can’t get on with them. Every one I’ve tried has been an awful, squeaky monster - even with plenty of perseverance. But then on the other hand, many people say the same of Feadogs, whch I love. Odd, innit?
Yeh. They’re great. Mine took me a while to get used to, in fact I couldn’t get it to play through two octaves without cracking up. The fault was with me, not the Mellowdog. With some practice it became one of the sweetest, clearest whistles I have.
As for normal Waltons, for some reason I can’t get on with them. Every one I’ve tried has been an awful, squeaky monster - even with plenty of perseverance. But then on the other hand, many people say the same of Feadogs, whch I love. Odd, innit?
A brass Walton was my second whistle (first was Clarke original). At first I enjoyed it. However, when the rubber hit the road and I played it for other people and audiences, they did not like it. A Hoover whitecap top (now $30 from Mack Hoover) did wonders for it. I played it the other day and one friend said that is the best I have played. This friend has heard me play about ten of my whistles.
I picked up a couple of cheapies too, yesterday. The music store is about 1/4 mile away from my home, but I always overlook it because it caters to classical folks and bandnerds. I picked up an Oak C (Which blows away the “Meg” C I have) and an Acorn D. Which is thoroughly identical to the mediocre Oak D I have.
THe C was a good purchase. The D. . . is experiment fodder.
I like my Walton C, except the bell note is noticeably sharp. Tonight I put a little length of brass tubing in the end and now it’s nicely in tune. The C has a nice smooth kind of tone compared to other Walton D’s I’ve played. Speaking of cheapies, I picked up a nickel Generation Eb a couple of days ago, and putty’d the fipple cavity. And like so many here have said about Gen Eb’s-Sweet!
Mike
Yeah, it was one squeaky sommabitch before I filled in that little space under the windway. Why don’t manufacturers just do it themselves? It can’t be that expensive to fill in that little gap.
seereeusly mang, why would they do that to a nice guy like you?
(don’t mind the vernacular spelling).
I’ll look into this ‘melow dog’ stuff you all dote on.
Here’s an arcane bit of Generation trivia: blue sucks for plastic. When I worked in the printing industry we knew that blue plastic parts would never fit our jigs properly. The pigment / dye / whatever messes with the stability in the cooling process, we were told.
Also, filling that little gap in the injection molding process would tripple the wall thickness and cause even more dimensional instability. Like Gens need any more quality-control problems!