I’m getting ready to buy my first low D,aChieftain.Should I go with a tuneable or not?I see where some don’t like them.
I’ve never found I need tunable whistles. I had a low
D non-tunable chieftain and it was fine. These things
are in tune, generally other musicians are in tune
(electronic tuners). Perhaps others have had
different experiences.
A lot of times, my session is not in tune to concert pitch. They’ll all tune to whatever the guitar player is tuned to, and he may not have pulled out a tuner for many days, making him significantly flat. If this isn’t a worry (like, if you won’t be playing the whistle at session, or if you know they’re tuned to concert pitch), I’d say the slide is unneccessary. It’s still fairly useful, though.
So why would you not ask the guitar player to tune his instrument? If all the musicians are in tune except him that seems the logical answer.
Well, everyone tunes to him, whatever pitch he’s playing at. It’s pretty arbitrary, but you’ve got to tune to someone, and a guitar is better than a fiddle.
Well, I’ve never had a low whistle, but I agree with the sentiment that the sessioneers should get with the program. Tuning a bunch of people to an out-of-tune instrument is pretty silly. I haven’t come across whistles that are noticeably out-of-tune, and I’d probably opt for a non-tunable low whistle, (and will when the obsession takes hold, I guess).
I can tell when my guitar is out of tune, even if it’s just a little. It seems to me that tuning a whole group to an off standard would cause the whole thing to go to pot in a hurry. I once played with a guy who broke a lot of B strings on his guitar. To solve the problem, he strung a medium or heavy B string with lights on the others. The different tension requirements caused the B to drop out regulary. He would then tune the whole guitar to the off string to stabilize the tensions. The result was horrible intonation for chords. The less open strings, the more whacky the intonation got. Since he was the lead, I had to tune to him. By the end of the set I would almost by cringing at how bad the thing sounded. IMO, it’s much better to tune the guitar correctly so everyone can enjoy the experience. Plus, since a nontunable whistle that is in tune is a fixed standard, why not tune to that? Isn’t that how Paddy Maloney sounds so good with his pipes, by making everyone tune to him?
It’s really not a big deal, he’s normally in tune, just every once in a while he’s a little south of concert pitch. Still perfectly in tune with himself, and once everyone else has made some minor adjustment, they’re all good, too. There’s no one at our session that plays a non-tunable instrument, so it’s really very simple to adjust into the guitar.
But certainly, if you can convince everyone to tune to your non-tunable whistle, that would be ideal.
I agree with Congrats that the ability to tune is important. By my electronic tuner at home, the piano accordion we tune to is more at A=442. When he’s not there, the B/C box we’re tuning to is closer to A=438ish (he’s trying to get it in for a tune up, but his man is busy).
So, we’re often a wee bit off A=440. This does not in any way cause the session to go south…
I’d you can afford it, why not get one you can tune?
Eric
Why? You generally should tune to the least readily tunable instrument present, that’s just common sense. If the guitar is in tune with itself and not wildly far away from concert, it’s a lot easier to adjust a whistle slide than six guitar strings.
If you have any intention of playing with other people, a non-tunable whistle is stupid. Period. You simply cannot assume that every untunable instrument in a group is going to be at exactly concert pitch at every temperature. As soon as someone says “we have to tune to so-and-so” rather than to an electronic device, your non-tunable whistle is a major liability.
Colomon, I can see your point. It’s easier to slide a whistle joint a touch than to tune a six- or eight-stringer. But if you’re talking about a session full of folks, some of whom may be juggling multiple instruments, using ‘correct’ tuning makes a lot more sense, (at least to me).
An exception would be if you wanted to accommodate someone with a nontunable instrument, such as accordion, that’s a bit off. For a guitar or fiddle, I say “no”, let the player tune to the group.
I’ve got a non-tunable low whistle, but all of my tunable whistles are high.
Generally, if “room temperature” isn’t too extreme, I can blow the low whistle into tune, even if everyone is out a few cents. But that is a skill that takes a while to develop. Plus, on the low whistle, if you’re off a cent or two, it’s not as noticeable as on the high whistle. Sometimes, however, if it’s too cold, or too hot, it’s just a pain in the butt, or even impossible to blow the whistle into tune with everyone else. Times like that, I just don’t play it…if I had a tunable whistle, that wouldn’t be a problem.
Well, I guess my mind’s been changed. I’m still for having the tunable instruments do their best to get to concert pitch, but I guess if I go for a low whistle, I’ll look at tunables.
Do people actually play low whistles at session? Seems they’d be pretty nicely drowned out at all but the smallest sessions.
ANY whistle will best serve it’s player if it is as dynamic as possible. You’re N-E-V-E-R going to find a perfect session every time - with every player and instrument in perfect tune. Add to that the difficulty or sometimes outright impossibility of trying to tune certain instruments up or down concertinas, pipes, etc. and you may find that the best thing to do is to come to where they are…be it up or down from 440.
All the sessions I ever attended had a bevvy of tuners persent - everyone was happy till the non-tunables turned-up. Then It’s a matter of everyone re-tuning - and here a whistler has a choice - either use the tuneable, select the flat or sharp non-tuneable or go to the bar for drinks!
If the whistler is lead then the non-tunables go to the next pub down along with the other boxes 
edited to say: What’s a “guitar”?
It’s not that the whole group decides to tune to someone who is out, it’s that whoever is there first to tune to is usually chosen - if he or she happens to be spot on, excellent! Everybody will end up close to that, but if he or she is off even just a little, everyone else will be too… not really a problem if all are very close to in tune with each other. However, if they have been happily playing along, with out problem for an hour and someone tuned bang-on-the-money walks in and starts playing without tuning to the group, he will sound out of tune. So… should everyone who has already been there, tuned and playing be forced to tune to the newest arrival, or should the newest arrival adjust his instrument to fit in? Usually it is far easier to have the one adjust than to get all to successfully retune.
Some instruments stay in tune better than others, and adjustments have to be made throughout the night, especially if the temp or humidity changes markedly. .. Then again, some instruments are very hard to tune, and so it is again far easier for the other players to tune up or down a smidge to match rather than to take the added time to retune say a hammered dulcimer.
Of course absolutely accurately in tune is best, but it isn’t always achievable, particularly in larger sessions after they’ve already been started. The difference in pitch doesn’t have to be much at all to sound bad, and add the variables of individual breath or finger control and its effect on pitch, and you can begin to see why it is valuable to have a tunable whistle.
I’m often playing with accordions and I have bought a flute keyed G for that… but it’s a bamboo flute and non tuneable… and people who have a good ear hear that i ( or they) are not in the good tune… 
The point I was making about the guitar is that although in tune with itself, it will not be in tune on chords if it is off on the base tuning. Any group that harmonizes will have the same problem as they play more complex harmonies.
Right. I wasn’t trying to start an arguement about tuning or not. But it just seemed silly to not ask the guitar player to tune his instrument. Everyone closer to in tune makes for a better sound. I have done the tune to the guy cause he is in tune with himself and it works.. right up until you start doing some oddness with harmonies. And man is it h*** on vocalists
But obviously as long as everyone is happy and everyone has tunable instruments it is less of a problem. It is only when the non tunable whistle player enters the fray. Although I have to say the sentiment that someone who plays a non tunable should just move on down the road is rather disturbing.