No. Many pricey whistles are chiffy, and sought for their chiffiness.
[quote=“dapple”]If I now understand correctly, the complexities / overtones that provide Overton’s trademark cosmic-drainpipe sound, for example, are referred to by some as (sustained) chiff. Is that correct? Maybe not since overtones are not non-musical sounds.[quote]
I would classify those complexities/overtones as part of the timbre of the whistle. If some of the cosmic drainpipe sound comes from breathiness, some people might call the breathiness part of it chiff. I don’t have hands-on experience with Overtons, but the recordings I’ve heard didn’t sound breathy to me. Just rich in overtones and big-sounding, which I would not characterize as chiff, but as timbre.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Apologies to the Bard:
What is Chiff?
(insight you’re after,
not explanations met with laughter,)
What it means is still unsure.
In such quibbles there’s no plenty,
Got an Alba? I’ll take twenty,
If my lungs will but endure.
I think of chiff as that tubular ocarina-like sound some whistles get. A bit like the sound that a steam caliope gets. As opposed to airy or raspy sound. Chiff can be present on a very pure sounding whistle. At least that’s the way I think of it. Anyone have an alternate term for that tubular sound? (that’s the sound I like)
I think the “drain pipe” sound on a low whistle and the “tubular ocarina-like” sound on a high whistle are actually the same thing in a different octave . Thoughts?
Chiff is a term that originally comes from Organ makers and users. When you start the initial note, there is an expression of non-intentional sound or voice that emanates from the pipe. This sound varies depending on construction - so it is hard to define. It can can be a squeek, a wisp of air, a burr sound, a gargley sound. It’s the way the instrument starts up a note when the air column in the bore begins to charge up.
The chiff originally refers to the initial sound made in the note but due to confusion of its meaning, whistleplayers also refer to ‘airyness’ in the sound as chiff.
-I hadn’t heard of a chiffchaff before, only of the chaffinch. Are they the same bird? -Perhaps named after chaff feeding or shifting about like a sullen teen at a family gathering ?
-We’ve simplified bird I.D. here - LBB means little brown bird. This reduces precision of classification, but rewards we dilettantes unable to grasp more subtle features of avian anatomy. A recent survey of local birding logs revealed a positive correlation between brandy intake and the likelihood of recording any small hedge-hopping bird as an LBB. Under review is a proposal to add another category-The LGB, for little gray bird. Science marches on! 
Such explanations deserve a thanks.
OK, I understand that chiff is a good thing for whistles or organ pipes.
No, Doug. Accepting the broad theory of chiff, wherein it applies both to attack noise and sustained airiness, there are some of us who do not think chiff is “…a good thing for whistles…” I detest air in the notes and further distinguish air from what I refer to as the desirable trait often labelled overtones, darkness, character, (think good Copeland), etc. For me, airiness is distracting, unnecessary, weak, unfocused.
I consider chiff to be the “pop” one gets whilst attacking the tone hole, yes that classical definition wherein only the wonderful extra sound when striking the holes is considered chiff. Within that definition, chiff is “…a good thing for whistles…”
The perfect whistle has both complex overtones in its sustained notes and chiff, or popping upon the attack.
Those most likely to share in this belief are born in the Bronx (a strange land where eating pizza with a knife and fork is a capital offense) and may have come late to the lore and lure of the whistle - sometimes referred to as the “dark popoff” sect of classical chiffists.
Philo
Googlism for: chiff
chiff is
chiff is not a defect
chiff is a defect of pipe speech
chiff is manufactured in high
chiff is n the bottom octave; this is typical of these organs
chiff is now very pronounced
chiff is really two people
chiff is also acquiring a buddha
chiff is a small female tabby
chiff is hiding in a bush at ambush wargames
chiff is a marvellous thing
chiff is the consonant that precedes the vowel
chiff is heard at the beginning of each note
chiff is after me
chiff is unwanted and must be reduced
chiff is reflected by
chiff is currently 5 months old and a staffy cross
chiff is so tired of it he wants you to stop
Chiff is fed up of folk askin what chiff is
I always thought it was windiness.
OK. I will not use the term chiff again. Why? Because Stacey said her whistles were not windy but someone here said they were very chiffy. If chiffy = windy then clearly one of these is incorrect.
Since I am considering buying an Alba and did not really like the windiness of a clarke original or the serpent this “windy” thing is very important.
Hey, while we’re at it, what’s the blu-tack tweak? 
Don’t have an Alba, so can’t answer that one - but the blu-tack tweak is when you stuff blu-tack under the windway of a cheap molded-head whistle. This sometimes helps stabilize the sound, almost never hurts, and though it will stay put once it’s there it can be easily removed if you wish.
Either that, or it involves getting a set of blue patent leather harness for your horses. 
I nominate Stacey for “best avatar.” Amar, a second here…?
Philo
I like FC’s cat avatar.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Actually I was just bringing up other old topics that have somehow managed to die. I think I’ll do that to my new Oak though.