Right now, I have 2 main high D’s that I alternate between. I love my Dixon Trad for it’s bird-like sweetness in the 2nd octave and the ease of reaching the high B. My main problem is that I tend to overblow the first octave very easily. My other main whistle is a Mellow Dog. I love the robustness of of the first octave, but the higher I get into the 2nd, it can get a bit ear-splitting and needs more air than where my “comfort level” is.
I know that there is a trade-off between a good strong lower octave vs. a sweet bird-like higher octave, but I’m wondering if anyone has a recommendation for something that would fall somewhere between a Dixon Trad and a MD.
Price is not a huge issue, so I’ll listen to any and all options.
For what it’s worth, I actually played a Susato the other night that was wonderful. Possibly the best whistle I’ve ever played, but I worry about variability from one to the next. The one in question actually has a head from a white Susato, a body from a black Susato, and thread wrapped in the tuning slide area, so I guess it’s a bit of a Franken-whistle anyway.
You should search the archives for the zillion questions nearly identical to yours to get years of insight, but my recommendation for what you want is a Burke narrow bore. Iprefer the DCN (D, composite, narrow) with the brass (DBN) a very close second.
Yes, Susatos are much maligned for various reasons. But a good Susato is a nice whistle, I think, with more tonal flexibility than some give it credit for.
Unfortunately, I have to agree that the heads can be inconsistent. I have 4 Susato S-bore heads, and each is different. The ideal is a shop where you can mix and match heads before buying. Barring that, you can order directly from Kelischek. If you get a head you don’t like, my experience is that they’ll go out of their way to make things right for you.
I also agree with plunk that Burke whistles are very well balanced across the registers.
plunk- sorry, I’ve been reading the boards a couple of years now, and while I’ve seen a lot of requests for recommendations, I’d never seen a thread asking for something specifically between the two whistles I mentioned. Sorry if I’m being redundant.
MT- have you ever tried a VS-bore Susato?
Again, the two heads are slightly different, though both are good. I keep the brighter one on the E whistle for session playing, and the mellower / breathier one on the D whistle for personal playing.
I like my V series Susato very much . . . it’s not too loud and the upper register doesn’t make me cringe. It’s a little touchy on the lower notes but that isn’t too hard to get used to. It’s has a nice, sweet tone.
Mellow Dogs have evolved over time. Does yours have a “Waltons Mellow D” sticker on the tube and an extension on the end to bring the bell note down to pitch? If so, both the whistlehead and the tube have changed in ways that make the top notes sweeter and less piercing. If you have a Mellow Dog with a one piece tube that has only a Jerry Freeman/mouse sticker on it, then if you purchased it more than about nine months ago, the whistlehead design has been refined somewhat, and in a way that tends towards a sweeter, less piercing upper.
Let me know what configuration of Mellow Dog you have, and I’ll see if I can address your issue.
Hi Jerry,
I bought a D/C set back in March of 2008. The D tube is one piece. I can’t remember if it started peeling or if I removed it while polishing, but the sticker is gone. I remember reading recently that the head design has changed some due to your experiences making the Blackbird. Do you sell heads individually? The C is my favorite whistle… absolutely perfect!
After seeing this thread, Jerry Freeman contacted me and set me up with the latest Mellow Dog head, so I could compare the two and see if the new one was what I was looking for. The new head arrived today, and I’ve spent the last hour or so playing them.
The new head is definitely an improvement over the older design. The second octave is much sweeter without any noticeable loss in the power of the first octave. Both octaves are less airy, with more of a “steadiness” in the tone. The high notes are much easier to reach.
But I guess an mp3 is worth a thousand words!
This first clip is the old head first, followed by the new head, on the D body. http://www.box.net/shared/yvv9765idb
The second clip is on the C body, old head then new head. http://www.box.net/shared/54ms4qrnv7
Any bad technique you hear is my own, not the whistle. I also don’t have the best recording setup in the world, but hopefully it’s good enough for the differences to stand out.
Overall, I think the new head fits the bill perfectly for what I’ve been looking for, and can’t wait for my next session. Thank you, Jerry!
The Goldie-Overton high D is a fine whistle, one of my favorites. It’s also a fairly loud whistle. Tonally complex in both registers. Fairly high backpressure. Somewhat embouchure sensitive. I’m not sure it meets the OP criterion of “something that would fall somewhere between a Dixon Trad and a [Mellow Dog]”.
I can hear the difference. Can you tell what was making the original head glitchy by looking at the two? Just curious. Isn’t Jerry’s customer service astonishing good?
@mtguru I’m with you on the character of the Goldie-Overtons. I love mine, very distinctive voice - and nothing plays like them.
I think a Humphrey, if the OP were to still want a different whistle, would be a lot closer to “something that would fall somewhere between a Dixon Trad and a [Mellow Dog]”. Too bad Gary is being worked so hard right now.
I’m not sure I’d call the old head glitchy, really, it’s just that the new head is an improvement in my opinion. The old head is a fine player, it just took more air than I preferred to get those high notes, and the volume was not as balanced between the 2 octaves. But I don’t think there was any problem with it, other than being different than my own preference. Or, you could say it was more than my own limitations could handle. I’m very pleased with the new head, but I’m still actually using the old head on the C body.
I would love to try out a Humphrey one day. When Peter Laban did his blind whistle test several months ago, the Humphrey was the one I had picked out as having the best tone to my ears. Here’s to hoping he can come out of retirement one day soon!
