I’m about to upgrade from my Kerry Songbird Low D, and I’m now looking for a good low F whistle - around 170-230£.
Need recommendations. There are so many brands out there - and therefore quality and rich tone are what I prioritize.
In my opinion, the sound of my Kerry whistle is a bit dull. It is also slightly out of pitch.
Is a tunable whistle to prefer? What are the pros/cons with tunable whistles?
Chieftain?
MK whistles? http://mkwhistles.com/mkshop/
Susato?
Please help me out here 
With the money you have I wouldn’t hesitate and go for a Goldie, the tuneable at about £230 inc shipping to the UK, the non-tuneable at about £195, I started off with a non-tuneable quite happy with that but wanting to play with others I exchanged it for a tuneable. Colin & Brigitte are wonderful people to deal with. You can phone Colin up and tell him exactly what you want in terms of backpressure etc and, with his whistles direct from him, there is a lifetime guarantee. Enough said! If I had the money I would have a Goldie in every key and be satisfied with that. Very satisfied!
Yes I was thinking of a Goldie as well. I though have a few questions about the tunable whistles.
If I, for example, purchase a tunable Goldie Alto F, am I then able to tune it up/down a few steps without changing the “upper part” of the whistle?
And also this you write about the back pressure. Am I actually able to come with preferations when I order?
As far as I see it, don’t you always want a low back pressure (which I assume means that you don’t have to blow that much air when you play)? And if I don’t specify this - how will the whistle be?
A tuneable whistle allows you to fine tune the whistle. When a maker creates a whistle he tunes it according to the way he naturally blows a whistle. If he’s a hard blower, and a softer blower buys it, he may find that the whistle plays in tune with itself but marginally flat when played with other instruments. That was the case with me. A tuneable whistle allows me to slightly adjust the tuning so that I’m in tune with other instruments in the church worship group. This will happen with all makers unless we happen to play exactly how they do.
On the subject of backpressure, Colin makes whistles with varying degrees of backpressure, what he calls soft, medium and hard blowers, with other options in between. I prefer a softblower where I may use a little more air but I don’t meet a lot of resistance especially when playing high notes in the second octave. Others though prefer a high resistance with the advantage of using less air. Think of it like blowing down drinking straws of different diameters. With Colin you get to choose how the whistle behaves. I have a soft blower but I’m wondering about an extra soft blower (only made to order I think) that would take more breath but make third octave notes easier to obtain.
Does this help?
Hmm, I don’t think I fully follow you here. So with a “hard blower”, I will have to blow harder to hit the notes, but it will take less air? I think I have slightly less lung capacity than average, so the a hard blower would be to prefere? What will be the difference between a hard and a soft blower when it comes to performance? Any difference in sound or “playability”?
Also, can you come up with preferations as for how you would like the sound to be? For example more “woody” or deep?
I’m an unfit 58 and my lungs are far from great . . . but I find lung capacity isn’t the deciding factor. For one thing playing the instrument will increase capacity and my lungs are definitely improving, but with jigs and reels I may just take breaths more often than someone with better lungs. With a medium or hard blower you do use less air but when you blow you meet more resistance and in the second octave you will need to maintain a higher blowing pressure to keep notes from dropping back into the first octave. I can play rolls on high B on a soft blower but wouldn’t be able to on a medium blower. The other thing is if you are moving from a Low D to a Low F you will be using less air anyway so wouldn’t have a problem with a soft blower.
As to tonal preferences you’ll need to talk to Colin about that. It’s difficult to produce a “woody” sound on an aluminium whistle. As for “deep” you can definitely ask for a strong bottom end.
P.S. Whistles are a compromise. A harder blower will give you a very solid bottom note but a “tense” upper second octave requiring that constant pressure to stay up there. Conversely, a soft blower will give a a more “relaxed” upper second octave and a weaker bottom note . . . though I have to say I find nothing weak about the bottom D on my soft blower.
Part of the choice may be down to the type of music you want to play and the players you like. If you’re a strictly traditional player of ITM then it is rare for tunes to go above the high B (on a Low D whistle of course) and you might prefer the slightly lower air requirements of a medium blower.On the other hand I like more “inspirational” type music (and Davy Spillane’s stuff) that often goes high in the second octave so my preference is for a whistle that makes the second octave easier.
Well I have a Chieftain low F and a Dixon polymer low F and like both.
I looked on ebay for F whistles and they are £150 -£230 for a tuneable whistle.
The Dixon low F does not appear in Tony Dixon’s catalog any more, but it is available from Hobgoblin at £56 or as a flute/whistle duo from Big Whistle @ £63.15
David
I of course agree with the positive comments concerning Colin’s whistles. Not only are Colin and Brigitte good friends, but his instruments are among the best made. I would like to add two different instruments to your choice list. These two whistles are very different in sound. Both play superbly, and have their own sets of feel and characteristics. Neither sound like a Goldie. I do not prefer one above the other.
I was gifted with a Burke aluminum low F, many years ago. It has a sweet, almost flute-like sound, that is slightly different than any of Mike’s other instruments I have owned over the years. It is totally usable in both octaves, and never gets harsh. The low register is full, open, and the bell note is not only secure, but somehow retains that flute-like quality at a good volume level.
My other low F is built by Misha Somerville, in Scotland. The MK F sounds like a whistle, with a more complex sound than Mike Burke’s F. While it is subjectively louder than the Burke, a VU meter shows the same volume level for the same note… Again, it is playable in both octaves. Its upper notes are more complex in overtones than the Burke, and it can sound more strained up high, when compared with the Burke. When one becomes accustomed to the MK, that characteristic is not difficult to control. In fact, the complexity of the upper notes becomes a positive, not a negative. The bottom is solid and wonderful.
Both insturuments are of course in perfect internal tune - both makers being experts at this issue. The workmanship of both is superb.
I wish you the best in your final choice.
Byll
I don’t like low whistles, but I love my Goldie low F. The back pressure is perfect, and the sound is lovely.
i have a Reviol low F that is totally awesome, one of my favorite whistles. i also have an MK low D that is my standby concert whistle, and i imagine the low F is just as nice. both easily tunable, but right in tune at A440 where they should be anyway.
Another vote for the MK Low F. Absolutely wonderful instrument.
The MK and Burke low F are both very good whistles, which I consider on opposite ends of the spectrum from each other. I don’t think either is a bad choice, though. I own both, and both are great.
However, I also have an MK and Burke low D, both of which are also great. However, I also have a Reviol low D. In my opinion the Reviol low D is better than either the Burke or the MK. I have since ordered a Reviol low F, which has not arrived yet. This week I’ll be able to chime in about the Reviol low F. I can say the low D Reviol is very very highly underrated, in my opinion.
If the Reviol low F compares to the Burke and MK low F’s the same way it compares to the burke and MK low D’s, I’d without a doubt give the Reviol my recommendation. However, it hasn’t arrived yet, so I have yet to find out.
I find the MK seems either the best, or the worst, whistle for the job at times. It has a very unique tone, which I find either very fitting, or very un-fitting for certain tunes. The low octave is a very heavily smokey tone, with an upper octave with a very high degree of attack on the notes, which I find somewhat intense, at least when I play it. Sometimes I find those qualities a bit too much for what I’m playing, in which case I would choose the much clearer sounding burke. Both are great whistles, though. I don’t prefer one over the other, overall. Both are very responsive, and with good volume.
The goldie low F is amazing. The single thing I did not like about it, is that mine had way too much backpressure for me. I prefer nothing more than a medium amount of backpressure in a whistle, and mine was a harder blowing whistle. Were it not for that, I’d have kept it. However, I bought mine used, and colin will make it to your specifications, therefore you are almost guaranteed to have an awesome whistle if you order with him and communicate what you are wanting in a whistle.
Therefore, I’d have to second all of the recommendations given so far, except for the chieftains and dixons, which I haven’t played. The dixon tapered bore plastic low D is very good for it’s price, though, so I imagine it wouldn’t be too bad in F either. I don’t imagine it would stack up to par with a burke, MK, goldie, or reviol, though. Could be wrong, though.