I have a piper friend who wants to pick up a Low D whistle. His fingers are perfect for the pipes, long and very thin, but is having trouble finding a low whistle with small enough finger holes. He has tried several of my whistles but gets frustrated with the air leaks.
Other than contacting a whistle maker for a custom job, has anyone else a solution.
Also, I’ve heard a rumor that there is a whistle makers who makes low whistles with the same holes and same fingering as a set of uilleann pipes.
If anyone knows whom this is please let me know!
I’m watching this thread, having skeletal fingers myself. I’ve pretty much adapted to my Overton low D, but it’s not perfect. I would advise your friend, though, that the air leak problem will improve to a degree with practice, even for those of us without much flesh.
I’ve got pretty slim fingers and was able to adapt well to a howard, it takes some time but it’s worth it. the shaw low D has pretty small holes though.
The smallest tone holes on a Low D I’ve seen are on the O’Riordan Traveler; not very helpful, I realize, unless you can get one second hand. I’m surprised by the recommendation of Howard, unless they’ve changed drastically. I got rid of an early model solely due to the size of the tone holes, which were the largest I’d seen. I’ve found sealing easiest on the O’Riordan, then Copeland, Overton. The O’Briain is somewhere between Overton and the original Howard in tone hole size and sealability, I believe.
I’ve never played, but always see ringing endorsements of Burkes with respect to playability. Others perhaps will chime in here.
I must have caused a little confusion, I wasn’t recommending the howard as a whistle with small just, just explaining that I’ve got slim fingers and after some work didn’t have a problem getting a good seal, if you can play a howard there’s pretty much no other low D that will give you any trouble.
As a piper and a low whistler I’ll offer some thoughts. Firstly, my fingers are certainly not wide at all, but not exactly ‘skeletal’ either. I’d say the thin side of normal perhaps. Anyway, I’ve owned and played an O’Riordan and wouldn’t reccomend it at all for both the tone hole size and the stretch. The sound is really mellow and nice, but it was just too much for me to play comfortably. Currently I own a Howard and LOVE it. Both the tone and the reach are awesome. The holes seem to feel quite average to my hands. I’ve never been one able to tell huge differences in reach/hole size between makes though. There simply isn’t that much variation that is possible without changing the fundamental characteristics of the whistle itself.
For custom work, I think Mack Hoover would be your best bet. As for whistles with piper fingering, none exist currently - I asked this very question several months ago. However, a couple of makers did offer to attempt this type of whistle on a custom sort of order.
The Shaw low d is the easiest I’ve played, and I really dig the sound. Breath requirements are high but Jerry Freeman can tweak them for a pretty good price. I’ve thought about sending mine to him but I don’t want anything to change but the breath requirements, and I’m afraid I wont like it as well after tweaking.
OTH, I think that Colin Goldie with Overton can custom make a whistle that has an easier reach and smaller holes, although I don’t have experience with them myself. You could give him a call and see what he has to say.
Take care, Johnz
Brian - You’re not talking about the O’Riordan TRAVELER (anodized aluminum) 3-piece model, are you? That’s the one I have and it’s really relatively easy to play; and I don’t spend a lot of time down there (at Low D). Just curious… Yeah, I just went to check it again. Even I can fairly easily wail away on the O’Riordan Traveler; really small, even round tone holes. Are you perhaps referring to a wooden O’Riordan, or maybe a different model 2-piece Traveler?
I have four low whistle sitting in front of me here, CG Overton, Howard, Susato and Alba.
The Overton has the narrowest reach between the tone holes.
The Alba has the smallest overall hole size. The exception being the second hole from the top (the B hole) which is larger than the same hole on the Susato, but smaller than the other two. The finger spread is on the wide side for the right hand though.
I do not know for sure but, from the information I have picked up here and on the flute side, I would think a conical tube would give you the smallest and closest fingerings.
Of the four, if your friend can make the reach, the Alba would be the best bet here. It has a great sound too.
As for whistles with a pipers grip, there are Sandy Jasper (elfsong) chanter whistles, tuned to Bb and D… Though they are not low whistles so thats probably not what your friend is looking for.
I’ll weight in here. I’m suprised that no one has recomended a Dixon. I have one and it’s got a really tight grip and small holes. I’m not much of a low-whistler, the only thing I can compair it with is my Chieftain low D and the Dixon is much easier. It’s also very cheap and has got a really nice tone, tough somewhat quiet in the lower register.
Yep. Three piece O’Riordan Traveller model in D. Black anodized aluminum. Pat doesn’t make any other styles of low D. I found the joint ring at the top of the bottom hole to be partucularly distracting to my playing. Yes, I could play it, just didn’t find it exceptionally comfortable.
Dixons can be nice, but I’ve also found their qualtiy to be highly variable. Unfortunately more often than not I was less than impressed with Dixons for either playability or tone. Every once in a while I’ve played one that was nice, but only just…
Alba can make, especially if requested so, pretty small holes, the smallest I’ve had a chance to see on metal low D’s.
For real small holes, the thick-walled wooden whistles (Yvon Le Coant, Bleazey, Swayne) seem hard to beat. They’re also the easiest to play fingertipped. They also have IMHO the best range of cross-fingered tones (like accurate enough G#). It’s trade in/trade off: the smaller the holes, the harder they get to half-hole, too.
I’d say the thin side of normal perhaps. Anyway, I’ve owned and played an O’Riordan and wouldn’t reccomend it at all for both the tone hole size and the stretch. The sound is really mellow and nice, but it was just too much for me to play comfortably. Currently I own a Howard and LOVE it. Both the tone and the reach are awesome. The holes seem to feel quite average to my hands. I’ve never been one able to tell huge differences in reach/hole size between makes though. There simply isn’t that much variation that is possible without changing the fundamental characteristics of the whistle itself.