I desperately require a tunable D whistle as I play with other musicians. Although I have passable whistles now, the intonation is terrible (i.e., not accurately matched to concert pitch). I almost jumped on a Dixon DX203 (I think that’s the model number) that was intriguing until I read another user’s problems with the instrument. Please help!
Kye
Welcome Kye.
Are you sure the whistles you already have are not tunable? If you are playing a Generation, a Feadog, a Waltons or something like that, you will find that the head will come loose, with a bit of gentle persuasion, and maybe some warm water. Hey presto! A tunable whistle! And free!
What benhall said… 
Welcome to C&F!!! 
Yes, welcome indeed.
Are you saying that the whistle is not in D or that it is not in tune with itself? If it is mostly consistent off from hole to hole, enough that you can control with your breath, then listen to Ben and others you’ve heard from above. If not you need a new whistle. There are lots of quality tunable whistles under $100. Indeed there are several quality tunable whistles under $50. As Ben mentioned, even inexpensive whistles can work well and be made tunable following his method.
You haven’t stated all of your needs or musical style so it’s hard to go much further.
Good luck.
I have no doubt and am sorry to say that that was probably me you read about on this Forum. I now have a second DX203 which is a great whistle. As in every make of whistle one is bound to get a dud once in a while and I believe my first 203 was a dud. Looking back it hadn’t occurred to me that my first 203 was an anomaly and my frustration level at the time clouded my thinking i.e. I should have contacted Tony before my rant rather than after.
I now have 4 Tony Dixon whistles that are just excellent and am thinking of ordering a 5th. I strongly encourage you to take a second look at the 203 or maybe there is someone in your area that has one that you can check out. Maybe a local shop might have one to try.
Oddly enough, the whistle would probably survive - it has a heavy duty brass tube and a solid(ish) plastic head! I have one of these, and it is my main high D. Its is louder than the Dixon trad I used to have, and probably as loud as my Parks every walkabout. That said, I am not a huge fan of high D - I prefer low whistles - so my preferences in this department probably lean towards easy/beginner/unsophisticated user.
I have a dx006 (the aluminium version) which I think is lovely.
The 203 should have been tuneable to concert pitch - do you mean it was out of tune rather than off-key? Because that sounds like something to be returned to the maker…
I believe Kye was referring to what he currently has and not the 203. (Kye correct me if I’m wrong.)
EDIT: In particular “Jumped on” meaning “to purchase”. “Jumped on” to destroy was a remark made in the next post to the 203’s indestructibility.
Technically, using “intonation” to mean absolute pitch accuracy as you do is fine. In the whistle world, intonation more commonly refers to the note-to-note accuracy of the tuning. In other words, is the whistle consistently in tune with itself. The assumption is that either the overall tuning is pitch-adjustable via the head or slide, or it’s a one-piece that’s correctly pitched as-is.
Anecdotally, the overall tuning of most reputable one-piece whistles is usually fine. When that seems not to be the case, it’s often a symptom that either 1) the breath pressure expectations of the maker are not the same as yours, and it’s worthwhile experimenting with your own breath technique; or 2) the whistle is insufficiently warmed up.
Of course, it would definitely help to know the exact whistle you’re having problems with. 