I am a relative newbie and wanted to know if wood was better than anything else out there. It has a sort of nice charm to it, but there’s so many different brands listed here that I can’t work out what’s best.
I’m sure you’ll get lots of people here telling you that wood is the be-all-and-end-all. I must say that I have tried two wooden whistles which clearly were spectacular instruments, a Thin Weasel C and a Grinter low F.
But all of my whistles are either metal (mostly aluminum) or PVC, and I’m not alone; I can only think of one whistler I know who routinely plays a wooden whistle in public. (Okay, two if you count Kevin Crawford and he’s still playing that Grinter low F in public.)
For my tastes, I’ve never played a wooden whistle in D I like better than my aluminum O’Riordan. I have never been able to justify paying the big bucks to get a wooden whistle in some other key. And I don’t particularly regret that.
I have been spending most of my day looking on the web for something, and the Overton sop D is looking like the best, any thoughts?
I don’t think it’s so much a case of “better or worse” but preference. Some people don’t want the additional maintenance and protective measures of owning a wood whistle. Personally, I have whistles in wood, metal and pvc. I like each for different reasons. For me, I have decided that I would only own wood in a daily player. It makes sense to me, that given moisture issues and so on, that you want any wood instrument to have a consistant use. Maybe I’m off on that (someone feel free to chime in here) but I’m comfortable with it.
See the recent thread (still on the first page) “with delrin. . .etc., why wood?”
It pretty much sums up the views of the outspoken on the board.
Do I think it’s better? I don’t know, but I sure as hell like it more.
Wood is good. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know. If I were buying my very first whistle today I’d buy a Abell in blackwood. At about $350.00 you won’t need another whistle ever. If I were short on money I’d get a Sweetheart Pro. It’s some sort of laminated wood stuff.
For $105 I bought a Humphrey narrow bore D/Eb set. I would never need another whistle except that I like the sound of some others, depends on what I am playing. One of my other whistles I prefer is my Alba Q1. I probably play a Feadog Brass, a Waltons Mellow D, or a Generation more than I play them. My next whistle purchase will be a Feadog Pro D. There is no wood whistle in my immediate future. I can’t justify the cost.
Ron
If I had to choose only one whistle to keep, it would be my key of D Thin Weasel in Blackwood.
However, that doesn’t mean I don’t think some of my other whistles are really terrific. Each has their own charm.
The Serpent Village Smithy that knocks around in my bag with a computer and a bunch of network gadgets is indestructible, has a chiffy crystalline voice, and is rough and ready. (chrome molybdenum)
A Burke DAN lives in my car because it’s easy to play at red lights and is quiet enough to not deafen me in small places. (aluminum)
A secondhand Tully I picked up is charming me right now - like a classic Shaw in a tuxedo. (Sterling Silver)
And the Reyburns always get played a few times a week. (brass)
There’s only a couple whistles I would give away, but mostly for my playing characteristic preferences than for being a bad whistle.
Aluminum would be my least favorite material. But every whistle has it’s own charm - if not to me, than most likely to someone else.
It has often been stated on the chiffboard, with some notable exceptions, that the question isn’t “What is the best whistle?” but “What sound am I looking for?”. From threads that I have perused on the chiffboard, you can get whistles that have a more or less “breathy” sound, you can find whistles that have more “chiff” or a more “pure” tone and you can even find whistles that sound like a recorder 
!
Being new to the whistle myself, I’m only looking for the sound that’s best to my ear, which is what I discovered when I ditched my Generation “D” and purchased my Jerry Freeman “MellowDog”, which is a brass whistle with a plastic fipple thoroughly tweaked by “the master”.
In my (extremely humble and unknowledgable) opinion, I think that wood whistles are great when you get into the later (terminal 
) stages of WhOA. Remember however, as colomon said:
I can only think of one whistler I know who routinely plays a wooden whistle in public. (Okay, two if you count Kevin Crawford and he’s still playing that Grinter low F in public.)
I am interpreting the word “whistler” as those who actually make money doing it.
However, if you are “dead” set on acquiring a wooden whistle, opinions vary greatly among the folks on the board, as you pointed out in your first post. My (extremely humble and unknowledgable) suggestion would be to have patience (still possible in the early stages of WhOA). Take every opportunity to listen and to try out wooden whistles until you find a make that suits your ear. It’s just a hunch, but I would wager that there are few whistlers out there that would deny you the opportunity to hear them play and some of them might even let you try their whistle out!
Nope, that was whistler as in “a person who plays the tin whistle”. Notice I did use the modifier “I know”, as in, “people I’ve talked to and/or played tunes with.”
I may be forgetting something, but Crawford’s got that fantastic Grinter low F, and there’s a kid in Detroit with a lovely Abell, and that’s pretty much it for wooden whistles played in public.
Oh yeah! I have known two or three people with wooden O’Riordan’s; if Michael Eskin is playing his regularly, I guess that would make three people I know playing wooden whistles. (He’d just gotten it the day I got some tunes in with him, so I’ve no idea if he’s latched onto it or not.)
I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’ve done a lot of whistle playing, and wooden whistles are the exception, not the rule. Honestly, if it weren’t for the Chiff & Fipple and the local presence of Glenn Schultz, I’d barely even know wooden whistles existed.
Glenn’s daughter Bree, for whom he made the very first of his whistles, still lives not far from you and plays semi-pro.
Does she play with the band Glenn used to play with? (Which I don’t believe I ever actually saw play.)
Depends on the Whistle. The only Wooden Whistle that I loved was an Abell, it wasn’t mine and I have tried lots of Whsitles. I once bought a Bleazey and a Sindt near the same time, the Bleazey went back to Phil as partial trade for a Flute and I loved the Sindt so much I traded my Burke DASBT for one in C, the Sindt C is the best Whistle I have ever played. So it is really preference, I spend more time on Flute and cannot really justify a loud, care needing whistle if I need loud I play Flute loud and I spend lots of time taking care of Flutes if I am only going to play Whsitle on occasion why should I have one that needs just as much care and playing as one of my Flutes? That is how I view Wood, of course I would not mind a Sweetheart Pro for a low matinence wood like Whistle, but I am broke.
[quote="colomonDoes she play with the band Glenn used to play with? (Which I don’t believe I ever actually saw play.)[/quote]
I think so.
Here’s an old pic of the band with Glenn
The Abell has a lovely, sweet sound.
But some good metal whistles have a rougher
sound that may actually be
better for ITM, at least for jigs, reels and such.
So my answer is: I don’t know.