I’m looking for a whistle $40-45 bucks or less to replace my Clarke Original.
What would be the best in this price range?
I have been looking at the Tony Dixon whistles.
Like these:
http://www.whistleanddrum.com/tony-dixon-polymer-tunable-irish-whistles
http://www.whistleanddrum.com/dixon-brass-tuning-slide-polymer-irish-whistle-key-of-d
Which one would be the best? Or maybe you can point me in the direction of something better for the price?
Thanks
God bless
-Joshua
Jerry Freeman Mellow Dog is in the $35 range. Excellent whistle for the price.
Best wishes.
Steve
Thank you for the Idea.
I just don’t really like the looks.
In That price-range you could also look at Susato.
The Dixon, Susato and Freeman whistles all have something to offer for low-cost tunable whistles.
Coming from a Clarke Original, you might be surprised by the reduced air requirement in all of these. Of course, that depends on whether you altered your Clarke in any way..
These whistles are all well in tune and play briskly .. the choice will be more subjective than pragmatic. In subjective terms (my opinion):
The Dixon is a sweet, well mannered whistle - it is a gentle soul that won’t be pushed too hard.
The Susato S-bore is assertive and exact - it can be modified to sweeten (search O-Ring mod). The V-bore is less asertive and requires sensitivity.
The Freeman is a perfected Generation-style whistle .. very “trad” sounding without the capricious temper of a Gen or Feadog. These are as close as you can get to hand-made before you break-out of $60+ Then you are looking at fully hand-constructed whistles like the SYN .. and on it goes.
For pure cosmetics .. I can’t fault the Dixon brass-slide.
Have you looked at Shaw whistles? They are not tuneable, but extend the Clarke tradition (Conical Tin Whistle .. only made of nickel-silver).
Hope this helps!
It does help thank you very much!
I’m probably going to go with a Dixon Tunable in C. But something that I have wondered is how tunable is a tunable whistle? Can you tune it to different keys? Or do you just have the ability to tune to other peoples instruments that are in the same key?
no one makes one with movable holes 
There is, hopefully, a place on the tuning slide where the whistle is in tune with itself.
The farther from there the slide is moved the more out of tune with itself the whistle will become.
And at that position, if you’re lucky, the whistle is in tune with something else as well.
you want too much 
It’s high time for the eight segment telescopic whistle!
Whistle players will have as much fun to set up their whistle
as uilleann pipers 
that should put an end to whistles!
Cilian O’Briain’s tweaked whistles are good also - if you can find them, that is.
Or take a look at this before you decide… it will be well worth the extra cabbage in the long run:
http://www.bigwhistle.co.uk/shop_results.asp?search=1&subcat=7&keyword=Syn&GO=GO+�
+1
Worth looking out for.
Then, we could spend 90 percent of our time tuning our whistles and the other 10 percent playing out of tune!
Now here’s the the thing about imperial and actual …
Yes, played blank-and-proper - the standard whistle with a tenon-gap SHOULD play perfectly in-tune when adjusted to concert pitch (give or take just/even temperament .. and all the head-science).
HOWEVER .. (anecdote warning .. hey - all I have is my own experience .. perhaps my senses are faulty .. perhaps the world is flat - we don’ need no steenkin’ badgers!):
A player (who buys a lot of my whistles) always closes them right-up - I tune them to be effective with about 1/4 inch tenon-gap, his second octave SHOULD be way way sharp with that tenon closed … nevertheless, he still plays perfectly in tune.
A pair of acomplished players played a duet on 2 of my whistles at my exhibition recently .. one of them had one whistle I didn’t know I had to offer .. I asked to look at it .. put on my super-magnify-glasses, got out the caliper .. indeed - it WAS the Eb - he was playing it perfectly in D along with the standard D the other was playing.
SO - Can the tuning be used to change the key? - Yes - if you know how to do that .. but it will be a lot of work. It is designed to be reasonably in-tune with the other instruments.
By accepted definition, a pennywhislte is a diatonic instrument - we purpose them to play 2 major keys comfortably (along with all the minor modes and variants).
A whistle should not aspire to be “chromatic” .. you know? All the colors in the rainbow? That’s a Recorder. They don’t sound as nice and they are frozen in ice. Whistles are supposed to be a warmth - a nature. There’s a certain reverance when one picks up a different key and experiences it, one also can learn to take such an instrument to its limits - but it all anchors in the key.
We exist, each, one side or other of the wave .. our instrument will take us in our wanderings .. or not.
There are many instruments - always enough .. we will find the right one in our hand.
Depends on the length of the tuning slide, but I think you may be able to get away with about a semi-tone of tuneability on some whistles (Gen Bb for instance can play in A at a push). But remember that a C whistle can also play in F (major) and also in G (major) with a little half-holing.
A telescopic whistle would be fun, but how about an elastic whistle? Of course, you’d have to remember not to let go of the end whilst playing.
Hi, I’m new to the forum. I have been learning on a Clarke D whistle for a couple of years and would like something a little better. The wooden block is wobbly and I am hoping I will have a clearer tone with a nicer whistle. I have trouble hitting the very high notes. I am wondering if, given that I have a tin ear (can’t tell if a note is sharp or flat) I should even buy a tunable whistle. I really like the simplicity of the one-piece. For aesthetic reasons I would prefer something very plain in looks. I don’t care for the diamonds on the Clarke. I’m not looking to spend much over $50 and less would be great. A wooden whistle would appeal to me. Any suggestions? Thanks.
A whistle tweaked by Jerry Freeman would be within your price range, tweaked by an expert, and with a classic look to boot. Then you just have to decide between his various models – he’s posted excellent sound samples recently. Look for threads he’s started in the recent archives.
[Edited to add:}
His Blackbird has a very clear, sweet, and easily accessible high end, if that’s what you’re looking for. My Blackbird is my favorite whistle, and I have a few that cost a lot more than that one did. It would, however take a lot less air than you’re used to giving it with the Clarke. If you enjoy moving more air through your whistle, you might prefer one of his other models.
Re: tunable whistles and why you might want one:
First, they’re essential if you want to play music with other people, but I don’t do that yet. Where I use a tunable whistle is playing along with recordings, which is huge fun if you haven’t tried it yet. You can use a slow-downer program to ajust the speed that’s comfortable to play along with,
It’s good training for your musical ear – I started out with no ear skills whatsoever, and was surprised to find that I naturally wanted to tune my whistle to sound better with the recording (though that took some trial & error to get there) and then to also blow the individual notes into tune with the recording.
Another good ear training exercise is to play along with a drone, like the tuning notes you can get an electronic tuner to make. I was gratified to find that my most undeveloped musical ear knew how to make things sound better, if given a tonal reference to work from.
Just can’t wait for that Blackbird!
Thank you, Squidgirl. I listened to some of the tweaked Freemans and the Blackbird sounds pretty good. I like that it is easier to blow. In case anyone is interested, Freeman has a store on e-bay and the price is the same as on his website, but the shipping is $5.55 on e-bay and $7.25 on his website. I have to watch my pennies. I may try to bid on one, see how that works. I will think about it a bit before ordering. I was really hoping for a one piece whistle. As for me ever developing an ear, I sincerely doubt it. I played a clarinet in high school and never could tell if I was flat or sharp. The best I can do is tell if I hit a wrong note. But I only play for myself.
How about one of Dave Shaw’s whistles. Same design as the Clarke (if that’s what you’re after) but a much better sound. However I don’t know if there’s a retailer in the US. A google search should help you with that one.