As a longtime fiddle player (Celtic {mostly Irish} and Scandinavian {mostly Swedish}) I have recently bought my first (and what I fear will be a long line of) whistles: a Generation F and a Tony Dixon High D. I am pretty certain that I will develop a serious case of WhOA…especially when an “expensive” whistle is cheaper than…just about everything on a fiddle!
Lordy but this is fun! I can’t believe how much you can do with it! There is a tremendous depth to the instrument and the modulation of notes and different tone textures are really nice. I got the Generation as a “What the heck?” kind of purchase and am certain it’s one of the best $10 that I’ve spent.
I then got my Tony Dixon whistle upon the recommendation of Blayne Chastain of the Whistle and Drum (really nice, friendly guy, check out his website at http://www.whistleanddrum.com) and I think that I understand the difference between the “cheap” and the “expensive” sounds, both nice, both different. I will say that a cheap fiddle sounds like crap (unless it sounds like an expensive one) and an expensive one sounds great (unless it sounds like a cheap one).
One question: I have a heckuva time getting the high C# to play on my Dixon…once in a blue moon I can hit it but then it’s almost exclusively when I am approaching it from the B below or the D above. I can nail it on my Generation…Newbie incompetence or problem with the Dixon?
Thanks for your help (feel free to direct any fiddle questions my way) and I’ll be back!
Welcome Paul-- you are in for a TON of fun with your new instrument!
I have a Dixon too, and have found the highest notes pretty tough ( I can’t even get up to the high C# at all). I’ve tried a bit of tweaking etc, and have finally given it up as a quirk of the particular whistle I have. The low to middle notes are quite nice though.
Get a couple of other “cheapie” whistles too, for comparison. Each has it’s good and bad points. Hold off on buying a high end whistle until you are a pretty good , solid player, and have a better idea of what you are really looking for in that “ultimate” whistle.
Is your Dixon a tunable (2-piece) model? If it is, try pulling the two pieces apart about 1/4" from the completely closed position.
Welcome to C&F. Pay no attention to the voices telling you to buy more and more whistles, once you have the full sets of Dixons and Generations, an Overton or two, a Sindt, two Burkes, a Busman, a Water Weasel, 3 Abells and an O’Riordan on order.
And a Serpent, a Bleazy, a Hoover Whitecap, a Larson tweaked Clarke, Feadogs Mark I, II and III…
Welcome to the wonderful world of whistles. A note of caution..not all expensive whistles are better than the inexpensive…My $10 Oak will outplay several of the expensives I’ve had,and have. Also,my faithful tweaked Walton D has better sound than many of them too…beware…
Paul, you have now fallen under the spell of the whistle. You will be even more amazed at how much you can do with one. And, you will find that expensive is not always better. This is one of the many attractions of the whistle…welcome from one victim to another. Your life will never be the same.
“Welcome Paul-- you are in for a TON of fun with your new instrument!”
Thanks and no doubt! I am trying to get to that point where I am no longer aware of the fact that I am playing an instrument, when I pick up my fiddle it just kind of melts into me and is an extension of me…if that makes any sense. There is something really organic about the whistle too.
“I have a Dixon too, and have found the highest notes pretty tough ( I can’t even get up to the high C# at all). I’ve tried a bit of tweaking etc, and have finally given it up as a quirk of the particular whistle I have. The low to middle notes are quite nice though.”
Yes, the mid octave and a half is really nice, for some reason when I get up to the high A the whistle just loses a lot of overtones and sounds a bit shrill…it’s kind of weird, there is a pretty big change in timbre and the volume seems to jump too. But from about the low B on up it sounds great! Funny that the two lowest notes and the three highest notes are the weakest…
“Get a couple of other “cheapie” whistles too, for comparison. Each has it’s good and bad points. Hold off on buying a high end whistle until you are a pretty good , solid player, and have a better idea of what you are really looking for in that “ultimate” whistle.”
I am afraid that I am going to go and buy a bunch of nice whistles and then figure out what I like!!! Right now a Sindt and a Burke are talking to me…uh oh.
On the cheapie end (maybe I can force this developing case of WhOA into something more benign?), what do you think of this old Clarke:
“Paul, you have now fallen under the spell of the whistle. You will be even more amazed at how much you can do with one. And, you will find that expensive is not always better. This is one of the many attractions of the whistle…welcome from one victim to another. Your life will never be the same.”
‘’‘Expensive is not always better?’‘’ Ahh, sweet solace…this WhOA thing could be fun (and not too painful?)!
“Welcome to the wonderful world of whistles. A note of caution..not all expensive whistles are better than the inexpensive…My $10 Oak will outplay several of the expensives I’ve had,and have. Also,my faithful tweaked Walton D has better sound than many of them too…beware…”
OK, question: Is it better to go and buy a bunch of low-priced whistles, hoping to find that diamond in the rough, or to simply go and buy a Sindt, knowing that it will have the attributes of that a really nifty low-ender, plus a quality of construction and durability not found in the cheapazoids?
There is a tremendous depth to the instrument and the modulation of notes and different tone textures are really nice. I got the Generation as a “What the heck?” kind of purchase and am certain it’s one of the best $10 that I’ve spent.
Have fun!
Nubby 
Right now a Sindt and a Burke are talking to me…uh oh.