Tommy Dion low D whistle

Whistle
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I got home from the Old Time Music Festival in Palestine, Texas and want to take the time to tell you about Tommy Dion’s new low D whistle. I met Tommy for the first time last year at this festival. I have a lot of nice whistles but after playing one of his pvc three piece high D whistles I decided I just had to have one in spite of all the other nice whistles I have. I posted about it last year.

Having bought that whistle, I thought I was safe from Tommy’s table of whistles. Little did I suspect that I wasn’t safe. When I stopped by his table there amongst his high D pvc, wooden and tweaked commercial whistles were three large pvc whistles, two one piece and one three piece. Turns out they were low D whistles. Tommy played one it got me to thinking, which generally gets me into trouble. Here I was 800 miles from home, there’s two more days of the festival and did I really want to spend $80 or $90 on another whistle if I were lucky or $120 or more if I wasn’t lucky. But what the heck, I figured if I didn’t ask, I wouldn’t know so I asked how much he was getting for the low D whistles. He said his festival price was $25 each for the one piece whistles and $50 for the three piece whistle. I almost sprained my wrist getting my wallet out and handing Tommy two twenties and a ten. And I did that without having played any of them since I’d had a bad cold, or worse, for the previous two weeks. I bought it, I played it, and I haven’t looked back. Absolutely no regrets. Good thing I got it when I did. The other two whistles didn’t last long.

I’ve owned and played several Overton low D and a Reyburn Low D whistle that I had for a while as well as having a chance to play a Howard and even a low D Copeland. They are all different animals but I just plain like Tommy’s low D; better than the others? Better than the Howard, not better than the Overton, Reyburn or Copeland but go price those whistles. It has a soft rounded sound but it carries across a room. It’s not harsh. As for as I can tell there is nothing out there under $100 that can touch this whistle. Just my opinion, others may differ. I would say they are cheap but there’s nothing about Tommy’s work that is cheap. They are inexpensive and priced far, far below what they should be selling for. I got the three piece because it breaks into three equal lengths that I can put in a butt pack to take with me when I go hiking.

I played the whistle in the auditorium and people were stopping by regularly and telling me how nice it sounded. Some said they wanted me on stage next year….yeaht right!

Tommy also had a prototype for a pvc flute. I wrote him a check for $50 and he’ll be making me one of those when he gets those exactly how he wants them. I thought his prototype was just fine the way it is.

I’ve got no financial interest in Tommy’s work and he didn’t cut me any deals. He’s just an incredibly nice guy that makes incredibly valued pvc whistles and very, very nice wooden whistles as well as tweaking commercial whistles.

Hopefully Tommy will check in and tell more about the specs on his new low D whistles and maybe even show some pictures.

Outstanding low D and now I’m going to play it some more.

Jim Durdin

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The three part low D is made of 3/4’’ pvc and delrin fipple plug. The ruler in the pic is 12’’ to give idea of size.
The joints are machined into the tube with no bulge. Tuning slide allows playing sharp or flat, and of course right on. The wind way is curved and the delrin plug resists moisture clogging. The blade is hand filed, added with the wind way length of 1’‘3/8’’ provide for smooth steady playing. Tone holes are beveled inside for smooth air flow, and out side for a comfortable feel to the fingers.

Under $125 low D whistle recommendations
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I just received a three piece low d from Tommy yesterday, and I have to echo Jim’s sentiments. The only other low d whistles I have are a very beat up Shaw, and one of the “practice” plastic low d whistles by Daniel Bingamon. Both of those have been great for me, but neither can compare to the one I got from Tommy. It’s very easy to play and I don’t find myself gasping for breath after only playing it for a minute or two. I’m new enough at whistles that I can’t give a terribly detailed evaluation, but I will say that I am supremely happy with it and can’t wait to play it more this evening after work. It barely left my hands yesterday.
As a side note, I posted pictures of it last night on facebook and got some interesting responses from non-whistle friends. My favorite was, “Have you made a whistle that turn into nunchucks yet? That’s got amazing real world potential written all over it! You could bring the noise AND the funk (here funk being a surprise beat down of epic proportions.) They could also whistle as they were swung through the air!” :smiley:

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I know I’m still enjoying my low D whistle!

As far as the nunchucks (I always wondered how to spell that word), I picked up a pair for a dollar at a garage sale and I mentioned to Tommy that when I saw him next year I’d try to remember to bring them to see if he could make a whistle out of them. I think they are teak and would make nice whistles. Didn’t the original numchucks come from something that was used to beat rice or for some other farming reason. And then were modified to become weapons? Wouldn’t it be neat to have a pair come full circle and be made into a nice whistle, or two. Sort of a sword into plowshares type thing.

I tell you, if you are interested in trying a low D, try one of Tommy’s.

take care

Namaste’

jim

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I am not sure where this is going, but the correct word is nunchaku. “Nunchucks” is street slang but – like a lot of slang – it may be popular enough to take over as the most common term.

Originally an Okinawan martial arts weapon, it has become popular in a number of other schools of martial arts. (I suspect the sudden popularity can be tied to that one Bruce Lee movie.) I trained in Ryukyu Kobujutsu karate (an actual Okinawan style) while in high school and early college. The story at the time was that all the Okinawan weapons such as nunchaku, bo, sai and tonfa evolved from other farm implements when the invaders outlawed the use of more traditional weapons. These legends probably have some small amount of truth, but historians have trouble relating them to actual farm tools.

In my school, weapons were mostly reserved for the more advanced students, so I don’t have much experience with them. But I remember the coolness factor was huge. :slight_smile:

In any case, good traditional nunchaku are made of very hard, well aged wood so you might be able to turn them down to a nice C or D whistle. Would make for a nice back story.