( one more ‘tell me your favorite whistle’ thread )
Well, what I do really want is a well-tweaked Walton mellow D. Nobody offers these, ant that great one by Erik Torp-Olsen I use now is not mine. Erik has disappeared, so I can’t order one for me.
I want a whistle which has medium volume, takes some air and gives some backpressure - not like chieftain (that’s too much), but not like generation-type whistles (that’s too few). Also there are lots of whistles which have sharp Cnat - I’m supposed to know how to underblow it, but I can’t (and not sure I want to learn).
I had Busman, and it was great - alas, I broke it. Wood is so fragile. I had a Burke also, it was good, but I didn’t like it for some reason.
I’ve seen tweaked Walton’s at vargaswhistles.com before, but the site is down now. He may be worth contacting if he’s still in the business. I’m pretty sure he’s a member here, but I can’t remember his name. (edit… unless it’s Erik. Don’t know what to tell you in that case)
If you can get your hands on a Harper, I’d HIGHLY recommend it. Sounds like it fits your description perfectly. You can read my recent review at http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=63994
The sharp C-nat is an important thing to have. Learning to under-blow it is just one part of the story. standard OXX OOO cross fingering is only the start - you could also master the OXX OXX or OXX XOX cross fingering - these pathe the way for the important c-nat embellishments.
Learning these alternate finger positions is also a great way to gain better control over the automatic figures we build into our technique - they become limiting after a while.
As for tweaked Mellow-D whistles, the Jerry freeman Mellow Dog has a tuning-corrected Mellow-D barrel - worth looking at methinks.
Colin Goldie makes special order whistles to meet special requirements of some players. In my conversations with Brigitte Goldie, “soft-blowing” or “easy-blowing” falls under the special order category since “typical” Overtons require a good bit of push and technique. I’ve played several Overton high Ds and own one myself and have never played one that I’d consider soft or easy blowing, although I’m sure some exist out there in the mainstream. Mine requires some push and technique, much like my Chieftain.
Too much breath control required. I had a D model, and it was supposed not for me, but for a kid with recorder background. So I returned that one and found something more stable.
Ballyshannon, was that you who got the harper from Buckeye’s thread? I was a bit late.
Guilty I’ve been wanting a Harper C, and one of the guys in our session group was interested in a Harper D after playing mine so jumped on both of them. And as an animal lover, I’m certainly happy to help Buckeye out. I just spent over $600 on my cat, so I can relate. Now I just need to cash in my jar of change to pay for 'em.
No whistle suits everyone, so maybe it wasn’t for you - BUT ( ) I have a Jerry Dog that I totally couldn’t control when I first got it. From the reaction I got here I decided that it was probably me that needed adjusting rather than the whistle. With some perseverance I got the hang of it and now consider the Dog to be one of my favourites.
They may not suit everyone, but now I’ve learned what makes mine wag its tail, I really love it.
I’ve been wanting a Harper C, and one of the guys in our session group was interested in a Harper D after playing mine so jumped on both of them. And as an animal lover, I’m certainly happy to help Buckeye out. I just spent over $600 on my cat, so I can relate. Now I just need to cash in my jar of change to pay for 'em. 
) I have a Jerry Dog that I totally couldn’t control when I first got it. From the reaction I got here I decided that it was probably me that needed adjusting rather than the whistle. With some perseverance I got the hang of it and now consider the Dog to be one of my favourites.