I have seen a few references to the Whistle Smith “Wicked Good Whistles”, but not much has been said.
I have a low d in this line, but have nothing else to compare it to. It is breathy, but plays. I thought that the c# in the first octave was flat when I first got it, but when I adjusted the tuning slide in, the problem disappeared. And part of it disappearing was getting used to the air requirements of the low whistle. Also, the width of the window can be adjusted, and I think I learn a lot about adjusting the whistle here.
As to loudness, I don’t know . . . I have nothing to compare it with.
As for high whisltes, I have clarkes, walton mellow d’, little balck, feadogs and my home made “low tech” . . . which does play but . . .
How do Wicked Good Whistle high d’s compare?
And how about the low G’s, or the one in A he calls “the Traveler”?
I have both the Low D and the Low G - Love em both - the Low G is especially great - fingers easy - like a High whistle - and plays loud and strong. Rod Brewer is very responsive - very helpful.
pastorkeith
I have both the Low D and the Low G - Love em both - the Low G is especially great - fingers easy - like a High whistle - and plays loud and strong. Rod Brewer is very responsive - very helpful.
I had read that for a low whistle, you had to use “the piper’s grip.” Well, on the Wicked Good low d, I need the piper’s grip for the right hand, but not the left. I don’t like the green paint job . . . mainly because I damaged it and I think polished pvc would be more attractive than the damaged paint. I remember Rod Brewer being very helpful when I ordered the whistle.l Had I asked him, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had offered to send me one uppainted.
One little quirk that I noticed was that in the winter, my hands would get very dry and woujld not seal off the holes well, and the volume of the low d would really get low. A little hand lotion on my hands made my fingers seal the holes better, and the whistle got louder. I’m a little older (57), and my hands do tend to get very dry in the winter.
But I’m wondering if I’d like any of the others he makes. I really better be careful before I buy another. WHOA is getting the best of me, and I can’t justify buying another for a while. I am a minister. I use my guitar in services, but my whistle playing has been strictly for myself. Maybe, if I got good enough to use it in a service I could justify it . . . or maybe this is just whishful thinking.
I think WHOA is really the search for the one perfect whistle, the one you play to the exclusion of all others. As I play more, I am learning that the old whistles I didn’t like at first are really pretty good. Yet none is perfect. It may be that the perfect whistle doesn’t exist.
I’ve had one of the high D’s and liked it. IMO it was a better whistle than a couple of high-end brands that will remain nameless, for fear of my public flogging. That particular whistle was donated to someone’s Sunday School class a year or so ago. It was a decent whistle, but not my favorite. If you like the low one, you would probably like the high D. But, the usual whistle proviso has to fit here … your mileage may vary, not all whistlers’ like the same whistle, etc., etc.
That particular whistle was donated to someone’s Sunday School class a year or so ago. It was a decent whistle, but not my favorite. If you like the low one, you would probably like the high D. But, the usual whistle proviso has to fit here … your mileage may vary, not all whistlers’ like the same whistle, etc., etc.