that’s kind of strange, their website lists the howard soprano fo $199, usually a website price is cheaper because there’s a lot less overhead. the staff are wonderful people though, when I went shopping for a low whistle I spent about 2 hours playing everything they had and ended up buying a howard from them, I figure that if they’ll let me spend all day dirtying up their whistles they deserve a couple extra bucks for the trouble.
Weirdly, the Celtic Fire website ( http://www.celticfire.com ) has for years consistently offered Howard Low Ds for under $100. Go figure.
Dale
Celtic Fire is an excellent source - I’ve dealt with them on a number of occasions and have always received excellent customer service. Good on you for mentioning them again Dale.
Loren
Thanks, Loren. I re-read my post and it could be misinterpreted. This is one of the many reasons I wouldn’t make a good President.
What I meant by “weirdly” is that their prices on Howards are so much lower than other vendors. I’ve just always been curious about how they are able to do that.
Dale
Elderly Instruments also has excellant prices and very friendly-prompt service. i believe their howard low D’s were $105. the last i looked.
tansy
Just wanted to thank those who responded to my questions about howards, overtons & copelands.
Your comments are most helpfull.
Any good tips to control clogging?
I think there might be an understandable confusion here. If I’m right, and even if I’m not, perhaps others are making the same confusion. $200 sounds about right for a new-style Howard high D, $80 sounds a little low but not far off for a low D. Rather unusually, the Howard highs are about twice the price of the lows. We usually expect it to be the other way around. As I understand the situation, this disparity is what we should expect from any vendor although there will obviously be some variation in price from one outlet to another. Nobody could offer a Howard high for $80 I think; well, if someone can confirm that price please let me know and I just might try one.
Second Wombat. The Howard high D is meant as a
high end whistle, competitive with a Copeland,
and the price matches the ambition. It is extremely
well made and well finished.
The low D is meant as a good inexpensive low D,
and again the price matches the ambition.
As to lark–I think it’s getting a bit of a bad rap.
I don’t think they’re so greedy,
except maybe sometimes–generally the
difficulty is that they’re retailers trying to
move the merchandise, as opposed to
craftfolk who love musical instruments. Not such a bad
place to look for stuff if you know what
you’re doing. I visited their stores
in SF and Mendocino and liked them
well enough.
checked the wholesale catalog, the high Ds are $189, it was the Low D that wholesales for $81
Owning two Copelands and having played a Howard, I think not…
My first post. TA-DA!!!
I think I just bought that $150 whistle at Lark in the Morning in Seattle. I was told it was used and that’s why it was $150 instead of the published catalog price of $250. They couldn’t tell me anything about it’s history. It has “041.” stamped on the back.
I just started playing in May. I loved the sound of this, so I bought it. I’m having a terrible time with the sound being distorted by saliva, though. I’m also wondering how to learn to play the second octave consistently without harming the ears of innocent bystanders (listenstanders?)
I’m moving to beautiful downtown Cape Cod (Hyannis, that is) soon. Any great teachers for the new, passionate (my Husband says obsessed) whistler?
Thanks for your help! 
I bought a Howard low D about two years ago. I like the sound, but find that the second octave is difficult–b and c tend to break at times. I noticed that Howard is selling mouthpieces on the website. Does anyone think that one of the new ones will clear up this problem??
Welcome Morning Girl!!
Little John
Thaks for the welcome!
I have also noticed the b/c thing. I thought it was newbee me. Thanks for the info. I noticed there were no Howard’s listed when people were naming their best buddies on a different thread. Is that why?
About the price: I checked Brian Howard’s site (the price is in pounds) and the exchange rate. The $250 full price that Lark in the Morning showed me in their catalog is what it would cost me to order one directly.
I also saw on the site that there are what look to be plastic or composite fipples for sale with no shipping charged. They are listed under the low whistles only.
I’ve got a Howard low D in brass with a new mouthpiece. It definitely fixed the problems they had. It has a stronger sound on the low D note also. I liked enough to buy a new mouthpiece for my Howard low C. The low D in brass looks really nice, too. Kind of like a Generation on steroids. 
How much do Howard whistles cost? I’m assuming since there’s an individual maker for them, they run on the high end of things.
Actually, I believe that they are QUITE reasonable Ms. Corinthia.
I had just recently purchased a gold-tone Low D and it came to less than $100 delivered in US currency. As for the quality of the people, I must say that after a few communiques with Mrs. Howard, (They actually quickly answer their own E-mails!) I was thoroughly satisfied with the product, and service that they provide. They certainly stand behind their work, and are active listeners to consumer questions and concerns. (And as a newbie to the Low whistle arena, I had a few. But they are ever so patient…)
I will be doing business with them in the future.
If that helps your decision-making process, I’m glad to hear it. If you would like my opinions concerning specifics, please feel free to PM or E-mail me at any time. (That goes out to anyone interested in general.)
Kenneth
Brian’s high whistles are pricey, his lows are cheap (as just mentioned) and great value IMO. He’s aiming at different markets here, but his lows don’t sound cheap. I’ve never played one of his high high whistles but I love my low C. A bit of the Overton sound and nothing could sound a bit like an Overton and sound cheap.
lark in the morning only charges $199 for them on their website.
if you’re having trouble with the high B try venting it, use X0X XXX