or do…
I picked up the only sweetone I have left the other day and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Its amazing that a $2 whistle is conical bore (whats the deal, you can get one for $2 or one for about $250-300 (Copeland)) and mine have been relatively in tune.
So, lets here it for a cheap whistle that really isn’t all that bad…
no flogging from me! 
I actually like to practice on my Sweetone. And I agree you can’t beat the price…it’s a great little whistle for the price
Sometimes when I play the Sweetone I feel like it’s a toy, other times I really like it’s mellow tone. I don’t really know why, perhaps it’s just the mood I’m in at that particular moment. It also seems like I paid about six times more for mine than what you did for yours.
Will O’Ban
I like the Sweetone D. On the other hand, never liked the C.
Ditto. I haven’t found a C I like.
I agree, too. Love the d, hate the (tuning of the) c.
This is good to know…I only have a D. I didn’t realize that there would be such a difference with the C.
Gotta silver D - really liked it - haven’t tried any other keys.
Let one of my daughters take it with her to college - WHY? Missing it already…
The one I’m really enjoying playing round the house at the moment, though, is my narrow bore Hoover D. He made it into a pocket whistle for me, it splits in half, and it’s just ACE! Great for late night/early morning playing without disturbing anyone. Great for learning tunes too, 'cause you can hear what you’re playing along with.
Ooops. Sorry that was a bit OT. :roll:
I don’t like my Sweetone C either, so I never play it. I’ll have to try the D. On the other hand, I love my $2 Meg D. It rocks!
Well, I’ve got a C (unpainted) and the tuning seems fine on mine. The second octave gets a bit of a harder sound than the first, but not nearly as bad as my Susato VSB D. And I find the bottom hole more of a stretch than a couple of other Cs I’ve tried. Anyway, it’s currently my favorite among my meager collection. Take my opinion with a grain of salt, although I’ve been a musician for 30 years, I’ve only been a whistler for a month.
There are two versions of the C Sweetones, both of which have issues.
The older ones are out of tune with themselves, but the finger spacing is comfortable. The newer ones have the intonation problem fixed, but the spacing between the bottom two holes is awkwardly far. I find I have to use a piper’s grip on the bottom hand.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Hmm, that’s interesting, Jerry.
The tuning problem for me on the c is not the D scale, but the G scale. There is no cross-fingering that produces an in-tune C natural.
Thanks for the info, Jerry. My experience with the intonation of the whistle was so different than the majority, I had hesitated to comment.
I had also been wondering about that bottom hole (geez, if you can’t even get the stretch on a C, give up on Bb or G). So far I’ve just been rolling my hand around the whistle a little bit more so that my first two fingers are hitting on the bottom of the first pad. This makes it easier to stretch out my ring finger. I’ve also been using a doubled rubber band as a cheat to help that finger find the hole.
I have a newer C and my crossfinger seems fairly reasonable (oxx ooo, sometimes I have to add an extra hole to flatten it a bit oxx xoo). They aren’t so bad once you realize (as Jerry has mentioned before) you can adjust the mouthpiece, just don’t twist or you will strip the inside…
I had (had) one of the older ones. The tuning was sucky. it felt like the d’s were flat. I took a bit off the end of the whistle and at least it was toleralbe afterwards. Still didn’t like the sound though. Muddy.
My first sweetone was really great, but honestly the Meg I bought later plays better.
On my Meg C, I found I was able to bring the “C natural” (actually, wouldn’t it be “Bb” on a C whistle?) into better tune (both reality and with itself) by pulling the head out a bit - not a lot, probably no more than 1/8 of an inch.
Still not my favorite C whistle (I think that both the Walton’s and Oak C whistles are a lot better), but it’s a lot more playable now.
But the Sweetone and Meg D’s are generally pretty decent whistles. Some days I like the tone, other days I don’t, but they’re easy to play whistles without any real vices. My younger daughter annexed the first Sweetone I bought because it was much easier to control than her Feadog (nothing wrong with that Feadog either - I should reclaim it).
I gave one of my daughters a Sweetone “Celtic” whistle in D (I think it’s just a Meg painted sparkle green). I didn’t think it was very good, but then again neither am I.
I’ve got a Jerry Freeman tweaked Sweetone and it’s my favorite C whistle.
After playing it, my stock Sweetone D gets tossed back in the drawer.
/ 2 cents.
My only C is a Burke wide-bore brass. I love it. It has a relatively complex tone, not quite as pure as the narrow-bore aluminum D.
It’s in tune, and it’s easy to play.
The Sweetone’s just don’t cost enough money. I can’t truly enjoy a whistle unless it costs hundreds of dollars and makes my wife fly into a tizzy when it arrives at the door! 