Low D for Small Hands Question(yes, another.......)

Whistle
1

I hesitate to ask this question as I know from persuing the extensive archives :astonished: that it has been asked in various forms before, but some of the answers are dated and others are confusing…so I figured I’d risk the wrath of some here and ask it again. I am considering a Low D whistle in the future- and am wondering which I would be able to actually finger. I have your basic female sized hands(I guess)- from the outer edge of my index finger to the outer edge of my ring finger I can handle a spread of 8.5 cm without undue strain. My fingers are on the slim side and very flexible with no issues. I am comfortable with a pipers grip as I can play a bagpipe chanter.

I realize that one often gives up tone etc if holes are placed closer together but also that if I can’t finger the holes it won’t matter how good the whistle would sound if I can’t play it, so am aware that the laws of physics will dictate some sacrifice here.

So if you have real personal experience here- from playing one yourself, know someone with smaller hands who plays one, makes whistles, reviews whistles-basically real on-the-ground knowledge, I’d appreciate your weighing in here. Thanks-

2

The Sweetheart Resonance Low D is easy to finger. My wife can do it, and she is missing the tip of her right ring finger! :open_mouth:

3

thanks for the tip BP- went back to the C&F archives for that instrument and found 77 hits! So I looked at all of them and that does seem like a solid recomendation in all respects but one for me, that being the cost(sigh). But on the other hand it won’t matter how cheap a whistle is if I can’t finger it…

But this will give me some good guidance and seeing as how whistles come up for sale here on the board, a good deal could present itself in the future.

4

Holding my ring and index fingers 8.5 cm apart, I was easily able to reach the bottom three and top three holes of a Chieftain, an Overton and one of my one whistles, using piper’s grip.

5

i don’t find my dixon low d all that bad and i have small to medium hands

6

The Burke low D Viper Pro measures 8.6 cm from top edge hole 4 to bottom edge hole 6. And you can rotate the bottom section with hole 6, to adjust for what is most comfortable. This is really very useful! I have it offset and can close the holes with the finger pads, but I have big hands. The spread for holes 1 to 3 is similar. For me it is more comfortable to play than an Overton low D, but probably mainly because on the Overton I need to use piper’s grip, and I am not used to it.

~Hans

7

I am putting up my Bleazey for sale on ebay, that has been the easiest low whistle on my hands, even a child can play it.

8

and a tip for reaching the lowest hole; you can always use your little finger to cover B3 if it’s too much of a stretch for your third finger.

9

Hi Anita,
I’ll answer your last e-mail here as well as addressing your Q in this thread…

I’ve just measured my own Low D Whistle - the one used on some of my YouTube clips - and the span of the L hand toneholes from top edge of 1 to the bottom edge of 3 is exactly 90mm - and if you play with either a pipers’ type hold or an adaptation of classical flute L hand hold that should not be uncomfoprtably beyond you. The R hand spread, top edge of hole 4 to bottom edge of hole 6 is exactly (as chance would have it!) 85mm. Now OK, my whislte is not a production available model, and indeed the body tube is one I made myself, but it is well within the normal range of hole distribution. I play it with a semi-pipers’ hold for the R hand for reasons of wrist comfort (angle of approach), not finger span.

As for Tipple flutes, the sample one Doug sent me to do his demo recordings on and with which I am now experimenting (When I have time to get back to it) with different embouchure cuts is, I believe, his standard production model. I think you must have misunderstood his website: the measurement (on same format as above) for holes 1-3 is 83mm and for holes 4-6 is a mere 78mm. I don’t think you would have any real difficulty!

Bottom line, though, is talk to your maker if buying bespoke, and if buying off the shelf, don’t unless you can try it! If buying second hand here or on eBay etc. you can always ask for measurements.

10

thanks all for the info- sounds like there may be several possibilities out there that could work which is fantastic. Choice is good… now just need money…

Jem- I don’t know how you got those #'s from Doug’s site- I added up the #'s for each hand and that was how I came up with those totals but will take another look. :boggle:

11

I didn’t: I measured an actual flute in my possession - sorry thought I’d made that clear! So far as I know the one he sent me is his normal design so ought to be pretty representative of his output - you would have to ask him for variations. I haven’t looked at his website recently, let alone tried to do any working out from the info there…