My dixon trad finally arrived ... I think I am blowing wrong

Whistle
1

Hi, I have been waiting for the trad for weeks now. It finally came :thumbsup:
It doesn’t sound right to me.
I have much less trouble with the generation but still have problems with the D on the generation. I know the generation is on pitch as I compared the notes to my organ and they are dead on.

The Trad sounds off to me on the F#, D and E … and the G goes way up in pitch sometimes even with the same air flow.
I have tried blowing more air in and less and it goes all over the place sometimes no matter what I do.. more air seems to be worse.
I assume I am not blowing correctly. Or is there a way to adjust the fipple on the Trad?
Is the trad just alot more sensitive to air?

2

Any chance you can post a sound clip of you playing a scale, and maybe a simple tune? Might help to diagnose the problem.

3

I think I may have been forcing too much air though it. If I go really softly I get a scale.

As a rule do the whistles require low steady air with very little “push or force” ?

I used to have a mic around here, I’ll have to search for it. Sounds easy until you see my pile of electronic junk :open_mouth:

Bear with me please.. I am still new to this :boggle: so I hope nobody minds the odd questions.

4

Sure, that’s right. Slow and steady, don’t force it. More like a whisper than blowing up a balloon. And less as you go further down.

5

Thank you.

6

The Trade is definitely tunable. However, the last one I got had a loose fit and would slide all the way down the barrel, making it sharp. A small piece of tape on the barrel made it snug enough to keep the head from sliding.

7

Definitely true of the Dixon Trad. It requires very little breath in the first octave. Lovely sound though.