I’m a beginner. I can play some Christmas songs, Amazing Grace and a few other kids songs… I’m just starting to get into the Celtic flavors (which I love, but have no background in).
My first whistle was a Clarke Original in D. Since then I bought an Acorn in D, which I can’t stand… it seems to play overtones with every hole, kind of annoying. Just recently I purchased a Walton’s Little Black D off of eBay, so I’m waiting for that to come in.
Any thoughts what I should be using? I hear a Sweetone gives a great, pure note, is this true? I’m looking for something that gives a sweet, pure tone, not so much the breathy, embodied notes the Original Clarke offers (while I love it of course).
How much money do you want to invest? I think Sweetone is rather fine whistle, as well as Dixon trad is rather good (and better than Sweetone, more consistently in tune).
If you want to invest more money, Burke or Overton would be a fine choice.
Whistles in that price range are mostly very similar. I´d suggest you to buy dixon trad (there´s nickel and brass variants, I played only brass, and rather liked it, on the other hand, usually I prefer nickel every time) - if I count it right, it´s about $30-35, which isn´t so much more, yet you´ll get much better, reliable and in-tune instrument.
I agree again on the Dixon, I got one for $23 plus $5 shipping at harp and dragon.
It has a very sweet sound, kinda too sweet for me really, I like more chiff.
But I would recomend against a Susato, the one I have sounds horrible, it sqwaks bad in the second octave, and sounds and looks too much like one of those cheep plastic recorders.
Just keep in mind that these mass-produced whistles with the injection-moulded plastic tops vary tremendously from whistle to whistle. That’s why you’ll hear one person say “my brand X plays great” and another will say “my brand X is terrible”. In the same batch you’ll find the great and the terrible and everything in between.
The example I’ve given here before is when I got to play two dozen new Generation D’s bought as a batch. One was a great player, with full low notes, sweet high notes, and good intonation between the octaves.
One was nearly as good. (I bought those two!!) Then there were several mediocre ones. At the bottom end where a couple which were horribly breathy and squawky and out of tune. Now, what if one person had at random bought the best one, and another person at random had bought the worst one? Both would post exactly opposite opinions of Generation D’s on this forum. And what if I had been able to play four or five dozen? How great a whistle might I have found?
Possibly the best-playing high D I’ve ever played is a Feadog I bought nearly 20 years ago and still play. I’ve played Feadogs which were awful. So you have to play a large number of any particular brand of these mass-produced whistles to get an idea of what the best examples play like.
the dixon new trad is a good one, price is slightly over usd$20 but definitely worth it, i use it to record to put on whistlethis, you can check my sound files if you dont mind my bad playing (sounds bad becuz of player, not the whistle)
Jerry Freeman tweaks are great whistles. He does several different brands some of which are < $20. I’d have to agree with what’s been said about the Freeman Mellow Dog. They are very competitive in quality to some of the really expensive tooters out there.
I also quite like the Dixon Trad. Tony’s a lovely guy.
Thom at The Whistle shop also tweaks a Clarke and makes a nice whistle out of it if you want something that’s not pure but not raspy. Thom’s also a lovely fellow.
I gave my Acorn another play with these new-found opinions. Ok, I don’t hate it as much as I thought I did. It’s tone is nice, but it does squawk and slip between notes a little too easily. Also, it tends to over-blow a tad too easy… has anyone else had that problem?
Neoclown, I find the mellow dog my favourite whistle, I prefer it to the dixon trad, which I also like… but just just not as much, because the trad is almost too much of an easy player, if you are over blowing the acorn, you may find the trad does the same. By no means am I saying the mellow dog is difficult to find the second octave, it just takes a tad more pressure than the trad and in my humble opinion (as one beginner to another) is better balanced.
Check out both whistles sounds by chosing different tunes and looking out for trad and mellow dog here:
I’m no expert but I do have some very nice whistles now to compare things with and so I want to add another recomendation for the Mellow Dog. You can get one with a C tube as well now. The Mellow Dog is a very very good whistle for just a few Dollars.
(sounds bad becuz of player, not the whistle)