Hi,
I have just bought myself a Dixon Trad whistle through Amazon and having received it I am at a loss to know how to tune it.
I thought this type of whistle was meant to be tuneable.
The whistle head seems to be very firmly attached (if not glued on) to the body of the whistle.
Am I missing something?
Yours hopefully…
Hi bjc, welcome.
Yes, the whistle is tuneable and the head is not glued. If it’s a bit tight, grab the head with one hand and the body with other, and twist firmly but carefully to dislodge it. Wear rubber/latex gloves for extra grip if needed. You should then be able to position the head for tuning.
I’ve played a number of Dixon Trads, and the heads actually tended to be rather loose. But I suppose different batches may vary. In any case, you have a very nice whistle - enjoy!
Sorted, thanks for the advice. It just took a firm twist. I was afraid of breaking it until I read your post.
I never had this issue with my D or Eb Dixon trad, but the alto A I have is horrible about this. It felt like the head was going to crack when I was getting the head to move, and hurt my hands getting it to move. I haven’t experienced it with the D ones in the least, but I can see how a Dixon might have this issue, if it’s anything like my A.
So apply a little “cork” grease - vaseline or lip-salve will serve if you haven’t any standard woodwind joint grease to hand. If that makes it too slippery to stay where set, wipe/wash it off again!