I’m finding myself in need of a travel and practice whistle to just toss in my backpack. It doesn’t need to be loud obviously and I think a quiet(er) whistle would be a plus.
I’m currently considering:
A Dixon Trad D nickel: Inexpensive. I’m intrigued by the claims that this has a “sweet” tone and that it’s easier to play. I wonder if it’s reasonably durable.
A Susato Oriole D: A little more expensive.
A Susato Kildare V-Series D: The most expensive choice. Maybe it’s more than I need.
Any pros/cons I should be aware of? Or can you suggest something else? I’ve only played Susato Kildare whistles to-date.
A Dixon DX-005 (or even a DX-004) is a solid all-around whistle that isn’t very loud. If you want something that can break down into two pieces, a Clare is a good low-cost option, and a Mack Hoover 2-piece is a very quiet travel whistle.
It’s really impossible to answer without knowing how you like a whistle to sound and play. We can only name off whistles we have that we enjoy. However, we all blow differently, have a different set of preferences, and have a different ideal sound.
What sound do you like? How do you like for a whistle to play?
I travel for business, and I bring a Dixon DX001 one-piece polymer whistle with me, primarily because it does not set off the metal detector at the airport. It’s funny how pipe-shaped metallic objects make airport security nervous. Anyways, if you are not traveling by air or any other mode that requires your luggage to be X-rayed, then any whistle can be your travel whistle. The basic rules for a travel whistle are that it is cheap, non-sentimental and can be replaced easily in the event of loss, bending or theft.
It’s difficult for me to answer since all I’ve known are Susato Kildare whistles.
I’m wondering if there’s something out there that’s even easier to play than a Kildare even if it isn’t loud. I understand that some whistles can hit a 3rd octave.
Hadn’t thought about that. Thanks for bringing it up!
Just to upvote the suggestion of getting a tunable whistle that breaks into 2 roughly equal pieces to make it smaller/pocket sized for when you don’t want to carry your backpack.
I’m pretty sure I stepped on my dixon d trad, because the end is an oval lol. Still plays well lol.
I havnet played a susato high D but I’ve played the kildaire low g and low E and they have an excellent tuning curve which gets my approval.
My 2 cents is if you have only played Susato because you really like them, you dont need to deviate and try others. If you have things you dont like about them, it could be worth trying others to fix those disliked traits (and probobly introduce new issues haha).
Pretty much every whistle I’d consider advising over a susato for how they play, would be a worse travel whistle and cost a lot.
For a travel whistle susato will be hard to beat because its all plastic. A note though, the o rings may get dry if you are constantly pulling it apart to put in your pocket. But that should be a very easy fix when you know what size o rings it uses.
My first whistle was a Clarke (which met an untimely end on a trip). It came with the book that I bought on a whim and that got me started on this musical journey.
The Susato Kildare’s impressed me as being loud whilst requiring less air than the Clarke. But now, I’m finding that loudness to be a liability in late-night solo practice sessions.
Oh, very nice! But I thankfully don’t need something so compact … yet.
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll keep it in mind in case I need a pocket/stealth whistle.
I would highly recommend trying an Oak whistle in the key of C. If nothing else, it would let you see how a whistle is with very different playing characteristics than what you’re used to. They are also very inexpensive.
As far as mass-produced whistles go, I don’t think any modern company is currently consistently putting out that sort of whistle (the Gen/Feadog/etc. type) at that level of quality, especially at that price. They play really well, and they sound great. Very clear in the lower octave. The upper octave is sweet and chirpy, but with some complexity in the higher notes, but without any rasp or scratchy turbulence to navigate around with your breath (which I find is often the case with many recently made cheap whistles of this sort). The octave balance also isn’t too disproportional. They are just great sounding and great playing whistles, and all three of mine sound very close to each other, so it seems to me that they don’t suffer from as much variability as some of the injection molded whistle heads do from other companies. They make a great inexpensive car whistle. They are also significantly less loud than a Susato Kildare.
Frankly, I think a good Oak C whistle outperforms the vast majority of $200+ whistles, at least to my personal tastes. I don’t find their D whistles to be as good as their C whistles (though they are still reasonably good), but one of their C whistles is 10 bucks well spent. It’s cheap enough that it’s at least worth trying. If you don’t like it, you didn’t lose out on much, and it lets you experience this sort of “genre” of whistle to get a better idea of what you like.
If by ‘no retailer has stock of them,’ you mean there aren’t shops (brick/mortar or online) that sell Goldfinch whistles, that’s because they’re sold directly from the makers. Jakub is very easy to deal with and extremely customer-service oriented. goldfinchwhistles@gmail.com
Of the three whistles named in the OP, I have two of them. I have a Dixon Trad and the Susato V series. Both are excellent.
I bought the Trad when they were first offered by Dixon. It is every bit as “sweet” as the rumors would have us believe. Easy blower. Good intonation throughout. Tunable. And inexpensive enough that it won’t break the bank. I still have that one. I’ve bought another three or four and given them away as gifts.
As to the Susato V series Kildare. I have a complete set of Susato whistles from Low D to High D. Generally speaking, those who say the Susato is loud are correct when speaking about the small bore high D. That is the loudest whistle I own. However, the Very Small Bore is easily… EASILY… the quietest whistle I own. It is also among the sweetest. It’s tunable. It’s just about indestructible. Intonation is impeccable. I have taken it overseas several times. I usually carry it disassembled in a shirt pocket. Never any issues. This is a whistle that will always be in my kit.
Unfortunately Dixon changed their trad whistles at one point, and I’m not sure if they have gone back to how they previously were. I guess someone at Dixon decided that they were too well-liked and popular, so they needed to change things.
The newer ones aren’t bad by any means, but they increased the distance from windway exit to blade, making the window larger. The newer ones don’t have as much warmth and openness in the lower octave, and the upper octave is less clean and sweet as it used to be. It bothers me that they made changes to an existing model instead of releasing the changed version under a different name or model number. It makes it difficult to say anything about their whistles because any words about them might not apply to what someone else has.
They are still worth checking out, but the ones they sell now aren’t like the one you bought. I also see they aren’t offering brass tubes anymore, or selling the trad with a longer C tube like they used to.
For a short period, they sold the “trad” model in many other keys, as well. The alto A and low D was really good, especially for the price. They abruptly discontinued them after barely offering them for a short time. I don’t quite understand the reasoning of that company over the past 7 or 8 years or so. They must have hired someone who worked for Generation in the 1980s.
