Tommy D, whistle maker extraordinaire

[Tinkerer]

Tommy Dion, Craftsman Extraordinaire

I serendipitously found myself with an opportunity to visit Tommy Dion's shop in Santa Fe, Texas, a small town about an hour's drive south of Houston, with the intent of purchasing a compact, three-section whistle as a gift for a friend. I got much more than I expected, and left with a wonderful friendship and more information regarding whistle design and construction than I could ever expect to retain. As for the latter, a brief stop expanded to over four hours and was cut short only by my schedule, for Tommy encouraged me to stay into the evening. His invitation to return is coveted, and I look forward to seeing him again in a few months when I again return to Houston.

As for character, one could not ask for more from anyone. Along with a relaxed demeanor and an easy sense of humor, Tommy is candid, generous, honest, and objective. Though an astute and innovative craftsman with both technical and aesthetic insight, he seems to take neither his craft nor his accumulated knowledge too seriously. Appropriately pleased with his workshop and its clever tools and fixtures, he freely acknowledges frustrations and limitations as well as his accomplishments.

Having seen only one image of Tommy's craftsmanship in a photo on eBay, I did not know whether to expect a pristine, air conditioned machine shop with the latest in mini lathes and milling machines or a small, cluttered work bench with a series of home made tools and crude fixtures rusting from the persistent humidity typical of the region. At first glance, it was a garage with a periphery of work benches cluttered with old, rusting tools in various states of disrepair and junk strewn everywhere. I soon discovered it was both none of the above and all of the above. There was, indeed, a mini lathe and a mini milling machine, both pristine. In addition, there were specialized tools fabricated from parts of three or four old, rusting bench top lathes and drill presses, including the frame of an old drill press used as a fixture for boring wood tubes. Without the need to machine heavy steel, Tommy cleverly retrofitted and cobbled together two ancient, lathe beds into an extended bed for handling long sections of CPVC tubing, and other, likely abandoned, small lathes had gained new life as specialty tools. He even adapted an old sewing machine head into a tool for finishing the curve on the fipple, and his collection of fixtures for holding whistle parts in his numerous adaptations was extensive.

History had survived in Tommy's shop, and he gladly pulled from the shelves older tools and fixtures to show me how, should I desire to construct my own whistles, I could replicate many of his techniques with hand tools and home made fixtures for my simple bench top drill press. Thus I not only saw his latest in tools and technique, I saw the stages of their evolution, including examples of failures and the associated insights. Considering the nature of the shop and the character of its creator, simply the anticipated evolution that might take place over the next few months would be reason enough for another visit.

In addition to the three-piece CPVC whistle that brought me to Tommy's shop, I found a craftsman skilled in combining CPVC, brass and wood to make at least five distinct whistle configurations, with his wood whistles providing the sweetest sound, his telescoping CPVC and brass whistle the greatest portability, and his telescoping wood and brass whistle the most sophisticated design. In addition, his collection of both high-end and pedestrian whistles was extensive, and he seemed to enjoy the most objective, blind comparisons. Even so, without specifics, I will state that even a novice could distinguish the beautiful, clear tone of his wood whistle from that of one of the most expensive whistle in his collection, and he has several rather expensive whistles. To which Tommy said, with a smile that might have had a tinge of pride, "they're all just whistles," and that we each pick the sound we prefer. A refreshing attitude in a subculture typified in any genre with presumptions of exclusivity, excessive pomp and pseudo elitism, none of which were detected in Tommy Dion. I look forward to my return.

With his resisting the ubiquitous temptation to launch a web site, for now, those precluded from visiting Santa Fe, might best look for Tommy's whistles on eBay.

[blackhawk]

I have five of his whistles, and they are very, very good.

[larrym.]

I have three Tommy D's so far, all superb whistles!


_______________________

Larry

[kennychaffin]

I have five of his whistles, and they are very, very good.

Wanna sell one?

KAC

[blackhawk]

I have five of his whistles, and they are very, very good.

Wanna sell one?

KAC

Thanks, Kenny, but nope. But his whistles aren't expensive, depending on which model you get. My favorite non-wooden one is his tunable pvc Bb, and he only charges $40 plus shipping.

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... ht=#750964

If you scroll down that page, you'll also find a D whistle that he sells for $21, so you don't need to be disappointed that I won't sell any of mine.

[kennychaffin]

I have five of his whistles, and they are very, very good.

Wanna sell one?

KAC

Thanks, Kenny, but nope. But his whistles aren't expensive, depending on which model you get. My favorite non-wooden one is his tunable pvc Bb, and he only charges $40 plus shipping.

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... ht=#750964

If you scroll down that page, you'll also find a D whistle that he sells for $21, so you don't need to be disappointed that I won't sell any of mine.

Thanks. I'm in whistle acquisition mode.

KAC

[jkrazy52]

Tinkerer, sounds like you had a great day and made a new wonderful friend. Tommy is indeed a whistlesmith extraordinaire. I have four of his creations - 2 wood, 1 cpvc & a tweaked Feadog. I have given as gifts at least two others because they are very beginner friendly whistles.

BTW - welcome to the Chiff!

[Bill Hennessy]

If you scroll down that page, you'll also find a D whistle that he sells for $21, so you don't need to be disappointed that I won't sell any of mine.

I have one of those D's. It's lovely and quiet. Very nice for playing in the house in the evening. I really enjoy it. What are the PVC versions like?

Peace.

[jkrazy52]

Bill, my pvc is the same as Blackhawk's ... a Bb tunable. Very nice whistle to my ear ... sweet clear tone. Nice thing about contacting Tommy to order any whistle is he will ask if you want a quiet or loud whistle. I like mine all on the quiet or medium side because I don't play in public.

[blackhawk]

If you scroll down that page, you'll also find a D whistle that he sells for $21, so you don't need to be disappointed that I won't sell any of mine.

I have one of those D's. It's lovely and quiet. Very nice for playing in the house in the evening. I really enjoy it. What are the PVC versions like?

Peace.

A hint of "chiff" as the word is frequently used here on C&F (a sandy-ness that I'd call "character"), but perfectly in tune up 2 full octaves, fairly loud (but not as loud as a Susato). Very nice whistle for the money, and fully tunable, which I love for two reasons: #1: the usual tunability, and #2: it comes apart for carrying in a fanny pack or a pocket of a backpack.

[Tommy]

If you scroll down that page, you'll also find a D whistle that he sells for $21, so you don't need to be disappointed that I won't sell any of mine.

I have one of those D's. It's lovely and quiet. Very nice for playing in the house in the evening. I really enjoy it. What are the PVC versions like?

Peace.

Thank you tinkerer, Blackhawk, Larrym, jkrazy,, and Bill. Tinkerer tracked me down from my location that is in an ebay ad. He wanted to know more about the three part cpvc whistle, and since he was so close could he come by to see it first. He is retired and I think he is what we call here a ''Winter Texan. He has gone to Minneapolis Minnesota for the summer now. But if you go to Kieran's Irish pub you may find him playing
his Irvine telescoping whistle. He wanted the three part cpvc one also but at the time I only had one and it was already bid on at ebay.

The cpvc head and brass tone tube whistles sound very close to the three part cpvc Irvine pocket whistle. I make most of them with medium volume but can change that if someone asks. The pvc Bb whistles are a larger bore at 5/8''.

Tinkerer mentioned some of my machines that evolved. Jkrazy inspired me to make the horizontal drum sander from a sewing machine. She very kindly informed me that the whistles I had sent out on a tour were to rough on the underside of the fipple. At the time I was using a round stick with emery paper around it to shape and smooth the fipple. It was
wearing my arms out. I took apart my wifes twenty year old sewing machine and found the main drive shaft was 1/2''. I bought some 1/2'' cold roll steel and made a longer shaft for it, and added another bearing in the head to support it. Slipped on some 1/2'' sanding sleeves and with the foot control I can very the speed. One day when I get caught up I will get some pictures of a few of my machines. Or just come on by.

[Tinkerer]

Tommy's comments are accurate save for the part about Kieran's Irish pub. My condo is only a block or so away and a short walk through the skyway, but my whistle playing is miles away, but some day . . . .

If Tommy doesn't get his photos up before I return to Houston - yes, I'm a "snowbird," and I want never again either to shovel snow or sweat in 90/90 heat - I'll take my photo gear down and we'll put up a web site revealing all the techniques he's willing to share. (Tommy, you're giving away secrets again! Up to your post, one could only imagine what people envisioned regarding that sewing machine.)

The Tinkerer