new whistle wanted, but what kind?

mainlandjusiel · Post by **mainlandjusiel** » Mon Aug 29, 2016 7:37 am

Hello All,

I'm new here & am looking for a descent whistle for under $100. I've played the cheapies and they are fine for some things, but I'm wanting to play a little more seriously and am looking for something with a little better intonation & hopefully tone than those. I know extremely little about various brands. What brands should I be looking for?

Thanks in advance!
Maggie

Mr.Gumby · Post by **Mr.Gumby** » Mon Aug 29, 2016 12:45 pm

Perhaps you should be a bit more specific. What is 'a bit more serious'? What type(s) of music are you planning to play, what is the tone you're looking for, perhaps what experience you have playing music/the whistle. This will help a lot getting you a more specific answer to your question.

calanthrophy · Post by **calanthrophy** » Mon Aug 29, 2016 1:33 pm

Seconding Mr. Gumby. Also might want to let us know which "cheapies" you tried already so we've got a reference point.

ytliek · Post by **ytliek** » Mon Aug 29, 2016 1:55 pm

Welcome to the whistle forum.

If $100.00 is your top price there are several whistles that could fit your playing preferences. Maybe a location would help with finding something near you, or just browse the internet sales sites.

Have fun with your whistling.

mainlandjusiel · Post by **mainlandjusiel** » Wed Oct 19, 2016 4:09 pm

Thanks for responding! I wasn't getting notifications for some reason, and I've been so busy I didn't check back until now. I'm a flute player and play old-time/Appalachian/Irish/Scottish tunes. I've got a masters in flute, so am capable, but have less experience in whistle performance practice. I can play any tune I want on the whistle, but am looking to get better Irish/Scottish technique and to play more in tune. I've played Generation and Oak whistles. Sorry I didn't give enough information. Thanks!

mainlandjusiel · Post by **mainlandjusiel** » Wed Oct 19, 2016 4:09 pm

Oh... I'm in WV, US. Not much here. I have to order online. Thanks.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Wed Oct 19, 2016 6:49 pm

mainlandjusiel wrote:I wasn't getting notifications for some reason, and I've been so busy I didn't check back until now.

To the best of my knowledge, there's no individual notification for answered posts; you have to log in and follow up on your own material. You can be notified of private messages, though, if you choose.

- Mod

whistlecollector · Post by **whistlecollector** » Wed Oct 19, 2016 7:40 pm

mainlandjusiel wrote:I'm a flute player and play old-time/Appalachian/Irish/Scottish tunes. I've got a masters in flute, so am capable, but have less experience in whistle performance practice. I can play any tune I want on the whistle, but am looking to get better Irish/Scottish technique and to play more in tune. I've played Generation and Oak whistles. Sorry I didn't give enough information. Thanks!

What kind of flute do you play? Boehm? Modern, simple system? 18th century one key?

Generation in general seems to have a reasonably good reputation: I believe it is Mary Bergin that plays on a Gen, so the brand itself is not necessarily at issue when it comes to quality or intonation! But for all that, you could have a dud, which might explain some intonation problems, particularly given your experience. Fortunately, they're cheap enough that you could buy a number of them to try.

I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the rudiments & general technic aren't your issue: rather it seems that what you're looking for is simply taking the time to learn your particular whistle -- figure out exactly what fingering & amount of breath will be required to get the precise note you want to hear, how it responds to you and so forth. Perhaps perform some gently tweaking. You know, forging a relationship between you and your instrument.

That at least is something I don't think you can really get just by shopping or just by buying a whistle of a particular dollar level.

awildman · Post by **awildman** » Wed Oct 19, 2016 7:50 pm

Click on 'Notify me when a reply is posted' whenever you post a message on the board(before hitting 'submit'), and the forum will automatically email you when there is another post made.

Those whistles should be perfectly fine to play good Irish/Scottish music. "I want to play in tune" is a quite an ambiguous statement. Some whistles have better tuning, but whistles in general do not have a tempered scale. Not every note will be in-tune to certain instruments like piano. Some of that can be overcome with breath control. As long as the whistle tunes to A=440 and is in tune with itself, you won't get much better.

Spielorjh · Post by **Spielorjh** » Wed Oct 19, 2016 8:53 pm

I've never regretted my TJ Potter D for a good cheap starter. His website is inconsistently reachable, but he does sales by email as well.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Wed Oct 19, 2016 9:04 pm

awildman wrote:Click on 'Notify me when a reply is posted' whenever you post a message on the board(before hitting 'submit'), and the forum will automatically email you when there is another post made.

Oops. Well, that's embarrassing. But thanks for pointing it out. I've seen it a million times but since it never occurred to me to use it, it didn't register. I should try it sometime.

Mae · Post by **Mae** » Thu Oct 20, 2016 12:27 am

If you are in the US, you can get Chuck Tilbury whistles for $75, and those are my favorites so far, or you can get Jerry Freeman Tweaked Generations, and some sites carry Tony Dixon whistles. For more even tuning, polymer whistles such as Susato tend to be more accurate, though they don't sound as "whistle-like" as some of the others. I'll list some sites I hit:

http://www.thewhistleshop.com

http://www.whistlemaker.com (Chuck Tilbury)

http://www.harpanddragon.com (best prices for Tony Dixon)

http://stores.ebay.com/freemanwhistles

http://www.susato.com/

Of my cheapies, I tend to favor my Oak or Feadog Pro if I just want to take it out of the house and not really be concerned about it. Both of those are "tunable" in that you can move the mouth piece up and down on the body in order to bring the notes into pitch.

oleorezinator · Post by **oleorezinator** » Thu Oct 20, 2016 8:16 am

Oak and generation? Try this.
http://www.killarneywhistle.com/

Mae · Post by **Mae** » Thu Oct 20, 2016 11:06 am

Oh, nice. Didn't know the Killarney whistle was under US$100, but the exchange rate is good. I've read that these are a bit heavier, though.

kkrell · Post by **kkrell** » Thu Oct 20, 2016 12:24 pm

Nanohedron wrote:
awildman wrote:Click on 'Notify me when a reply is posted' whenever you post a message on the board(before hitting 'submit'), and the forum will automatically email you when there is another post made.
Oops. Well, that's embarrassing. But thanks for pointing it out. I've seen it a million times but since it never occurred to me to use it, it didn't register. I should try it sometime.

Not just when you post, either. When viewing the thread, select the Subscribe Topic link at the top of the thread (under the title). You can also Unsubscribe (link toggles) or you can Manage Subscriptions in your User Control Panel ucp.php?i=main&mode=subscribed

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new whistle wanted, but what kind?

new whistle wanted, but what kind?

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Re: new whistle wanted, but what kind?

Re: new whistle wanted, but what kind?

Re: new whistle wanted, but what kind?

Re: new whistle wanted, but what kind?

Re: new whistle wanted, but what kind?

Re: new whistle wanted, but what kind?

Re: new whistle wanted, but what kind?

Re: new whistle wanted, but what kind?

Re: new whistle wanted, but what kind?

Re: new whistle wanted, but what kind?

Re: new whistle wanted, but what kind?

Re: new whistle wanted, but what kind?

Re: new whistle wanted, but what kind?