Help me pick a low D whistle

Whistle
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I’ve got a Howard with two heads, and it’s fine, but I’m thinking it’s time for a second low D. I have a Burke low F that I like; it has a really pleasant sound in both octaves and plays quite well. My first thought is I should get a Viper, but the problem there is the air requirement seems high. I’m constantly running out of air on my Burke and I’d like something I can blow for a bit longer.

I looked at getting a Goldie since he makes different windway sizes for a range of blowers, but after listening to a video from Frank Claudy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t14W3CgQcxs) a bunch of times, there’s a sort of grating quality to all 4 of them (esp the hard and medium blower) that I just don’t find pleasant. A bit of chiff is one thing, but these seem… I dunno, raspy? harsh? Maybe they sound better in person, though. That’s entirely possible. I also find the MK Pro to sound a little boring (at least in recordings I listened to) because to me it felt “breathy but flat”. Again, that might be an issue with the recording or the player, not the whistle.

So I’m honestly not sure what whistle I want, and I’m in Utah, which is not a place I can try a bunch and see what I like. AFAIK the only whistle for sale in the entire state is a Feadog at one of the chain stores. I’m hoping you can point me in the right direction.

Please help me find something with an interesting, rich sound, medium to hard blower, agile and responsive, but not harsh or shrill. Also, I’m open to being surprised at how something sounds in person, even if I discounted it based on youtube videos. Any thoughts or recommendations?

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I might be wrong about the Goldie. It might sound different in a room than it does right up close. Or something. I’m not sure. But I don’t hear any of the harshness in this recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMKiW0Dug7g

I wish I knew what version he’s playing.

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Mine doesn’t sound like either of those in person. There is a bit of raspiness, but not as much as in Mr. Caudy’s video. Maybe it’s aggravated by the Youtube compression. I notice that I get the same kind of sound, especially on the bell note, with the Kerry whistles I recently bought. Makes sense since they share the same basic head design.

In the second video, the reverb is smearing all the detail.

This is fairly similar to what I hear when I play mine, but I don’t hear it being quite this smooth:

If you want a really smooth sound Carbony has that. It’s also free blowing (large windway).

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The Kerry Optima whistles, right? I’m starting to think that might be a solid choice.

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The whistle in both those videos looks like a Goldie to me.

I have a Goldie F which I like a lot.

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I’m pretty sure it is. I just wonder if it’s an easy blower or the medium, for me not to hear any of the harshness. Or like highland-piper said, perhaps the reverb is smoothing it out considerably.

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It is really difficult to tell from a recording like that, since the mic, mic setup and acoustic space all make a huge difference, in addition to any audio post processing.

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I don’t have anything to contribute on this topic except to say hi from a fellow whistle lover in Utah :blush:

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Yes. I recently got the Kerry Optima whistles, and they have that same “grit” or high pitch bubbly sound over the tone that the Goldie has. To me that makes sense, since the head design is pretty similar

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Hello on this lovely Labor Day weekend.

My husband John, who died this past year was an avid banjo player and Irish whistler.

He regaled his family and me for over 50 years and I can still hear his melodies in my mind. What a comfort!!

I have two whistles: Chieftain Whistle Custom Low D

and Chieftain V5 Fixed Whistle Low D. I an in need of finding a good home for them and wonder if you could direct me in that?

With a litany of thanks,

Mary Dura

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I’m a big fan of me MK Whistles Low D.

not cheap, but very fun to play

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Can’t speak to any of the others, but I surely love my Carbony “short reach” low D. Every bit as comfortable as my Burke low G, and easy to play.

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I have a Carbony “short reach” low D that I’m selling. Arthritis is just starting to kick in and although the reach is very manageable, it’s too much for me after a few tunes. I play flute, which isn’t so much of a problem. I think it’s the angle of holding it in front instead of up and to the side; a much easier reach and easy on the wrists. It’s back to high Ds and Cs for me. PM me if interested. I’m up in the Evergrey State.

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You can’t tell what a whistle sounds like from recordings especially YouTube videos.

This really hit me when I put up a video comparing four different Low D whistles.

In person, each had a distinctive tone. On the video they all sounded the same. This was due, I’m sure, to the recording quality of my phone.

But I’d rather have raw sound than the heavily modified sound we hear on many videos, with compression, reverb, EQ-ing, etc.

I’ve tried a lot of makes of Low D whistle, and over the next few weeks I have the opportunity to try a lot more.

Personally tone is pretty far down the list of the factors that are important to me.

For one thing the tone of most Low D’s is within a fairly narrow range anyway.

There are tone outliers, in my experience especially the MK and the Reyburn.

The MKs Low D’s I’ve owned all had a gravelly Kaval-ish tone that puts off some people, but I really like.

The Reyburns I’ve owned or tried, especially the Maple-head ones, have a cool Native American Flute thing going on.

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With Low D’s I’ve tried Goldie, Reviol, Reyburn, Dixon, Kerry, Chieftain, Howard, Overton, Burke, MK, Copeland, Swayne, Carbony, Susato, Lofgren, and more I can’t recall.

What ended up being the best balance of all the conflicting requirements of Low D whistles was the Goldie.

I have a “medium blower” and a “soft blower” and they’re both great. What I’d like to try is one in between.

In the coming month I’ll be trying Low D’s by Alba, Goldfinch, Karavaev, Lindsay, Clover, and some others I can’t recall. I’ll get back to you with reports on those.

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I’m curious what you mean about the conflicting requirements of Low Ds. Do you have any writeups or reviews somewhere? I’ve poked around your youtube channel but I don’t think I saw any in depth reviews or discussions.

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Hi Mary,

Welcome to Chiff and Fipple, the home of 1000’s of people expert or curious about whistles, whistle playing and opinions flying left and right. I was thinking that you should post your whistle for sale notice on the Chiff and Fipple section “Instruments Exchange”. Just click on the main Chiff and Fipple logo and then select the “Categories” option, and then “Instruments Exchange”. Best of luck. Why not keep one to play yourself? Don’t be a stranger. Cheers.

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Every Low D whistle is a bundle of compromises.

Each maker, and each player, has to decide for themselves where the line is best drawn on each of several compromises.

One that’s quickly evaluated on any new Low D you pick up is the compromise between volume/power in the low notes and ease/accessibility/sweetness of the high notes.

On flute your anatomy, your embouchure, is the tone-production mechanism, which is flexible, infinitely changeable. Thus you can make the low notes as loud and powerful as you want and make the high notes as sweet as you want all on the same instrument.

Low D whistles aren’t like that. There’s one unchanging tone production mechanism that has to serve for the lowest notes and the highest notes both. (I should mention that when I say “highest notes” I’m meaning the highest notes typical in traditional Irish reels and jigs, High B and the occasional High C.)

Each maker has to decide exactly where to place the compromise between low-note power and high-note sweetness.

So a maker might decide that it’s low-octave volume and power uber alles. They use a wide bore and optimise the tone-production setup for the low octave, in the process sacrificing ease/accessibility/sweetness of the 2nd octave. Thus the 2nd octave will be stiff, recalcitrant, and shouty. It might take a powerful blow to get the upper half of the 2nd octave to sound.

Or a maker might decide that it’s 2nd octave sweetness uber alles. They use a narrow bore and optimise the tone-production setup for the 2nd octave, thus sacrificing volume and power in the low octave. Thus the low octave, especially Bottom D and Low E, might be feeble and require delicate blowing to even make them sound.

At the furthest extremes if you get the bore big enough you lose the 2nd octave altogether and if you get the bore narrow enough you lose the low octave altogether.

When testing a new whistle the notes to pay most attention to are Low E and High B, which respectively tend to be the feeblest and stiffest/shoutiest notes. Playing these notes will immediately tell you where that particular maker placed their compromise. (I think Colin Goldie got it just right.)

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I might just have to bite the bullet and put in an order for a Goldie. I suppose I need to hear the “cosmic drainpipe” for myself. You said you’re not a timbre guy, but do you recommend the medium blower over the easy, or vice versa? I’ve got pretty good lungs, but an easy blower makes me nervous because I fear it’ll be like playing a Clarke Original.

I spotted a good deal on a Chieftain V5 on ebay, and also ordered an Optima Tenor D so I could compare and see which one I like more, just for fun. And while I’m not totally in love with the Chieftain (and haven’t gotten the Optima yet) I’m finding that the breathiness of the tone in the recordings feels less “empty” in person when I actually play the thing. Maybe I’ll love the Goldie after all. In a sense, maybe it’s telling that a Goldie on irishflutestore sells immediately for more than the sticker price, whereas a Burke Viper can sit there a while. And Burke makes some fine instruments, certainly. Eventually I’ll want both, I’m sure, but maybe I should go for the Goldie first.

I’m definitely interested in your experience with those other whistles you’ll be trying in the future. I’ll keep an eye out for your remarks. And if you ever feel like sitting down and kvetching about your whistle collection for an hour on youtube, you can be assured it will get at least one view :slight_smile:

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I have “soft blower” and “medium blower” Goldies, they’re very similar in that they both play like Goldies, but there are subtle differences in how they perform. (These were made before Colin began putting the actual windway height measurement on each whistle.)

EDIT: My “soft” has a 1mm windway height and my “medium” has a .85mm windway height.

The “soft” is overall ‘more musical’ I suppose one could say, easier high notes while the low notes are at least as strong, and more flexible with leaping between octaves.

The only downside, and it’s subtle, is that it’s slightly less air-efficient, in other words you have to blow a bit more volume of air through the whistle as you play. I think it would only be noticed if you’re playing sean nos airs with those majestic long notes, which are going to have to be a tad shorter.

After playing the “soft” Low D for a while when I go back to the “medium” it seems stiff and inflexible. There’s a bit more resistance. Yet, for some reason in the end I always go back to the medium.

The Goldie medium-blower is one of the most air-efficient Low D’s I’ve come across. Up there with it is the MK.

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