Hi! I’m in need of a whistle that will fit into my pocket. Unfortunately, none of my high-D whistles, even with the heads removed from their bodies, will fit (some come close). The key of the whistle really doesn’t matter much as I just want a whistle to take with me on occasions where I’m not taking a bag that could hold a larger whistle, and I won’t be playing with other people/instruments.
Many years ago, I had a Clare Tin Whistle (https://www.tin-whistle.com), but I have no idea where it is now. That might work, but I’d prefer something a little higher end.
I’m thinking a Susato high-F or high-G might work, but wondered if anyone had additional suggestions?
For example:
Are there any makes of high-D whistles that separate into two equal parts?
Do you have recommendations for a particularly good high-F or high-G whistle?
Have you seen MackBeth Whistles? They are higher end than a Clare (at least judging from the price), and some models telescope. I haven’t played one myself, so I can’t vouch for it personally, but it might be worth taking a look at. They are the successors to Mack Hoover’s telescoping whistles, which I believe are well-respected.
David O’Brien’s delrin Rover whistle breaks down into three parts, and will even fit into the pathetically small pockets of women’s coats.
It’s a quality whistle, so even secondhand it’s not going to be especially cheap, but because it’s good you might choose to play it even when you don’t need something small. He gives his contact details 7 or 8 posts down in this thread from few months back:
Further thought: if you have easy access to a source of Generation whistles, it might be worth trying their high F for the sake of the price of a coffee?
I have high G, F, and Eb, all bought untested from the children’s toys section of a department store in the 1970s, all unmodified, and all good. The F is the sweetest of the bunch, but I’ve no complaints about the others. Ironically, it mostly seems to be their Ds that tend to be weak and inconsistent; I’ve got a sweet Feadog D, but all the Gens I tried fell somewhere on a scale between passable and really ropey.
I had the same experience. The tone was charming - a lame word, but I was, well, charmed. It was sweetly bird-like, you could say. I thought the high F and hornpipes made a particularly good if surprising fit.
Somebody once gave me a whistle exactly as you describe. It was in two pieces that came apart, and could be carried easily in a pocket. One piece had a sort of bell-shaped end, so that the other piece would fit inside it. It was a D whistle. This must have been some 30 years ago now. It was probably purchased at The Irish Shop on Bloor Street W in Toronto. That closed in 2008. I still have a bunch of whistle books that came from there, usually as Xmas gifts. The Armagh Pipers Club, etc.
I was hoping to find it, so that I could tell you the maker. Unfortunately I was not able to do so. I’m fairly sure I still have it, so probably it’s in a drawer somewhere, but we have an untold number of drawers. I think it was not the Clare Whistle. I remember the break being between the hands. Of course my memory could very well be faulty after so many years.
The thing is, I have felt no particular need for a whistle that can go in a pocket. And other than the convenience factor, I didn’t feel this whistle had that much to recommend it. It was OK to play, as a whistle, no problems with it, but I had other whistles that I liked better.
I’m sorry to be so unhelpful. But at least you know that the thing you want did exist, at one time. So there must presumably be some of them around.
If I ever find the one I’m talking about, I’ll put it up on this forum.
Exactly so, one section was flared at the end to make a socket, bought like yours around 30 years ago. Green top?
To me it was a sort of gimmick, but if the tubing is standard ID then it could play as well as any brass-tube whistle by sticking a Generation or Killarney or whatever top on it.
I think I still have it in a drawer somewhere, if I remember I’ll look for it.
Yes definitely gimmicky. Mine is from the mid eighties. I cannot recall what head was on it, but it was not very usable (probably was a Clare). The whistle functioned well with an orphaned Gen head on it but eventually the connection between the two parts became wobbly so I retired the tube.
I have a Tony Dixon DX005 D whistle. It separates about 1/3 of the way down and the body by itself is roughly 7 1/4 inches in length. The section with the head is roughly 5 1/2 inches long.
I have a Dixon DX004 in my pocket much of the time, the all-polymer 2 piece one. The head comes off and the body tub just about fits in a standard men’s front pant pocket. The only issue is that the bottom of the head part, being somewhat thin plastic, tends to chip. Since it’s hidden in the tuning slide portion of the whistle, this is not noticeable cosmetically or sonically when I’m actually playing.
It’s a decent enough whistle, sweet on top but with fairly weak low notes; you have to really back off the low D and E or they will push sharp, so they’re fairly quiet. Relatively cheap, and pretty durable considering it’s all ABS plastic.
Still with the original top, and sticker which says “The Clare” with a shamrock. The rest rubbed off.
Notice the inchoate top, not enough plastic in the mould.
I played it just now and it’s not all that bad. (Judging by the teeth-marks I must have played it some back in the 80s.)
My Freeman Tweaked Generation D top and Killarney D to both fit on the body and turn it into a decent whistle. I think I’ll actually leave the Gen head on it so I’ll have a very compact whistle to take places.
I made myself a collapsible/telescoping whistle, for no real reason other than to see if such a thing could work. And it did.
It comes apart into 4 pieces - a plastic head probably from a Soodlums or similar, 96mm of 14.4mm OD brass (which nicely fits the head), 80mm of the next size tubing down (LH holes), 100mm of the next size down again (RH holes), and then a short length of the middle sized tubing to enable me to tune the bottom note.
All pretty rough, but it works fine and the longest bit is around 100mm, so goes easily into a pocket. You can telescope it so save even more space, but getting it un-telescoped requires having something you can poke down it to dislodge the inner sections enough until you can get a good grip on the end of the inner one.
I think you’d need to put score marks around each joint to help you get it assembled correctly without a lot of messing about. I haven’t done that as I haven’t really had the time to put into optimising the tuning of every note.
In theory, it’s a mildly tapered whistle with a cylindrical upper section and a slight flare at foot. I feel it does sound a little differently to a straight cylindrical whistle, but I haven’t put any work into proving that!
Happy to divulge more details if anyone wanted to try making one!
It seems like Le Meur just posted about making something for this on Facebook. I’ve never played one of his.
FWIW Mike Burke’s and Chris Abell’s whistles break down into 3 pieces, but they’re pretty high end to be toting about in your pocket. Though I often can be found with a Burke D in my purse.
https://www.abellflute.com/whistles/
My Abell is a standard headpiece/body affair breaking down into only 2 pieces–as is the whistle pictured and described on his site.
Honestly, an over-pitched whistle can cause damage to the ears over time. I hope you don’t neglect to protect your ears when you pursue the portable size of the whistle.
I have several from my frequent-flyer days, all excellent instruments.
A Clare two-piece brass body with a white PVC Mack Hoover head … one of his quieter ones from about 20 years ago. The original Clare head (I still have it) was nice, but I wanted quieter and less crack-prone plastic. I carry it in a soft leather end-opening eyeglasses case, with a stitch down the center to make two compartments.
A Parks (made by Gene Parks in Florida, USA) three piece Walkabout in white PVC. Like most Parks models, it has an adjustable volume control that works really well. The newer Parks apparently use different white or black tubing material and have brass joints. Excellent workmanship and playability. In one of Gene’s rip-stop nylon pocket cases.
A David O’Brien C/D set in black delrin with brass joints. One headpiece and four lower sections, assembling into a three-piece C or a three-piece D. In the nice tartan wool pocket case it came with. This one is too good of for pocketing or backpacking. It’s made a trip or two in a carry-on suitcase.
I have a couple of Clares, and they’re good basic whistles. I also have a Mac Hoover 2-piece that is a work of art. It’s also very quiet, which I like.
