Another simple option is to play whatever whistle you like in the following fashion:
Put the whistle up to your mouth as usual, but instead of putting the mouthpiece INTO your lips, rest the end of the mouthpiece ONTO your lower lip, just below your mouth opening.
When you play, no air will go into the whistle, but will pass over the mouthpiece and window playing a VERY quiet but audible sound. I’ve played like this with my wife sleeping 10 feet away and was able to play perfectly recognizable tunes and still not wake her up. You won’t have the same tone as the whistle normally produces, naturally, but for very quiet practice with no modification of the whistle, it’s a great alternative.
amazing - never thought of it - but it really worked - that is until i hit a c and the whistle jumped up producing a normal volume sound - oops. but with just a little work - a normal whistle becomes a whisper. Thanks Paul!
Can you guys actually get two octaves playing this way? I seem to recall only being able to get a single octave when I tried this a couple of years ago…
Loren
It’s a funny phenomenon-- you don’t get a real solid second octave, but as the pitch jumps up and down within a tune, your brain “hears” the correct octave.
Dang it, I think my brain is deaf (as well as dumb), doh! 
I’ll try it again, on my Abell, and see what happens - the only other time I tried this was on a different whistle that I no longer own.
Loren
I’m guessing playing underwater probably works well too.
What planet did you say you were from, I can’t seem to remember!
I agree with those supporting Laughin Whistles. I’ve had one since about the turn of the millenium and without doubt it’s my favourite. I realise it has very real problems with clogging (although recently I got an email from Noah saying that he’s been trying a slightly different fipple plug design with grroves at the edge orsomething like that to carry away the condensation - I don’t know for sure), but I love the sound more than any other whistle I’ve played (which admittedly isn’t that many). There’s also the telescoping feature going for it - it travels everywhere with me very easily, and when all three parts are inside each other it makes it a bit tougher against knocks (useful when your whistle up mountains and trees and cliffs and stuff). You just need to work out how to sort out the clogging (I tried the old washing up liquid in the windway trick an that worked for a while, you just need to keep at it).
TTFN.
Thanks everyone. I think instead I’m going to play it loud, play it proud, and save up a little for a nice intermediate-end whistle. Any recommendations?
Thanks,
Tony
P.S. Anyone else have to hit refresh every page they go here because it keeps displaying a page that says critical error? I emailed Dale with a cut and paste of what I’m getting but haven’t heard from him, and that was Friday…
Now you have opened the can of worms!
My vote would go for Dixons
Depends on which end of intermediate you want. If you consider the Lon Dubh at about $369 throught Copelands as high as $775 as high-end, then I’d say Burke and Busman are interesting choices that qualify as intermediate.
I have a Burke narrow-bore aluminum ( DAN–with Delrin mouthpiece and fipple) ($120) and a Busman bloodwood with stainless steel fittings and Delrin fipple ($200) (both high D).
They’re both great for the slow airs that interest me the most, but they are very different from each other. The Burke has a sweeter, purer (but still very interesting) sound, compared to a reedier (woodier?) sound for the Busman. The Busman is around the end of a longish breaking-in period, and seems to be mellowing out a bit compared to its brand-spanking-new sound.
I play the Busman more often, due to the breaking in, but still find the Burke a bit easier in the top half of the second octave.
I also have a Burke wide-bore brass in C (CBW), which is a bit less sweet than the DAN, but even easier on the ears at the top of the second octave, and I’m learning to wring a little plaintiveness out of it.
Well I’ve read about the low-end (low cost) and the high-end (high cost) so I was hoping to get into the intermediate-end (medium cost). Since I play mostly flute, I don’t want to spend a lot on a whistle, but I also don’t want a plastic fipple anymore. I know Oak’s are cheap but I don’t want to buy another because the fipple cracked because I just threw it into my briefcase.
Anyway I saw one of Jerry’s tweaked Shaw’s on ebay so I might end up with that, but I’m thinking I’d be willing to spend around $75 or so. Any recommendations on biggest bang for that amount? I’m crossing my fingers on the raffle, but I never win anything.
Cheers,
Tony
The only thing I know about in that range are the Dixons. I did see a silkstone pvc on W&D for about that price though.
Oh, how much are the elfsong whistles going for. I don’t have the link to them right now???
A good place to start shopping for a new whistle is The Whistle Shop, www.thewhistleshop.com – They have Dixon tunable D, $47; a Jerry-Tweaked Shaw , ~$37; Silkstone PVC , $85; Water Weasel D, $70. Since you play flute, you might like the Dixon Hi D Duo ($44) which has a whistle head and a piccolo head – I know my niece likes her set.
On the main page of C&F, Dale has a list of several places to shop for whistles – and he also gives his experience with most of the places.
I, personally, love my Dixon tunable D. It’s my favorite Hi D whistle … but I am also a ‘newbie’, and do not have an extensive (maybe that should be expensive) collection … as of yet. 
Happy shopping!
~Judy
PS - I do have every whistle mentioned above - except the Jerry-tweaked Shaw.
The tweaked shaws sound and look great, but they’re not the kind of whistle you’d want to throw in a briefcase. The metal is thin and bends easily. That’s one reason they have that great old-fashioned “scratchy” sound to them.
C/D Combo: (One mouthpiece, 2 bottoms): $105.00 U.S.
The Sassy Brass now comes in C and D as well as the high keys.
Others have suggested consideration of a Hoover. This would certainly fit your price range, and Mack can make whistles very quiet or not so quiet. You’d have to listen to sound samples to find if the tone would suit you.
Darwin, when did you take up the whistle??? Whoah!!!
Robin
Oh, it was way back at the beginning of the year. I only have 8, so far, and only 6 of those are high Ds. That’s only two per month. If I had an income, I’d have a lot more by now.
The thread about Oaks has got me thinking about the fact that a local music store sells them, but WhOA is on hold till the end of the raffle–not because I don’t plan to get any more whistles, but because I don’t want to buy something and then have a chance to win the same thing a week or two later.