All,
Could someone recommend a quite whistle? I mostly play flute but would like to have a whistle I can play at lunch time when I go outside. I’m a poor player so I’d kind of like a quite one so no one can hear me. 
Thanks,
Tony
ALBA Q1
ALBA Q1
ALBA Q1
ALBA Q1
Honestly try one of these little beautys - they are amazing!
The Whistle Shop has instructions on making a muffler for a tweaked orginal Clarke whistle. http://www.thewhistleshop.com/catalog/whistles/inexpensive/Clarke/Tweeked/muffler/muffler.htm
Definitely Mack Hoover’s whitecap! The WC on my Feadog D transformed a loud raspy-sounding whistle into a sweet quiet treasure. And priced at $20, it’s a must-have for someone looking for quiet whistle-playing.
~nash
Tony,
you know your flutes will get jealous if you cheat on them…
Seriously, quiet is such a relative term since all whistles are more piercing than flute (unless you get a low one).
I like cheap whistles since I’m also primarily a flute guy, and I think the good old Clarke original is pretty quiet. For ease of carrying, the clare 2 piece is nice since it will fit in your front pocket, but mine has slightly off tuning which is driving me nuts. However, I’ve seen other folks say theirs had spot on tuning so I may have one that’s not representative.
I have a Walton’s Mellow D and an Oak D coming from Whistle and Drum on Monday so I’ll see how loud those are then, but I seem to recall many years back an Oak I had could be played quite quietly.
Eric
Hoovers are pretty quiet. The feadogs I have are extra quiet too, but they’ve been tweaked. Dixon? Dixons are quiet and you could get one pretty quickly too.
Oh, and most whistles can be tweaked quiet with a piece of scotch tape. The dixon puts up with that really well, better than the gen style tubes.
The clarke tapes up pretty good too. I like taping over part of the windway better than sticking things into the windway. Easier, and doesn’t change the breath requirement as much.
It seems so sad to feel constrained to play quietly. However, if it must be, consider the Oak. Sometimes they require a little tweaking in order to play right, but their beautiful, silvery tone is unparalled among ‘quiet’ whistles, IMHO.
I have an Oak D now. It’s kind of a bear for me to play… much different air requirements than the Hammy. 
When you say tape the windway, is that the window part or where you blow in?
Thanks,
Tony
The quietest whistle I have ever owned (still do) is my Weston Whistle High D. It is even quieter than the brass Hoover I used to have. It barely takes ANY air to play and that MAY be one of its only faults. It is tunable too.
Tell 'im NorCal sent you…
Ditto for my Whitecap Feadog.
I also have a Whitecap Aluminum in A which is pretty quiet, and has the added advantage of being in a less piercing key.
If you’re looking for something that’s quiet and takes some air, the Clarke original is definitely the way to go. Most of the others mentioned take very little air.
Is Noah Herbison still making Laughing whistles? They are the quietest whistles on the planet.
His site is still up at http://members.tripod.com/nherbison/ (with lots of nice popups from tripod.com).
Noah Herbison made a Laughing Whistle in E for me several months ago. It has a sweet soft tone with good intonation, a great second octave, and that telescope design is very cool. The only negative is the windway seems to clog easier than most. Oh, and the C natural (actually D natural in the key of E) needs an alternate fingering. But I like the whistle a lot.
Charlie
Noah Herbison made a Laughing Whistle in E for me several months ago. It has a sweet soft tone with good intonation, a great second octave, and that telescope design is very cool. The only negative is the windway seems to clog easier than most. Oh, and the C natural (actually D natural in the key of E) needs an alternate fingering. But I like the whistle a lot.
Charlie
My Hoover Whitecap CPVC Soprano D is quiet compared to my other D whistles.
Tape it across the square hole where the sound comes out. Start by taping off half the hole. The left or the right side.Some whistles work better than others. Experiment with how much to cover up. I can play my dixon at my workstation here and not disturb others. You can make it absolutly whisper, and still take a fairly normal amount of air.
Interesting, I can play the flute at least as quietly as any of the whistles I own, that’s one of the things I love about the flute. Have you ever considered getting an F flute, which may be a little easier for you to play well at low volume? Ralph Sweet makes a fairly inexpensive wooden F flute that I’ve heard is pretty good and much more consistent than his D flutes.
Loren
I like the sound and portability but man, every soprano Laughing whistle I’ve played has such clogging problems that I just put them down after 5 minutes and give up on them. The flat windway roof is what does it: Those little beads of condensation build up and just hang there 
It’s too bad, because I really like the sound (before clogging) of the Laughing whistles.
Loren
Hi Grixxly!
One solution to make a whistle quieter that no one has mentioned here yet is a small ball of poster tack. If rolled oblong ( mini-cigar?), you can place it on the blade of the whistle and then roll it towards the mouthpiece. The sound goes from the normal volume to almost nothing - depending on how close the ‘ball’ is to the end of the blade. You may have to experiment a little to find the right size and shape of the ball, but it has worked for me.
Welcome to the club!
~Judy