I tried to make sure this wasn’t a repost. I did find some info, but not the answer I was looking for. Anyway, I know that Waltons took over Soodlum, but I was wondering if there is any reason to get a Soodlum Mello D over a Watlons Mello D. Were the older ones in any way made better?
hmmmm, i’m not sure 'bout this… i think that soodlums are not manufactured anymore so the only remaining mellow D’s are the ones that Waltons make, so i guess that the ones that are available right now are the new ones. but if you ever happen to find the ones when it was still under soodlums (if there are still available somewhere), i believe they’re the same since they haven’t re-designed the mouthpiece, they only replaced the sticker on the whitle body.
I’ve had examples of a Soodlum Mellow D, a new in the package early Waltons Mellow D and current Waltons Mellow D’s. As far as I can remember, they were all indistinguishable except for the Soodlum label. The bell note on the Soodlum Mellow D is sharp exactly the same as with current Waltons Mellow D’s.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Thanks for the info. Just what I wanted to know.
I saw a Soodlum’s on eBay and decided to get. The name is painted on the brass (instead of a sticker) and it looked kind cool. Anyway, it just came in and I’m really pleased with it. I don’t know how old it is, but it’s tarnished and spotted and has a neat look. The tone holes are dimpled which I hadn’t noticed on other whistles. I think it’s the wider bore. The upper octave sounds good and the low notes are loud and clear. There’s just a touch of roughness. It’s not scratchy or raspy at all. This is the first time I’ve gotten a cheap whistle that actually sounded good and that was kind of exciting.
Pictures? 
Here’s a few.
Painted logo
You can see a bit of the dimpling on the tone holes.
wow! that’s an awesome-looking whistle, congratulations!!! 