Hi! I’m going to get a Overton Low D here pretty soon and I was wondering is the tunable Overton Low d worth getting and tell me some facts about and how you take care of them or tell me if there is a better Low D out there. Thankss
They’re considered very good, I like the Copeland
better but it’s a matter of taste. I also like
the chieftain, which is rougher. I’m one of the
minority who doesn’t find tuning slides
helpful on low Ds.
I agree with Jim about the Copeland. It is also my favorite of the two, but it is a matter of preference. They both certainly are great whistles and each have their own merits. The Overton is more wistful, breathy in tone. It requires more air and you have to push a bit for the upper register. I really like the Overton for airs, but never use it for jigs or reels. The Copeland has a clear, bright tone and requires less air overall. The upper register is easy to reach and play freely in. It is also very responsive to breath which leaves a lot a room for expression.
Whether or not you need a tunable whistle depends on whether you will be playing with others or only by yourself. If you plan to play with others, the tunable model would be best, I think.
Y not?
Overtons and Copelands for me too. Just a couple of points of clarification though.
There are two different kinds of air requirement. There’s the amount you have to huff and puff to get the high notes out. A whistle with a lot of backpressure will have a second octave you have to lean into. A typical Overton is like that; a Copeland isn’t.
The tradeoff is that a whistle with a lot of backpressure is more breath efficient by which I mean that you won’t have to breathe as often. A Copeland requires more frequent breathing so, in that sense, it has a higher breath requirement.
Overtons are aluminium whistles which means that their tuning is sensitive to temperature. This doesn’t mean that you need a tunable. It does mean that you will have to warm them up before playing. I have a small army of nontunable Overtons that give me very little trouble but I live in a warm sub-tropical climate. If you busk a lot outdoors in the snow you might want to reconsider, either getting a tunable or something else.
Finally, I mentioned ‘typical’ Overtons. These days, Colin Goldie will make you an ‘easy blower’ to order; a whistle with the Overton sound but less backpressure. So let me finish by uttering the mantra of the board’s Overton fans: ring Colin Goldie and he’ll fix you up with exactly what you want. Well, I’m not sure that he’ll fix you up with a Copeland if that’s what you want but … short of that, it’s the best way of finding out if an Overton is really for you, and, if so, just which one would best suit your special needs.
As already said, it’s worth getting the tunable if you’re planning to play lots with others, just gives you slightly more scope for playing more quietly etc! I have a Goldie tunable low D and it is superb! Everywhere I take it I’m always asked where it came from!
Barry
Where exactly in Eastern Australia may I ask? Townsville? Now there’s no ‘sub’ about that.
Actually Wollongong has a peculiar climate and ecosystem due to the close proximity of mountains to sea. Having lived in Melbourne most of my life I can assure you that nothing we get here really resembles a winter and, in recent years, the weather seems monsoonal. Well, I suppose if you twist my arm I might admit I have to warm up Overtons in July and August.
I’ve never been out of tune with a nontunable low D;
I’ve had an Overton and a Chieftain nontunable.
Sold em and kept the copeland, but I never
touch the tuning slide. But, as mentioned,
I’m in the minority.
Also, I prefer the sound of the Chieftain
to the Overton, not liking so well the
‘cosmic drainpipe.’ Again, I’m probably
in the minority. Best
I see.
I play and sing with a range of music.
I like everything tunable.
Nothing worse than a bag of bansuri’s in lower A440s
but the singer’s harmonium is A448 !
Ah well, there’s always the tin whistle.
Never fails. with its easy to twist plastic mouth piece.
Aren’t you forgetting? They don’t all live in places where the glue melts without help from the kettle. 
I LOVE my Overton low D tunable. I do think that when it comes to low Ds it’s somewhat more important to have a tunable than in other keys. It’s a worthwhile investment, especially if you are playing with other folks.
Best,
Chris
I have an Overton Low-D which i have I love. I love the tone. If I want something clearer, I go to a flute, so I like the tonel depth of the Overton. It is not tunable. I have only had problems with it once and that was play with a group that had a member with perfect pitch and an electronic piano. He remarked the B was a little flat, but that everything else was right on. I believe this characteristic is a function of cylindrical whistles (or flutes) as opposed to conical instruments. I also found that if I leaned into the B a little harder, I could bring it up a little, it just not the way I was playing with these folks at the time.
I play in the mid-Atlantic region of the US (Maryland, Pennsylvania, etc). In the winter, I do warm the whistle up before playing but thats a matter of avoiding condensation build up rather than tuning. It is something I would do for any all metal whistle.
If I had my choice I’d go for the tunable, because as my ear and skill improve, it would give greater latitude to play with Others. It would make it easier to tune a little off to match instruments that may have been affected by the environment and are too difficult to retune (hammer dulcimer for example).
I didn’t have this choice because I picked mine up at auction for half price, a deal I couldn’t pass up and have never regretted.
Hope this helps you evaluate what you want as you …