busterbill wrote: What is the latest thinking on the best Low Ds out there...
I've had, what, 30 or 40 different Low Ds under my fingers over the last decade.
There's a variety of factors I look for:
1) tuning
2) air-efficiency
3) ease/nimbleness of the 2nd octave
4) power of Low E and Bottom D
5) ergonomics
6) tone
And that's the order of importance, more or less, for me.
A Low D that was superior in all these factors would be The Perfect Whistle for me. So far, I have not found such! I keep trying every Low D I can, hoping against hope that the Unicorn exists somewhere.
What DOES exist in plenty are Low Ds which are superior in one or more of these factors but poor in one or more other factors.
I myself have ended up with a Goldie. It's not the best at everything, but it's not bad at anything. It has no glaring flaw, being at least good at all of the factors I look for. In other words each Low D is a system of compromises. It's up to each player to decide what he's willing to forgo, and what he's not.
For example one Low D make I tried had, compared to my Goldie, a nicer tone, more powerful Bottom D, and a lighter, easier, more nimble 2nd octave. Great, eh? But it took twice as much air to sound as my Goldie, meaning I was limited to phrases half as long. Not for me!
For various reasons the best Low Ds I tried over the years were the Reyburn, MK, Burke, Lofgren, and Goldie. I kept the Goldie and sold off the rest. My Goldie is supremely efficient and has perhaps the best tuning of any Low D I've tried. These are the factors at the top of my list. Also it's ergonomics are superior.
busterbill wrote: tune-ability is important as is tone.
For me being in tune is far more important than timbre. Rockstro said it best:
The necessity for correct intonation is so self-evident that it would be unnecessary to draw attention to the importance of the subject, were it not for the unfortunate fact that many players consider perfection of tune as being desirable if attainable without too much trouble, or without the sacrifice of some comparatively unimportant accomplishment on which they particularly pride themselves, such as expression, tone or execution.
I would urge that intonation is the most important point but one in the whole range of the art of music: it may even be considered to include the playing of correct notes, inasmuch as all musical sounds depend upon pitch for their identity.
(Edited due to Rockstro's excessive verbosity.)
busterbill wrote: Reyburn makes a whistle with holes that are placed for natural finger strikes.
I've not heard of that. Until you wrote that, I thought I could safely say that all Low D whistle makers placed their holes at the best possible compromise between the laws of acoustics and human anatomy.