So if you have been following my struggles with the Irish whistle, you can skip the next couple paragraphs.
I’ve been struggling to learn the Irish whistle for about a month now and am VERY fed up with the size of the Feadog High D I purchased (6’8, fat, big hands (could palm a Basketball at 14)) and loved the sound of the Low D. So after posting here, looking at the advice, and about 8 hours time searching youtube/google for the sound of the pipe I liked, I became sensible and decided to hold purchase on a $300 Overton until I learned if the Low D was for me.
I decided to make a PVC pipe with a wooden fipple. How hard could it be? After 7 attempts, numerous cuts, and more PVC inhaled than is probably humanly safe, I finally had a pipe I figured sounded decent. At the same time I found a un-named Low D pipe on ebay for ~$50, and purchased it. It arrived today:
The manufacturer is “Mid-East: Makers of Ethnic Musical Instruments.” The pipe tastes like copper, though it has been finished in Nickel. It looks machine made with a noticeable seam running down the side (I should be able to polish it out, then re-nickel the pipe if needed (or maybe silver) with a simple Silver-laced electrified cyanide bath). It has a virtually identical mouth piece to the modern Chieftain.
The sound is breathier than almost anything I’ve heard (similar breathiness to the Overton Low G (If you’ve heard that)) though it has a rich sound. Volume on this pipe is relatively high, ~45-55 decibels with a normal blow, though I can peak it significantly higher without loss of sound quality. I do not have a cent meter, so I’m not sure how accurate it is, though to my untrained ear it sounds very similar to the Overton’s I’ve heard (yay Youtube!)
The bottom of the pipe has a decorative ring around it and above the B hole (top hole, I believe) “DD” has been etched with a manufacturer stamp above that.
In general, I’m very pleased with the pipe. I’ll try to load a soundclip if I can… though y’all need to promise not to laugh at my atrocious playing (damn smoking and it’s ruination of my ability to breathe)
I had one of those once and found it’s tuning to be atrocious. You may have a rare gem that came off the assembly line actually behaving like a decent whistle. Still, I implore you to invest in a more “proper” low whistle once you’ve gotten the hang of things.
Well throw in my knowlege sometimes just trying to get the hang of a whistle is barley worth the pain that a out of tune one causes. Like with anything a quality instrument often makes the learning curve easier.
And I play and am fluent in with about 3 instruments besides my whistle hobby, my past experience is the better the quality you can get your hands on the easier and more you will learn. When I was younger I lacked money and had to play cheap stuff and glad I did or I never would have become the musician I am today. But it made for a rocky road.
I played one of those in a store last year, when I was shopping around for a low D. The tuning was bad, but perhaps worse for me as a learner was the fact that the whistle didn’t seem to allow much latitude in its expressive potential. Other whistles have had much more to teach me about the possibilites of the instrument. YMMV.
I owned a couple of these for awhile (10 years ago?) in different keys. Not too bad for the price, but for the aforementioned tuning issues. My recollection is that the internal tuning was passable, but the absolute pitch was, uh, absolutely off by a mile.
As of now, my only low D is from Mid-East. I was very surprised with the quality when I played it. Mine seems to play wonderfully, but since it’s the only low D I have ever played, maybe I’m wrong.
Biggie, it is entirely possible to throw away $300 on cheapies that don’t work
and give up too early. My advise is to go ahead and buy a decent Low D that
will hold most of its resale value. A $300 Overton can frequently be sold for at
least $250 if you decide it isn’t for you, and you’re only out $50. You can’t get
a very good Low D for $50.
