Hi folks,
I’m fairly new to the community, and definitely new to the forums. If I found a brand new low d tinwhistle for $35 on Ebay, would I be absolutely nuts not to get it? I’m leaning strongly towards getting it, but maybe someone knows something that I don’t.
I’d appreciate any advice you could give…
Give us the link so we can look at it. Some low instruments are good, some are dogs. They’re kind of hard to learn on, though, since they’re so big.
Stuart
Sorry 'bout that. It’s at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=10183&item=931938196 .
This is not a good quality Low D whistle. It takes far too much breath to play comfortably and the tone is very thin. You’d be much better off getting a higher quality high d whistle with that money.
~Jessie
Jessie knows what in particular
that whistle is, but in any case
you will get what you pay for
and, in the case of a low D,
you would do better to save
your money. There are some
good low Ds for 80 bucks
and less, e.g. the Dixon.
The Kerry, which I like, is
about 64. Best
I agree that it’s probably not a terrific whistle, but at that price, you might want to give it a try anyway. You could probably re-auction it for nearly what you paid for it.
You could blow into a shower curtain rod and have similar results.
Edit: added the word “rod” for clarity.
[ This Message was edited by: JessieK on 2002-12-26 14:38 ]
“These are not the whistles you’re looking for… move along”.
Chris
Plus, these guys are also selling the infamous Pakistani “Irish flutes”… if that’s any indicator of their standard for quality then you ought to steer as far away as possible.
Chris
On 2002-12-25 19:19, JessieK wrote:
This is not a good quality Low D whistle. It takes far too much breath to play comfortably and the tone is very thin. You’d be much better off getting a higher quality high d whistle with that money.~Jessie
I’m going to agree (mostly) with Jessie here. I bought one of these to play with when learning about making low whistles. The one I bought does not have high air requirements, and the actual sound was, if not great, at least acceptable (to me). However, as with all cheapies, YMMV on both counts, as Jessie’s evidently did.
All that said, my primary beef was that it was out of tune, even with itself, on a couple of notes. Badly out of tune.
In this case, the observation that “you get what you pay for” is less than correct. I got a whistle I cannot play with previously recorded music, nor with any other in-tune instrument save perhaps a drum. I did, however, get a very good lesson in how not to make a low-D whistle.
Caveat emptor, dude.
serpent
Oh. And since I wouldn’t wish the piece of crap off on anyone else, it now has a place of honor on my wall next to a couple of other broken instruments suitable only for scrap or musically-decorative, but unusable, wall-hangings. 
serpent
On 2002-12-26 10:10, JessieK wrote:
You could blow into a shower curtain and have similar results.
On 2002-12-26 10:10, JessieK wrote:
You could blow into a shower curtain and have similar results.
Playing ‘Singin’in the rain’ no doubt! Seriously though,add some more cash to your $35,and get a Dixon,or something by a reputable maker-you won’t be sorry that you did!
You could also get adventurous, and use the following very good article to build yourself one!
http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/low-d.htm
But instead of using the calcs there to place the holes, use the flutomat here:
http://www.cwo.com/~ph_kosel/flutomat.html
once you’ve got the tube cut to length and the bell note in tune. Since the flutomat is designed for flutes, email me and I’ll tell you how to use it to set up the holes on your new whistle you’ve made! 
Happy New Year!
serpent
Oh my gosh! You folks are GREAT!! Thank you so much! I think I’m going to like it here! …
Wow, Serpent! Make my own low d? I must admit, I’ve thought about it. I think I’ll do it. Thanks!! I’ll be e-mailing you soon.
Also, to everyone else who posted, thanks VERY much. I’m looking at a Dixon (or was it a Kerry? hmmm) that runs about $64. That would be a nice starter, I think.
Much thanks for some excellent feedback. … and for making this newbie feel so welcome!
Merry Christmas, folks!
LittleJohnGael
If you want a good starting whistle in low D (so I hear) pick up a clarke original. They’re not overly expensive, and some people realy enjoy the tone. You should come on the C&F chat sometime when either Serpent or I or Both of us are on, and we would be happy to give you hints and pointers on how to make your own low D. We’ll also give you some pointers on thisngs you should not do, or in any case a few different ideas on how to go about making one. If you’d like to see a picture of a Home made Copper Low D then here’s a link, http://personal.buildpage.com/awenwoodwi/page3.html I believe this whistle cost me less than $4 for material, build time took a while, a good stash of usable tools and a very accurate electronic tuner would be good. You should probably be able to pick up and electronic guitar tuner with all 8 notes for around $30. The 6 note ones should be avoided since they don’t have C natural on them. I just looked at the ebay whistle and as a whistle maker 1" bore is a little overkill for a low D especially in brass. It’s a nice looking whistle, but looks can be misleading.
here’s a wee correction concerning the last post. Clarke doesn’t make any lowDs, only standard D and C.
Best, Amar.