Although I love the Low D I never got on with it due to my tiny hands, Low F was my limit.
But last week I took delivery of Howard Close Finger Spacing in black with the Balanced head and it’s the first Low D I’ve been able to comfortably manage.
Well done to David at Howard.
This lad explains it better than I can.
Well, congrats on you finding a Low D that you can play, and like too! It’s nice that it’s a bit quieter than the regular version, if you’re playing solo and indoors especially. In his video, Scott says there are inserts in the small hand version; that’s the first I heard about them; interesting! Enjoy it in good health, and have a blast (or close to it)!
Thank you.
It’s still a bit of a stretch but manageable.
The absurdly named CutiePie has a video on her channel showing the inside of the bore and the insert
Lovely whistle though the craftsmanship is superb, can be loud in the upper octave but not enough to annoy my neighbours.
Three heads are available for the Howard with optional acoustic resin that apparently makes the volume even more civilised.
Kudos to David O. The only other low D whistle I know of with close finger spacing is made by Carbony - at $650 for the no-frills model, more than twice the cost of the new Howard.
Her name is Stephanie, but I agree, the CutiePie moniker is a bit…whimsical? Though it might suit her You Tube followers just fine, who tend to be from a younger generation.
I had a Howard low D for awhile, and though I really liked it in a lot of ways, the harsh top end of the second octave was a deal-breaker for me. I could say the same about my Alba, but I just don’t play it much in the upper register. My Goldie narrow-bore low D is ideal for that purpose.
Congrats for finding a low D that fits!
Hello Stiofan
Regarding the upper octave, it takes a bit of ‘push’ to hit the notes above G and that’s when it starts to become a little overpowering, this may be my playing though rather than the instrument.
I’m giving it a month or so then I may pick up the other two heads that are available, or perhaps try the acoustic resin in the Balanced head I currently have.
Really enjoying it though, after years of being denied the Low D experience due to my tiny hands (I’m only 5ft 4in so they are in proportion to the rest of me) I can’t put it down.
Across the best-playing Low D whistles Hole 6 is already higher than its acoustically ideal spot, which is why it has to be made smaller.
There’s only so high and so small you can make Hole 6 until the voicing suffers, until Low E starts becoming feeble.
The way to test if the placement and size of Hole 6 is having a negative impact on playability is to play passages in tunes that have rapid movement between Bottom D, Low E, and Low F#.
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and the low range of a Low D whistle is only as strong as its weakest note. Can you play such low passages at full volume and not have Low E flutter or break? If so the voicing is good enough that you can play expressively and powerfully without concern.
That’s one of the things that put me off with the Burke Low D that I used to play. Low F# and Bottom D had huge power, but Low E would flutter and break.
And that’s the normal Burke Low D. Then they came out with the “EZ” which had an even weaker Low E.
Aren’t you going to post the picture of six Low D’s comparing their respective hole placements?
The Howard website has been amended showing further detail about the engineering behind the new Howard Low D
Wow, from Howard’s website it looks more like they are making rockets with those cylindrical sectional views! Their explanation is a bit vague and long winded about the development, and they don’t really tell you where or how they use the carbon fiber, but I imagine it’s just implied that it’s the material they use for the 3rd and 6th finger hole inserts? You might think you are getting a carbon fiber tube, but no, that’s just brass like all the other tubes. I really had to hunt around to find an explanation about the acrylic head insert and found a video of it shown there; the story they tell is too fanciful about the master violin makers, etc, instead of just saying it’s a blob inside the head used like many of us did with poster putty and tweaking the tone and playability of whistles a long time ago. Now they have applied a similar approach, but charge a lot for it! No matter, as long as it works, and you can afford itp why not?! It is nice to have a choice of heads though, depending on what you want, though the sound samples they provide aren’t a good example for telling them apart.
While I am talking about sound samples; I had to stop listening to Stephanie’s video comparing the two different bodies because both whistles sounded bad when played by her! I don’t know if she was just pushing too hard, but they both sounded strained, and frankly, awful! In contrast, when Scott played them in comparison, they did not sound strained at all, and I might be tempted to try a Howard by his playing, where both had pleasant tones to listen to! If I were the Howard folks, I would not use her video on their website to try and sell whistles, even if she is cute! I admire David O for developing the close finger spacing Low D, since it’s been needed for a while, but I think their marketing could improve to better inform and display its good qualities.
Anyway, I hope you’re still enthralled by your new low whistle; and why wouldn’t you be?! Great idea brought forth by Howard, and even better that you can tailor the sound with the choice of heads. I remember when there was only 1 head available and that’s the one that I had, and I liked it a lot! Then they came out with their new head, and now they have 4? I’d say that’s progress! Enjoy!
‘vague and long winded’ 
I do agree that the information about the position of the inserts came from Scott (although I think he calls them ‘chimneys’) rather than the Howard site, but in no way does the Howard site imply the tube is carbon fibre.
Perhaps marketing isn’t David’s strong point: Facebook/Twitter/Instagram pages he opened years ago were soon abandoned.
All I know, he’s a great guy to deal with promptly answering all my messages, the craftsmanship of the whistle is superb, it plays really well (to my ears) and I can reach the bottom hole for the first time ever.
I may treat myself to a silver plated one for my impending 50th, I doubt the plating will make any difference to the tone but it will be a nice thing to own.
Regarding silver plating; a friend of mine once picked up an ancient silver baritone sax, with fixed neck, no high F, no case and cosmetically it was rough.
But it played like a dream, the bottom end in particular.
He decided to have a massive overhaul, the neck was made detachable, and he had the remaining silver plating stripped, the brass polished and a clear lacquer applied (and a case made)
It looked amazing when it came back but it had lost something, the resonance and projection it had before was noticeably diminished.
So I am curious if this perhaps applies to the Howard and perhaps the silver will enhance the tone?
I know…that’s me, long winded, though I usually have a point! You’re right, they didn’t imply they were using carbon fiber for the tube, but they didn’t really explain what part was carbon fiber, other than saying the acoustic modifiers, which to me was a broad term for something, not the inserts, which would have been easier to understand.
By the way, that lacquer finish is what killed the sax probably, and it explains why a lot of brass players go for a raw finish on their instruments. Don’t know if the silver finish will change the sound on the Howard, but it would certainly look like a 50th year celebration instrument! Though polished brass looks great too, but it’s a pain to keep up with it.
It’s possible that David was being deliberately vague as the patent is still pending 
My sax playing friend is intending to have the whistle stripped a second time when it’s next in for overhaul and keep it as plain brass, but that could be five plus years away.
David told me that he once had a Howard mouthpiece silver plated (I never knew you could metal plate plastic) but he said it made little difference to the sound and would have made the mouthpiece prohibitively expensive anyway.
Forgot to say a chap I know told me he once owned a Shaw Low D, holes 3 and 6 were slightly raised on the outside and had small pipes protruding into the tapered bore.
Ah, patent pending, that sounds a reasonable explanation. And tubing plating; it seems to make a bit of difference in the old generation high D’s and similar, being brass (sometimes raw, sometimes lacquered), or nickel plated, so I’m thinking there might be an audible difference when the brass is silver plated, though slight most likely, and just to the player’s ear too.
That’s a good idea for your sax friend to wait for a repad, and then have it stripped, if he can bear the wait, playing it as is, knowing that there is great tone under there that he is missing! Good luck to him!
By the way, getting back to Howard whistles, have you seen this video? This young woman is playing one of my favorite pieces on her Howard Low D here;
Yes I have some time ago, absolutely lovely.
I remember I burned with envy at how cleanly she hit the the top of the upper octave (and her remarkable finger length)
Thanks for feposting