Daleth hit the nail on the head. My low D and low C Susati are flutelike chiffy expressive things. My low E and F are fine players. My low G and A Susati are only mediocre. (I had a narrow-bore A and a medium-bore A, and the narrow-bore played better IMHO.) The high C and D are blasters, only good for sheer volume. Their high notes tend to screechiness and tend to “clam” if not played just so.
About really low whistles taking a lot of air, it doesn’t need to be so. I played a contrabass flute (about 8 feet long) and it took no more air than a normal flute. I was amazed at its volume, clarity, efficiency, etc. I think Susato should start out making bass A and G whistles, and finally a bass D. It would be awsome.
I play a Susato high D and love it. DCrom named my Susato “The Whistle of Doom.” I love the intonation, volume, and dependability of Susatos.
I have an A, Bb, and low D. All are pretty loud, though the Bb will knock the house down if I’m blowing too hard. I play all of them mostly at home. I wish I could love my low D - I pick it up quite a bit, but I’ve never, ever been able to figure out the pressure in the upper register. It squeaks too often for me to take to session, which really makes me mad 'cause I do like the tone. Overall, they are not bad whistles, but I do think they take as much if not more work than an Oak . . . which is saying something! 
Have you tried the o-ring tweak? I don’t know if it works on the low D, but it is an easy tweak and reversable.
To save a shopping trip looking for the right sized o-ring, I use poster putty and put a ridge on the outside of the whistle, right at the end of the slope of the blade and adjust the height/width of the ridge until I get the volume/air requirements that I like.
I am finally enjoying my Susato D (suprano D, orig design, white with cherry plug, nontunable).
Yes, it seems to be either love or hate! I´ve got a couple, and I have really tried to give them a fair chance, but no… Can´t stand it! And I can´t really find anything wrong with it. I´m more of a Clarke/Generation/Feadog guy.
If you talk to people about jazz and classical music there is an interesting pattern. People who prefere (If they have to make a choise) Parker over Coltrane also prefere Mozart over Beethoven (and vice versa). There seems to be a connection: Mozart/Parker and Beethoven/Coltrane. This connection is well known but as far as I know there isn´t any logical explanaition.
I wonder if if there is some similar connection with the Susato vs. Generation typ of whistle. Is there a deeper personality pattern?
I prefer Beethoven/Coltrane over Mozart/Parker and Generation over Susato.
Daleth wrote:
I’ll go with my Sweetone over a Susato any day, especially considering the $50 price difference.
Are “buyers” of Sweetones now paid to take them? Last time I checked (a couple of minutes ago) the Susato high D was about $35.
For the record, I play my narrow bore Susato high D much more than my Sweetone. Of course, its nice to have lots of whistles, in many varieties. Every so often I just play the same tune over and over, using a different whistle for each take. (Such an activity will of course drive your family nuts, so do it when you are home alone.) Overall, my Dixon Trad gets the most use.
No.
No.
Hi Fancypiper,
No, I have not tried that tweak . . . but I will now.
Thanks for the tip!
Troutbum
Hi,
I practice every day and generally use my Susato part of the time switching between my Sindt and Burke. I like the Susato sound and it does seem a bit loud. My problem is controlling the whistle (a hi-D) in the second octave. If I’m not careful (and I’m not always) it flips down to the lower octave or worse, provides an unpleasant honk 
There has got to be a way to stay in the second octave without having to blow soooo hard. If I could control that, I’d really like the instrument. Any suggestions aside from practice, practice, practice? 
Kevin
my high d Susato isn’t sung
I play Susatos almost exclusively. I have them in the keys of E, Eb, D (both SB and VSB), C, B, Bb (SB), low A and low G. I need to get a high F and a low F next!
I LOVE my Susatos…I only use my Oak D when I’m trying to learn a tune and I don’t want to be too loud. In the low register, the oak can’t really be heard at our session but if I turn my ear, I can hear it and then work out tunes at session.
~Crysania
I was actually playing a couple of tunes on my Susato this morning and now this thread has popped back up.
I enjoy a Susato.
I also enjoy Syn, O’Brien, Burke, and especially my Overton. 
–James
KBR, try the O-ring tweak suggested in another recent thread (hats off to M.T. Guru). It involves putting a small O-ring around the head of your Susato; the result is more control in the upper octave, and a reduced tendency to, as Panceltic Piper aptly put it, “clam” on the highest notes (PCP, you haven’t been listening to Buddy Rich on the bus, now, have you?). I’ve been pretty happy with the results I’ve been getting after doing this simple, reversible tweak.
As for why I play a Susato in the first place, I find that it’s one of the only whistles that you can really lean into, like a flute, but which doesn’t end up sounding like a recorder. Cheers,
Rob
P.S. Some folks have evoked the recorder in describing the sound of the Susato, but I can’t agree. There are several wooden whistles which sound much more recorder-like.
I have a high D, C and Bb. I didn’t like any of them at all until I tried the tweak suggested by MTGuru…good advice. It’s still a bit hard to control in the upper register and is a bit louder than I prefer for some songs but now, I use the D regularly to practice (when my wife isn’t around) and the Bb for some of the slower pieces I play. If there is a problem, it isn’t the whistle. 
Kevin
I have a Susato low G that if I ever get decent with I will probably replace.
Yes, I play a Kildare High D. I Uesta Love it. As a beginner much more forgiving on the Low end D, and I lked the Thicker tube. However I have recently stopped playing it. I found its very hard to hit the 2nd octave consistently on the B A & G and almost impossible to get in ot the 3rd octave without blowing out my lungs into it.
Back to my first ever whistle, a Waltons’s D in Brass.
Yep though I’ve never played jazz I work with jazz musicians on a regular basis and have picked up many of their pithy expressions such as clam, gig, gig suit, horn, ax, schlep, schmutz, etc etc.
I play the Susato Hi D and love it. It’s extremely responsive and I feel it has a fantastic tone once you get used to it. I also feel you can adjust how quietly or loudly you play it, especially when using the o-ring. Plus, there’s absolutely no maintenance 