hi everyone, i bought a walton’s d and a “step one” book, it’s been quite ok, for a month or so.
last week i tried “dargason” and i find myself quite comfortable… but when i tried “sheebeg sheemore”, i ended up frustrated with this hideous breathy sound when i try an E on the second octave… they sound awefull.
since i have no musical training whatsoever, i’d like to know if any of you encountered similar “uncomfortabilities” on their walton’s
ps: btw, i think i tried to hard, my right ear hurts damn tune
i have, well, at least in the past. the case depends on the whistle you have. Generation whistles, being the most popular for being inconsistent in the production of their mouthpieces, the same thing also happens to other makers like Waltons but only minimal. as i’ve said, i have experienced this before. i have 2 waltons whistles that sounded ok on the lower octave but breathy on the second esp. on D and E. on one of them, i couldn’t even hit A on the second octave. talk about bad mouthpiece. but the other waltons i have sounds great, so i believe it is definitely a mouthpiece problem, if not, it could be your playing! hahaha, peace! don’t take it too hard… just spend more time with it and see if you could work it out, if not, i suggest you get another whistle 'coz i believe that it’s hard to progress on a bad whistle and might make you very frustrated.
The most likely problem there is that you have a low end whistle. Despite the rumor that nice low end whistles exist, I have never encountered one. If I were you I would spend a bit more and get either a Jerry Freeman tweaked whistle or a Tony Dixon polymer whistle. Both go for $40 or under. I see that you’re in Uruguay, so I don’t know whats available down there, but you should be able to get one online.
As it turns out, the only truly unplayable whistle I have found is a Waltons D. (Not a Mellow D.) It was an impulse buy at a Celtic fair and relatively cheap. I should have taken it back and demanded my money. It’s that bad.
The lower octave is so-so, but the high notes are scratchy and way out of tune. If you have one of these monsters, don’t waste your time. Since several other people here have reviewed Waltons favorably, I imagine this is not common, but I haven’t been willing to try another.
My Walton’s brass D is perfectly OK, if unremarkable. But when I got it, there were large pieces of extra plastic material inside the mouthpiece - defective manufacture - which made the whistle unplayable. Careful removal of those extra pieces with a small knife restored the whistle to its proper playing condition. The tone is a bit breathy, and both registers play easily and evenly.
So check your mouthpiece, and perform a bit of surgery if necessary.
I should have recommended that. Like many people, I have needed to trim plastic flash from Generation tops and do other minor cleanup work. My Waltons D had some plastic debris inside too, but cleaning it out didn’t help much.
Sorry, but I was just venting. I should have been focused on helping with your problem.
It depends on what kind of Waltons you mean,-the Mellow-D or any of the other one’s. My experience with the Waltons Mellow-D’s is that they’re surprisingly good even before tweaking.
Is the problem just that one note? How are other high notes? Will your whistle play up to high B cleanly?
Some whistles just don’t like high notes, which can often be fixed by a simple reversible tweak. I’ll post more on that if you need it. Sometimes, however, such whistles can miraculously fix themselves one fine day, particularly after you’ve accumulated a bit more whistling experience.
And then I have a whistle that’s just very picky about how I blow high E, only high E… well, no, it also requires second octave D to be vented…
I find that each of my cheap whistles has a personality, some more pleasant, others needing tweaking. They all just differ.
If you wanted to try a pretty reliable whistle but not spend much money, I’d recommend a Dixon Trad.
I own a hand-made expensive whistle that refuses to play high G, A and B cleanly. Soapy water in the windway helps a bit, and nursing those notes when you play them also helps,-but it’s still a problematic whistle regarding those top three second octave notes.
I hear from others that this is a characteristic behaviour with these whistles.
On the other hand, a cheap Waltons Mellow D straight out of the box plays these notes with no problems, and so does the Clarke Original D.
I’ve started to like the Waltons and the Clarke more and more lately.
I have a Walton’s C that was virtually unplayable when I got it. Seriously, not a “whistle snob” thing, it really just wouldn’t play about half the notes without some serious breath changes. And to play tunes with any kind of speed, forget it - it was awful.
I posted on the forum and got a reply or PM from Tommy with some recommendations for cleaning it up, and even an offer to tweak it for me. I spent about 45 minutes cleaning the windway.
It made it better, but I still can’t really play it. It has a nice, flutey tone that I like pretty well, but it’s so unpredictable I just hardly touch the thing.
I’d say get another whistle. Also, I personally HAVE found some cheapies that play well enough. Feadóg is pretty consistent from what I hear, and mine is just fine. Sweetones are also pretty consistent I believe, but some don’t like the tone. My Oaks are also nice, but they require a little better breath control. Of these, the Sweetone was the easiest to play when I started.
If you can afford it and are willing, by all means spend a little more. Jerry Freeman’s Mellow Dog is a great whistle, and I doubt you’ll find anyone recommend against it. Mine is probably my favorite whistle. If you get one, spend the extra $5 and add the C body.
I also have seen several positive comments on the Dixon Trad. I don’t have one so can’t comment on playability, but they’re around $25.
My first whistle was a waltons, and after a few weeks i began to notice that it really sounded horrible, especially the higher the notes got, with the a and b of the second octave being really scratchy. The upper octave for me became basically unplayable, so I got another whistle and basically put the waltons down for about 6 months or so. I was a bit sad to do this, as i really liked the tone of the lower octave.
After about six months i decided to try the old waltons out again. For some reason, most of the problems i had with it were gone. It still had a little bit of the old scratchy upper octave, but not nearly as much as before, and with a little focused breath control the whistle became playable again. I did a blue putty tweak to it myself (there is a guide to doing that somewhere on the main page of Chiff and Fipple i think) and tried it. It sounded pretty good, almost all of the previous problems gone.
Now it’s basically my leave at work whistle that i play during lunch. No, it doesnt sound as good to me as my dixon trad, no where near as nice as my Sindt, but it sounds pretty good, good enough to leave at work and play during down time, which is about an hour per day for me. Strange thing, the more i play it, the less I notice any of the old problems any more.
After you’ve followed all the suggestions above on cleaning the mouthpiece, try this. Upper octave notes sound better when the air is moving faster. Not necessairly more air, just air moving faster. When you play the upper octave, purse your lips a little, like you are whistling, and think about making the air move faster. Experiment with it until you get the hang of it. It won’t change the character of the whistle but it will improve the sound noticebly.
now, particularly 2nd E is quite terrible. 2nd C is almost impossible, then again, thats gotta be my playing for sure jeje
since getting whistles online need an extra $40 for shipping i’ve been extra careful trying to select my next whistle. i think in a couple of months i’ll be ready for a new purchase. (im actually excited about getting more whistles… yes, i need more whistles)
so, thanks to all about the tips and comments, thanx for the warm welcome!
ps: now, that about stop playng for a while and coming back later just to find the whistle sounds better… would it be possible that we all tend to lose our hearing abilities due to terrible high Es? my right ear still hurt from last night jaja
My Walton’s (non-mellow) D is probably my favorite cheapy - and I own Clarkes, Clares, Feadogs, Oaks, Acorns and Generations. It plays fairly clean and not breathy. You could just have a bad one.
well… if i keep yhe goods under usd100 shipping is around 35-40usd.
i guess there arent cheap whistles for me jeje anyway… im planing on getting 3 or 4 more whistles (cheap ones) or getting 1 cheap and 1 middle… like 40 or 50…
so, up to now, after all the tips and suggestions i might get a dixon or a freeman, and an oak next month
ps: im planning to get more and give’em away to friends jeje i’ll help the whistle to take over this place!
If postage to Uraguay is fairly dependable, I can send one or two whistles airmail letter post for US$4.60 (plus the cost of the whistle, of course). If one package gets lost in the mail, I’ll send another. If two get lost in the mail, we’re stuck. I had two whistles to Brazil (the originial whistle and the replacement) both get lost in the mail. That customer accused me of trying to cheat him. I gave him double his money back to keep him from posting negative feedback on eBay. Then another gentleman in Brazil wanted to buy a whistle, so I offered the same deal I’m offering here (I’ll replace one lost package). That whistle arrived safe and sound. Brazil’s the only country I’ve had this problem with, but as far as I can remember, I’ve never sent a whistle to Uraguay, so I don’t know what to expect.
The world champion whistle smashing postal system, btw, is Canada. They arrive, but sometimes they look like they’ve been smashed in a car door.
I’ve had two shipments getting lost in the mail a couple of times too, and you get pretty nervous when sending off the third whistle. But those are things we just need to do. Better a happy customer than a unhappy one.
I’ve had a couple of whistles getting crunched when sending them to the US, but the crunch-percentage is low compared to all I’ve sendt. 95% of them has arrived on time and in good shape.
I’ll watch out for Canada though
jeje anyway… im planing on getting 3 or 4 more whistles (cheap ones) or getting 1 cheap and 1 middle… like 40 or 50…
