Please forgive my ignorance, I’ve been away from the list for a while.
I used to have a lovely small bore whistle that I took along on business trips because it was so quiet that I could play tunes in a hotel room without disturbing others, however thin the walls.
The poblem is that I loaned the gem to a friend, lossely speaking, and at this point I don’t have it any more.
Can someone give me the source for the very quiet whistle? Those of you who’ve played the instrument know what I’m referring to.
Sorry - if this is a frequent question, but it was a great whistle, and I miss it.
“Spot on” with Mac Hoover. Been trying to remember the name.
For what it’s worth to other members, Mac’s whistle was and presumaby still is, ideal as a “travel” whistle that you can play anywhere without getting kicked out of your hotel room. Assuming you’re playing good tunes, of course. (just kidding)
Email or pm Mac. I have a Hoover Whitecap from him that I asked him to make extra quiet. Nice whistle, good tone, very even across the octaves and very quiet. It tends to clog a little more readily that the average whistle but it clears easily and isn’t a problem for practicing.
I recently bought a Dixon SV and an Alba Q1. Both were said to be quiet whistles. The Dixon SV is realy qiuet, the Alba Q1 is a little louder, but still very quiet. The biggest difference that I noticed as a newbie, is that the Dixon is a realy easy blower, you have to whisper in that one. The bottom note is a little weak. The Alba is just a little louder, but has a much nicer backpressure for me. You can play very quiet on that one, but you can also raise the volume quite a bit if you want to. If you want I can try to make a youtube vid with a comparison of the sound and loudness of these whistles, but since I just started a few weeks ago you don’t have to expect too much from that. Since I noticed that playing the Low whistle is as easy as playing the high D, I haven’t played much on the little ones.
I tried the Alba Q1 as a quiet whistle and it is but with lots of chiff in the second octave. I like the Every whistle better as a quiet option since you can determine how quiet (and more chiffy) it is…
The Alba Q1 has indeed a lot of chiff, but I like that in a whistle.
The Dixon SV has a very pure sound, and very easy in second octave.
I was planning on ordering an Every whistle also, but it was sold out at the moment I placed my order. was planning to buy the Every as soon as it was back in stock, but after having the Alba and Dixon, I don’t really need another quiet whistle. Both the alba and dixon are quiet enough to play at night without disturbing the neighbours or waiking up my girlfriend.
I just bought my Every Whistle walkabout, for the quiet feature, as i live in an apartment.
It struck me that the “silencer” (the collar that quietens the sound) might work on my sindt.
It does, and worked a treat.. it seemed to work better on the Sindt head for my C whistle more than the smaller Sindt head for the D whistle .
Now I have a Sindt with a silencer too.
If anyone wants to see some pics or hear a sound bite then ill be happy to post some… but id need some pointers on how i can load them up. doesnt seem i can do it on this website…
Edit: When I first got the whistle I thought I had tuning problems. Carey Parks was VERY pro-active and helped me with it. Turned out it wasn’t the whistle but me. Not only sold me the whistle but taught me something about them too. Many thanks Carey.
