I’ve been playing the flute for decades and have a violin/fiddle playing son who has become interested in the low d whistle. What is the latest thinking on the best low ds out there. He has a very good ear and plays with folks with very good ears so tune-ability is important as is tone. I know a lot about flutes and a little about high d whistles, but the low d is a mystery to me. I’ve noticed that Reyburn makes a whistle with holes that are placed for natural finger strikes. Anyone play one of these? And any other advice? Thanks
I’m sure you’ll get the usual array of responses about each player’s favorite. From my experience, low D whistles vary greatly in the overall sound: tone, volume, “grit”, etc. So a lot of the “best” references will be based on the intended use and personal preference.
I have two that I play a good deal: a recent Reyburn (within the past couple of years, one with a delrin head and aluminum body) and a slightly older MK. The former has what PanCeltic refers to as “Native American flute in a fog” — what I’d call a rounded, almost echo-ish, soft sounding but with full volume. My MK has much more “grit”, a bit rougher sound.
I’m told, however, that the sound of these instruments, being hand made, will vary from one to another as well.
So, there’s an extensive non-answer to your question—but at least some issues to consider.
Best wishes.
Steve
There’s no answer to this question really as it’s down to taste, but in Scotland pretty much all the top players play Goldie or MK.
MKs are very easy to play, but can sometimes feel a bit slippery to hold. The glossy ones are less slippery than the non-glossy ones…
The Pros are tuneable. Not so the Kelpies (and the one I had was a tad flat).
Some Goldie whistles have problems with clogging which you don’t want when your starting out. But Goldie makes several different versions with differing windway heights. So try before you buy would be ideal.
Another whistle that is similar in design to the MK is the Alba whistle. Quite common in sessions in Scotland. Very easy to play. And, like the MK, it doesn’t clog.
As a first low D I’d say this is a very good choice.
JoFo, “Some Goldies have problems with clogging”. I would have to disagree with that. Some players have a problem with clogging Goldies, that’s true, but unless it’s been damaged then it’s the player that’s clogging the whistle.
I’m thinking about a new low D, I play a MacNeil now, and those are the two on my list. Was at a Celtic Colours tune session in October, a couple of Scottish pipers in the mix… when the whistles came out, they were Goldies or Overtons. Had forgotten about Alba; will look into them more.
With the question being about the best low D, with all due respect to Alba I don’t think that’s the market they’re aiming for, and that’s reflected in the price.
Well,they don’t clog without a player,that’s for sure.
But more than one member has commented on this in regard to Goldies,and there is more than one thread with instructions for Colin’s toothpaste treatment to combat same.
Many players make Goldies clog, I’m just saying it’s the player, not always the blowing style but often neglecting to keep the windway completely clean. The main effect of the toothpaste is it helps to clean the windway.
It seems like a bit of semantics. Yes, cars don’t run out of gas–people fail to refill the tank. But people still say “my car ran out of gas”. “Whistles don’t clog, people clog whistles” is in the same vein.
Clogging is primarily a failure to mitigate condensation and some whistles perform better than others in this regard. Some whistles simply clog worse than others, either due to design or materials. I have whistles that have never clogged on me. My new Copeland (like every Copeland I’ve ever owned) clogs extremely quickly and required the duponol treatment.
A dirty windway can cause whistles to clog faster, because there are more condensation points. Some people may experience clogging worse than others due to a variety of factors (maybe they have wetter breath, maybe the climate in their area promotes condensation more, etc). But none of those things really change the fact that some whistles clog more easily than others irrespective of other external factors.
The toothpaste trick may help with clogging by cleaning the windway, but it also helps with clogging because toothpaste (like duponol) contains a surfactant that lowers surface tension and allows moisture to wick out of the windway more easily.
My Goldies occasionally clog, but not on their own accord. I’m aware any time they do it’s my own fault and not that of the whistle.
Whatever you want it to be when we’re talking personal relationships with musical instruments and not mere fashion/flavour of the month?
Which is exactly what I’d expect from the question!
For sure, Goldie and MK are sound, ‘professional’ choices. I’ve tried MKs and would have quite happily had one. I’ve never played a Goldie, but sold my Overtons (which I’m aware are not quite the same thing). I now play Bracker, but am I suggesting you buy Bracker? No, because my choice falls into the realm of Steve’s ‘usual array of responses about each player’s favorite’ (from what they’ve tried). Which also squares with Bogman’s ‘no answer to this question really as it’s down to taste’, despite not contesting his ‘in Scotland pretty much all the top players play Goldie or MK.’ There are further quality options, but can’t really see you going wrong with either, especially if buying untried.
[quote= There are further quality options, but can’t really see you going wrong with either, especially if buying untried.[/quote]
That’s the case here. If you actually want to TRY a quality whistle, of any sort, you are limited to Chieftains at the chain music store… it’s a bit better here in Cape Breton than others in the chain because trad music is stronger here, but only to a point. For instance, they stock chieftains, while other stores may have to bring them in. I keep an eye on the online ads for the region, and have yet to see a good low D come up. The only folks I know of besides me with low D’s are the pipers, and there I see a few Goldies, and Ryan Macneil plays whistles of his own manufacture. There must be more, but I never see them. So trying to figure out from the online opinions which ones might be best suited, and ordering unseen, new or used, seems to be the only option.
That big hunk of aluminum gets pretty cold and that leads to condensation from your warm moist breath. Warm up the head and you’ll get very little clogging.
I heard of a whistle player in a local band who had several Overtons. He kept the heads submerged in a bucket of hot water during gigs!
Perhaps off topic, but Cajun fiddler/singer extraordinaire, Doug Kershaw, used to keep a bucket of bows on stage. When you watch him play, you can see why.
According to Phil at Big Whistle, the Alba low D is close to being in league with Goldie and MK, which gives it some real bang for the buck. With that price/quality ratio in mind, I got one a while back, and I’ve been very pleased with it. Good tone, comfortable to play, good balance between the octaves, etc.; it ticks the boxes. But yeah, if you look at pro/touring players, Goldie, MK, maybe Grinter, that sort of thing is standard.
Actually, I did the very opposite before I had my Overtons retrofitted with tuning slides - as they were always a good bit sharp of 440 Hz, I kept them in a bucket of ice cubes to bring the pitch down. That was 25 years ago, and to be honest, I don’t remember if I had major problems with clogging - probably not, otherwise I guess I would remember - I do remember getting very cold lips when playing.
Anyhow, the tuning slide solved that problem for good!
I had three (A, G and low D). The A and low D were pretty well spot on, but the G was flat enough to be awkward and when I recorded with it we had to slightly pitch-shift the other tracks to match the whistle before shifting everything back again.
Round these parts, a buxom lady keeps hers warm in her cleavage. A high D admittedly but I think a low D would fit too.
I’ve had, what, 30 or 40 different Low Ds under my fingers over the last decade.
There’s a variety of factors I look for:
- tuning
- air-efficiency
- ease/nimbleness of the 2nd octave
- power of Low E and Bottom D
- ergonomics
- tone
And that’s the order of importance, more or less, for me.
A Low D that was superior in all these factors would be The Perfect Whistle for me. So far, I have not found such! I keep trying every Low D I can, hoping against hope that the Unicorn exists somewhere.
What DOES exist in plenty are Low Ds which are superior in one or more of these factors but poor in one or more other factors.
I myself have ended up with a Goldie. It’s not the best at everything, but it’s not bad at anything. It has no glaring flaw, being at least good at all of the factors I look for. In other words each Low D is a system of compromises. It’s up to each player to decide what he’s willing to forgo, and what he’s not.
For example one Low D make I tried had, compared to my Goldie, a nicer tone, more powerful Bottom D, and a lighter, easier, more nimble 2nd octave. Great, eh? But it took twice as much air to sound as my Goldie, meaning I was limited to phrases half as long. Not for me!
For various reasons the best Low Ds I tried over the years were the Reyburn, MK, Burke, Lofgren, and Goldie. I kept the Goldie and sold off the rest. My Goldie is supremely efficient and has perhaps the best tuning of any Low D I’ve tried. These are the factors at the top of my list. Also it’s ergonomics are superior.
For me being in tune is far more important than timbre. Rockstro said it best:
The necessity for correct intonation is so self-evident that it would be unnecessary to draw attention to the importance of the subject, were it not for the unfortunate fact that many players consider perfection of tune as being desirable if attainable without too much trouble, or without the sacrifice of some comparatively unimportant accomplishment on which they particularly pride themselves, such as expression, tone or execution.
I would urge that intonation is the most important point but one in the whole range of the art of music: it may even be considered to include the playing of correct notes, inasmuch as all musical sounds depend upon pitch for their identity.
(Edited due to Rockstro’s excessive verbosity.)
I’ve not heard of that. Until you wrote that, I thought I could safely say that all Low D whistle makers placed their holes at the best possible compromise between the laws of acoustics and human anatomy.