recomendations for my first (non fedog) high D

Whistle
1

I have been playing Fedog branded whistles for almost ever, and im slowley approaching the market for a new high D.

my citeria:
softer then a fedog (as in tone, not consistancey. :stuck_out_tongue: )
quieter then a fedog (im told this isnt difficult)
‘different’ playing character (to unlearn me my bad habits)
not made of plastic (those remind me of the recorders you used to get in primary school)
made by a person (rather then a maschene)
passed some form of quality control (so i know its my fault and not the whistles)
looks awesome (dragons or flames painted on the outside are optional, no spoiler or alloys required)

2

What bad habit are you hoping your whistle will help you correct?

3

the one where i keep playing the wrong notes.

…but seriously, im working on the assumtion that without a frame of refrence my playing style will be very fedog-o-centric, i suppose the ideal whistle will be some strange mirror of the fedog, in order to force me to adapt to a general rather then a specific playing style.
i assume that i will be lazey at anything the (bog standard ÂŁ3) fedog does well and accomplished (pff) at the things it does less well.

4

I’m not quite sure I understand what a feadog-centric style is, but maybe you might like to explore a conical bored whistle like the Clarke or Shaw for a very different tonal character while staying in a similar price range (unless, of course, you’re asking us to spend lots of your money for you! :smiley: ). A very different tone may inspire you to try new styles. The conical whistles have a softer, airy voice that lends itself to differnent kinds of whistle music.

5

“softer than a feadog (as in tone, not consistancey.” :stuck_out_tongue: ) Hoover, for one
“quieter then a feadog (im told this isnt difficult)” Hoover, for one
“passed some form of quality control” most “high end” whistle makers will do this
"looks awesome "http://www.elfsongwhistles.com/

Also, an Overton will offer a very different playing experience.

6

i have a low shaw, which is the joy of my life at the moment even if it does need five pairs of lungs to play well! ive played the little clarke / meg thingies, there superfun.

i suppose im aiming at somthing in the middle of the price bracket, more then ÂŁ3 but less then.. ÂŁ120 ish, picking numbers out of my bum.

7

Well, if you like the low Shaw despite the air supply issue, you might well love the high D as well. It doesn’t take anywhere near the air of the low one. Certainly falls into your price bracket. I find them a step or two above the Clarkes and Megs for quality control which you also asked about. (But those are better than they were years ago considering the price. At least I think they are.)

8

I’m with FJohnSharp on this one. Keep your Feadog and buy a whitecap from Mack Hoover that will fit the same tube. It’ll be a great whistle, (two, actually).

9

You can´t go wrong with a Dixon Trad. It is cheap and a step up from “economy” whistles as it costs about £16.00 at the moment. Its so cheap that it´s worth a try.

Here´s a clip of it in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkMCoQ-gLsY&feature=related

10

+1 for the Dixon Trad. I have one and love it! I don’t play it as much as I should because it’s a bit loud to play in the dorm in the evenings, but it’s a lovely whistle. I can’t see myself giving it up anytime soon!

11

Feel obliged to mention Jerry Freeman’s tweaked whistles - Mellowdog and Blackbird. Lovely sound and in the $35-$40 range newly tweaked.

Best wishes.

Steve

12

You might be looking for a Hoover if looking for a high quality whistle with low volume.

13

my citeria:
softer then a fedog (as in tone, not consistancey. > :stuck_out_tongue: > )

That is a reasonable request. Feadogs do have a bit of bark to them and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea (though it is mine)

quieter then a fedog (im told this isnt difficult)

Is there a reason you are looking for quieter? Can you give more specific information on this one?

‘different’ playing character (to unlearn me my bad habits)

Not too sure where you’re coming from on this one. No whistle is going to unlearn your habits for you. You will certainly need to adjust your playing between designs but the playing depends on you working on the whistle, not the other way around. Listening carefully to recordings will give you some good ideas of what good technique sounds like when executed well- it takes time to hear it and then time to immitate it.

not made of plastic (those remind me of the recorders you used to get in primary school)

Another reasonable request

made by a person (rather then a maschene)

There are so many options out there for this one that you will never get a general consensus on the boards. I would just recommend that you don’t get too caught up on the price, looks or any of the assumptions attached to them. It is difficult to listen to true sound samples on many maker’s sites because just about everyone these days adds post production (i.e. reverb) to thier tracks rendering the sample useless to someone trying to discern that whistles unique characteristics. I don’t know where you live but try going to a session and listening for something you like; make friends and ask politely to hear the instrument solo or even to try it out yourself.

passed some form of quality control (so i know its my fault and not the whistles)

As mentioned above, just about any whistle that has a maker’s name attached to it will have passed the maker’s quality inspection

looks awesome (dragons or flames painted on the outside are optional, no spoiler or alloys required)

If you’re looking to spend more money on a pretty looking instrument then look online for one you like the look of and buy it. If you want to improve your playing that can be done on a Feadog, Generation, etc.

Cheers,
Johnny

14

Is there a reason you are looking for quieter? Can you give more specific information on this one?

if i take myself down to a session (a rarity in leeds apparently even though theres a flippin ITM festival here every year) i dont want to be playing a fedog as they are really loude and brassey, i believe that the loud and brash wistles should be left to the good players while novises like me play nice soft squishey tubes

15

If you’re thinking of a whistle that’s quiet, still appropriate to take to a session, and will help teach you good playing habits, I reckon the answer is the Tony Dixon trad in nickel. It doesn’t have dragons on it - it’s very plain - but I think it looks good anyway. It’s my second ‘go to’ whistle, after my high D Reyburn, which is way too loud for what you want.

16

i poped into Hobgoblen in leeds today to take a look at some whistles. they let me have a go on a few, one thing led to another and i may have accadently baught a harper classic in a nice silvery alloy.
miles outside my price bracket but it really sings, and requires much more subtle breath controll, which will be good to learn as my other whistles are either Fedog or the low D shaw, which are fairley wind-greedy.

it came down to a battle between the dixon trad and harper classic, i went for the classic because in the low registers at least its quiet, and the dixon seemed quite fimiliar though a bit ‘clearer’ then the fedog.

Ill pop back in after my next pay packet and have another look at the dixon trad. it certinally wont brake the bank.

17

It would be interesting to hear your opinion of the Harper after you’ve played it a bit more.

One thing that just struck me about the Harper is that I found it to be a bit tricky get the most out of it at first. For quite some time I even thought the Harper was a bit overrated. Today I went back and had a go at playing it and found that it was a lot easier than I remembered, that it was extremely responsive and actually quite good.

To summarize it I guess that I would say that the Harper might not be the easiest whistle I’ve played but that it will perform brilliantly if you learn a bit of breath control. I would also say (as with all metal whistles of the Overton design) that embochure is important to really make it sing in the second octave.

Cheers,
Anders

18

ive been playing it in over the weekend (much to my house-mate’s distress!) and i have put together a bit of an oppinion about it.

Your post is spot on, when i picked it up and gave it a ‘toot’ i noticed it was a lot quieter and required a lot less brute force to get a nice tone out of it. this immidiatly fulfilled the ‘quieter’ requirement.

I wanted somthing slightly more trickey to play then the fedog and this whistle is almost the polar opposite to what im used to, it will require a lot of breath controll: pivoting between the high and low octaves for me at the moment is almost impossible without tounging, this is good, as it will force me to learn decent breath controll!

embochure is trickey aswell, its such a small ‘blow thingey’ that its a matter of being precice and subtle with the wind pressure rather then just shouting down a tube, it does require a bit of push to get the high octive (espically the B) to come out.

In comparison to my factory fedog its a world appart, it produces a much cleaner tone at a much lower volume.

ill be making it my ‘main axe’ for the next few months to get the breath controll to a stage where i dont have to toung the notes, then ill try and move back to the Fedog or onto a dixon trad hopefully with better breath control. within three years i hope to be the crown emperror of the entire whistle universe.