i love the sound of the low D whistle but have very small hands and arthritis to boot. Even using the pipers grip I’m not sure i would be able to reach the bottom two hole. Any suggestions for a whistle that i might be able to play and still get that wonderfully sweet sound?
How about a number, Sheila? If you lay your hand palm down on a table and spread your fingers normally, what is the distance between your 1st (index) and 3rd (ring) fingers, tip to tip? That will give some info to work with, otherwise it’s just guesswork.
My finger spread is around 10 cm, and I have no problem playing my Overton low D (well, not because of the hole spacing, anyway!*) with a B1-B3 center to center distance of 7.5 cm.
- Oops … I just realized how this quip might be misconstrued. My Goldie-Overton low D is a wonderful instrument in every way. It’s just that I play mostly high whistles, so any problems are from my not spending enough time with it, not the instrument itself! Now Colin and Brigitte won’t expel me from the fan club.
I think the Chieftain V3 has the holes a bit closer together, but you do have to blow quite hard.
Incidently, I was with some friends in an Indian restaurant last week. Whilst I was waiting for my chicken ‘Phal’ 
to arrive, we compared finger spreads (as you do…).
Despite me having the longest fingers and biggest knuckles, Clare had a 2 cm bigger span 
I suggested she tried blowing my pipe, later on!
BS.
You can rig a simple keywork for the lowest hole from a popsicle stick,small fulcrum and a rubber band for low whistles. With a little imagination, you can make this attractive too. If you play a lot, why not pay a little more to have the maker add a simple key for you.
A blasphemous suggestion would be a “Single-Handed Tenor Recorder” from Dolmetsch…
There are also some commercial mass produced whistles with keys like Susato.
There are custom whistle makers that make keys on their Low-D’s.
Note that the fine people at Dolmetsch will supply and fit the necessary keywork to any of their wooden recorders for any person with the use of only one hand. As long as the person can document that they truly have a medical condition which renders only one hand usable, they pay only the cost of the recorder: the keys and their installation is FREE. Kudos to them!
The new Susato Dublin Low D is tunable and comes with a key for the last finger hole. Perfect for small hands (and comfortable for large hands too).
This would be the perfect whistle for you. The Whistle Shop sells it for less than $ 75.00. I had a Susato Low D (the version without a key) and it was a very good sounding whistle.
Thanks for all the info. 
Still no hand measurement, though. 
Thanks for all the info.
How about 7.5 MT Guru? I was aiming for a dixon low d christmas time but any suggestion would be great for small hands. I play the homeade with pinkies now so where there’s a will…
sorry i’ll just be hijacking the newbie thread now.
With your 8-10 cm from the other thread, I’d guess you’re probably fine! The only 2 low Ds I have handy have a B1-B3 spread of 7.5 cm (Overton) and 7.25 cm (Ian Lambe). And your stretch will increase as you play more and loosen your hand.
BTW, I personally think using the pinkie with piper’s grip is fine. I started like that. You just “lock” your ring and pinkie fingers together and move them more or less as a unit. But now that my conventional piper’s grip is better developed, I usually prefer that.
As MTGuru said, how about a number?
My spread is around 12 cm, but I’ve found that I don’t need any more than a 7.5 cm spread on my Kerry Chieftain Low D.
So yeah, a measurement would be helpful… if 7.5cm is no trouble you should be just fine. Also, when I started I had loads of trouble fingering my Low D… (of course that could have had something to do with that I was 12 then and my hands were pretty darn small.)
Wow! I only measure 4 cm from index to ring finger.
I think what he means is spreading you’re fingers as far as they’ll go comfortably and then measuring (although when you start on the low whistle it may not be all that comfortable.)
Yes, that’s right, Jordan.
I measured in inches but posted it as centimeters. it’s 4 inches but 10 cm.
Just like the Mars probe. Well, there you go! 
That makes a huge difference then! So yeah, at 10 cm you should be fine!
Sheila, mine measure just over 10cm so I understand your dilemma. I was beginning to think my fingers were webbed or something from being in the water so much. Anyway, even with that little more stretch than you have I struggle with the reach on low D. My one homeade whistle is even offset and that isn’t much better because the wholes are larger and require more coverage. I love the low D though and play the only way I can, with my 4th fingers…Maybe with a little time and a lot more practice we with little hands can hope to evolve that into the piper’s grip like MT Guru did! I am glass half full on this … It isn’t size that matters but how you use it that counts, right??