Howdy folks, I’m considering a Chieftain Low D.
I was talking with a shop owner yesterday, and his opinion(he seems quite knowlegeable) concerning these types, is that because they are so apt to be out of tune due to temperature, he would not even consider a high end whistle like this that is NOT tuneable.
I was assuming that you could simply warm it up with your hands before playing…
I was originally NOT going to buy a tuneable Chieftain.
Opinions?
ps. I live in Maine, and will certainly encounter less than cozy temperature situations.
The shop owner’s right…being all-aluminum, it takes a lot of extra work keeping it warm. It’s better to spend the extra few bucks and get the tunable option.
As someone who plays Phil’s whistles a lot in studio situations where tuning is everything(!), and also having stood in his workshop watching him make and tune them, I would say that they are pretty much bang in tune (after a minute’s blowing down them to warm them up). I have tuneable and non-tuneable versions of all his stuff, high and low and, to be honest, the tuneability has rarely made much difference. To me, it’s the sound that matters and I would play a non-tuneable Chieftain (as opposed to a Kerry Pro, Songbird, etc., etc.) if it’s right for the occasion. It is, after all, the job of the player to play in tune on any instrument, and I’ve never had any trouble doing that on Phil’s ones.
There is a thread down farther on the whistle forum entitled “tricks for warming whistles?” with some great ideas. I have a couple Chieftains and I needed some suggestions. Check it out.
Pat
it’s true that the new range cheiftain is much easier to warm than the old style…I have run into a few situations where I was directly under an AC vent for instance, and had to take extra measures to ensure I wasn’t flat to everyone around me. Woulda just been easier if I had a tunable whistle.
Sure, it’s always more convenient having a tunable whistle, if you want to play along with other people, or a recording (not every recording artist plays in tune to the tuner).
Slowdowner software will let you change the pitch allowing you to use a non-tunable whistle, that isn’t in sync with a recording, however. Some other musician’s instruments can also be easily be tuned to your non-tunable whistle if necessary (guitar, fiddle, banjo, cittern). Of course, large sessions excepted.
The other thing that I’ve found is that a lot of times, the non-tunable low whistle will be more responsive than the tunable version, simply because it doesn’t have the added mass of the tuning mechanism.
Some low whistles I’ve had have been in tune when cold (O Briain Low Eb comes to mind), but most require some warm up (I like to keep mine under my arm, or as Wanderer suggested sometimes under a leg when sitting).
Being a primarily Chieftain player, I agree with much which has been stated in this thread regarding tunable vs. non. I have found that being tunable is really only an advantage when playing with a group of musicians other than that I have found that one doesn’t out weigh another.
\One good thing about having a tunable Chieftain is that next years we are going into making bodies of deleted keys to use on your excisting tunable ,ie Bnat body for a Bb mezzo tunable,E & Eb for a tnor low D tunable.
It will save money and create more whistle keys.
Stay tuned.
Phil.
ps,the tenor E & Eb bodies are ready now and will go on sale in the next 2 weeks and the site.
