Hello All,
I’m new here & am looking for a descent whistle for under $100. I’ve played the cheapies and they are fine for some things, but I’m wanting to play a little more seriously and am looking for something with a little better intonation & hopefully tone than those. I know extremely little about various brands. What brands should I be looking for?
Thanks in advance!
Maggie
Perhaps you should be a bit more specific. What is ‘a bit more serious’? What type(s) of music are you planning to play, what is the tone you’re looking for, perhaps what experience you have playing music/the whistle. This will help a lot getting you a more specific answer to your question.
Seconding Mr. Gumby. Also might want to let us know which “cheapies” you tried already so we’ve got a reference point.
Welcome to the whistle forum.
If $100.00 is your top price there are several whistles that could fit your playing preferences. Maybe a location would help with finding something near you, or just browse the internet sales sites.
Have fun with your whistling.
Thanks for responding! I wasn’t getting notifications for some reason, and I’ve been so busy I didn’t check back until now. I’m a flute player and play old-time/Appalachian/Irish/Scottish tunes. I’ve got a masters in flute, so am capable, but have less experience in whistle performance practice. I can play any tune I want on the whistle, but am looking to get better Irish/Scottish technique and to play more in tune. I’ve played Generation and Oak whistles. Sorry I didn’t give enough information. Thanks!
Oh… I’m in WV, US. Not much here. I have to order online. Thanks.
To the best of my knowledge, there’s no individual notification for answered posts; you have to log in and follow up on your own material. You can be notified of private messages, though, if you choose.
What kind of flute do you play? Boehm? Modern, simple system? 18th century one key?
Generation in general seems to have a reasonably good reputation: I believe it is Mary Bergin that plays on a Gen, so the brand itself is not necessarily at issue when it comes to quality or intonation! But for all that, you could have a dud, which might explain some intonation problems, particularly given your experience. Fortunately, they’re cheap enough that you could buy a number of them to try.
I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the rudiments & general technic aren’t your issue: rather it seems that what you’re looking for is simply taking the time to learn your particular whistle – figure out exactly what fingering & amount of breath will be required to get the precise note you want to hear, how it responds to you and so forth. Perhaps perform some gently tweaking. You know, forging a relationship between you and your instrument.
That at least is something I don’t think you can really get just by shopping or just by buying a whistle of a particular dollar level.
Click on ‘Notify me when a reply is posted’ whenever you post a message on the board(before hitting ‘submit’), and the forum will automatically email you when there is another post made.
Those whistles should be perfectly fine to play good Irish/Scottish music. “I want to play in tune” is a quite an ambiguous statement. Some whistles have better tuning, but whistles in general do not have a tempered scale. Not every note will be in-tune to certain instruments like piano. Some of that can be overcome with breath control. As long as the whistle tunes to A=440 and is in tune with itself, you won’t get much better.
I’ve never regretted my TJ Potter D for a good cheap starter. His website is inconsistently reachable, but he does sales by email as well.
Oops. Well, that’s embarrassing. But thanks for pointing it out. I’ve seen it a million times but since it never occurred to me to use it, it didn’t register. I should try it sometime.
If you are in the US, you can get Chuck Tilbury whistles for $75, and those are my favorites so far, or you can get Jerry Freeman Tweaked Generations, and some sites carry Tony Dixon whistles. For more even tuning, polymer whistles such as Susato tend to be more accurate, though they don’t sound as “whistle-like” as some of the others. I’ll list some sites I hit:
http://www.whistlemaker.com (Chuck Tilbury)
http://www.harpanddragon.com (best prices for Tony Dixon)
http://stores.ebay.com/freemanwhistles
Of my cheapies, I tend to favor my Oak or Feadog Pro if I just want to take it out of the house and not really be concerned about it. Both of those are “tunable” in that you can move the mouth piece up and down on the body in order to bring the notes into pitch.
Oak and generation? Try this.
http://www.killarneywhistle.com/
Oh, nice. Didn’t know the Killarney whistle was under US$100, but the exchange rate is good. I’ve read that these are a bit heavier, though.
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Heavier = more durable. Thicker tubing, solid head construction etc. Nothing wrong with that. I have arthritis and have zero problems playing my Killarney. In fact, the cheaper whistles feel like toys in comparison.
Thanks for all the info! It’s obvious I was making some assumptions and not asking all the right questions.
I’m a modern, Boehm system flute player, but dabble in Irish and Baroque flute.
I found the subscribe button. 
I also found my Feadog whistle that had been missing for several months. It’s definitely better than my Generation as far as intonation and balanced tone goes. When I say, “in tune”, I don’t mean exact, equal temperament pitches. I mean pitches that are close enough to sounding relatively in tune that I don’t have to blow LOTS harder or LOTS softer to get different pitches in an acceptable intonation range.
My assumption: I was working on the assumption that, like recorders and flutes, there are levels of quality in whistles. An Abel whistle can cost over $600. Why would anyone pay that unless there was something better about it? I just tried a whistle I ordered online for $40. I won’t share the maker because I don’t want to bash anyone without knowing fully what I’m talking about, but anything above the second octave A is difficult to sound without blowing my brains out, and the lower octave is way far out of tune with itself. I prefer my Feadog, so won’t be keeping the one I just got.
What I want: As good intonation as possible, and a tone in which the upper octave doesn’t need to be crazy loud to sound. My Feadog definitely fits the bill with the second quality, and is not bad in the first. I’ve got a Susato bass D which I like quite a bit, although it’s a tad “airy”. Perhaps I should try a Susato D. Someone mentioned a Feadog Pro? What’s the difference between the Feadog regular and the pro? Maybe I’m wanting something that doesn’t exist for under a few hundred. Still…why would Feadog sell a “pro” model if it wasn’t supposedly better in some way than the regular model?
Please forgive me if some of this sounds ignorant. That’s why I’m here, and I very much appreciate the responses.
A couple more things…
I’ll check out those links, and may get to go to Dublin this summer. If so, I can actually TRY out some whistles!!! Where I live, I have to order anything I want to try. Perhaps it’s worth a drive someplace that has a selection of whistles…?
Also, when I say “technique”, I’m talking about stylistic things, like ornaments, trills, etc.
I saw that Kilarney whistle online! I almost ordered it! …should have. I know it would be better than the one I got. Sticking with my Feadog until I find something better. I’ll keep looking into all these links, though. I’ll write the Killarney peeps, specifically. Maybe they will let me try one with the ability to return it if it isn’t what I’m looking for. If they’re in Dublin, I can just get one there. 
I was working on the assumption that, like recorders and flutes, there are levels of quality in whistles.
Well, yes, to an extend there is. Price is not an indicator though.
As good intonation as possible, and a tone in which the upper octave doesn’t need to be crazy loud to sound.
To an extend, you’re the driver. Playing in tune is part of your job description
. Perhaps I should try a Susato D.
If you don’t want a crazy loud second octave as you put it, this is not the one for you.
Someone mentioned a Feadog Pro? What’s the difference between the Feadog regular and the pro? Maybe I’m wanting something that doesn’t exist for under a few hundred.
There is no discernible difference.
Still…why would Feadog sell a “pro” model if it wasn’t supposedly better in some way than the regular model?
Good question. But your guess is as good as anybody else’s.
Really, if you like your Feadóg, do yourself a favour and get the Killarney. It’s well balanced and easy to play and it is made by people who can actually play, which makes all the difference.