I purchased what purported to be a Chieftan Nontunable Low D in a small shop on the England-Scotland Border (it sure looks like the picture Dale has on the site), and am having huge problems with it.
I adore the way it sounds (fantastic sound) but I cannot for the life of me play it in tune - it seems to be almost an entire half tone flat when I play it against a piano. As it warms up, things improve, but never to anywhere where it’s comfortable to play. This is the only low D I have problems of this magnitude with; I’d take it back, but I was on holiday at the time and am now back in the USA.
I’m not saying anything bad about Chieftans (please note!) but this particular whistle is truly giving me a hard time. I am not actually sure that it is a Chieftan, as I have heard such good things about them. I don’t have anyone down here in So. Fla. to compare it with to make sure.
I have a couple of questions:
- Is there any way to actually tell if it is a Chieftan Low D or not definitively
- Any suggestions as to what to do with it? I can’t play it, I refuse to sell it to someone if I think it’s not in tune as that would be wrong (caveat emptor only goes so far). I’m tempted to hack saw it in half and make it tunable, but that seems sort of drastic. Sadly, it’s just an ornament right now though.
- Is there anything I could be doing technique-wise which would be causing it to be so flat? Note, as I say, that this is the only whistle I own that I have this problem with.
Any ideas? Heeeeeeelp!
Richard