Chiff and Fipple Forums

Bb is an absolutely delightful pitch. It limits your ability to play with others. The finger stretch is not bad but for the smallest hands. I play a Sindt, but the Generation whistles are fine for a low price.

Thanks everyone. Last night I spent time reading old posts with tweaked Freeman's in the title. I think I am going with an A whistle (I scraped up another $20). Some more experienced players found that the G was more difficult for them, at least for a while.
I have a $15 gift card from Amazon and I'm going to grab a Generation Bb (untweaked) from them. If I am lucky it will be a decent one.
That will leave me with 2 D's, a Bb and an A. I hope these will be enough to help train me for a low D.
I think I'll do a little more research into who sells A's and how much they are. I bet Jerry's will be the cheapest; and probably be the best by the sound of the reviews. Around $50 is my limit.
Once I get good at those will they be enough whistles to train me for a low D? I know I'll have to save up for them and then it will probably be a cheap plastic one. Any recommendations on those especially the ones that require the least air and don't sound too bad?

Tony Dixon - I have the Trad 'A' (costs about £40), & they have a one piece ABS low 'D' that sounds pretty good to me, I have one, (as well as a couple of more expensive ones).

maiingan wrote:Thanks everyone. Last night I spent time reading old posts with tweaked Freeman's in the title. I think I am going with an A whistle (I scraped up another $20). Some more experienced players found that the G was more difficult for them, at least for a while.
I have a $15 gift card from Amazon and I'm going to grab a Generation Bb (untweaked) from them. If I am lucky it will be a decent one.
That will leave me with 2 D's, a Bb and an A. I hope these will be enough to help train me for a low D.
I think I'll do a little more research into who sells A's and how much they are. I bet Jerry's will be the cheapest; and probably be the best by the sound of the reviews. Around $50 is my limit.
Once I get good at those will they be enough whistles to train me for a low D? I know I'll have to save up for them and then it will probably be a cheap plastic one. Any recommendations on those especially the ones that require the least air and don't sound too bad?

The Jerry Freeman A is a very good whistle and affordable. It's the A I play the most. He modifies a Generation Bb head and attaches it to a his own tone body. His G is also wonderful; it is similar in design to the A but has a breathier voice. I am unable to play the low D because of an old thumb injury so the mezzo A and G are the lowest I can go. In this regard, the Generation-based head and the thin walled brass tone body Jerry Freeman uses make it comfortable for me to play. But most of all, I really like how it sounds.

I should definintely get those two keys. They are the ones by Jerry that I'd be most interested in because of the whistle body he makes himself.

Does anyone know about the Tony Dixon ALTO TRADITIONAL WHISTLE in key of A?

I found Tony Dixon’s Alto Trad. whistle in A (brass) in my price range. He even offers free shipping to the states. Jerry Freeman's A whistle (with his own body and a tweaked Generation head) is more than the Dixon. Does anyone have either one or both of these? What do you think of them? Thanks.
Since this has veered off the B's should I start a new post to ask about the Dixon's? I did a search and couldn't really find anything on Dixon Trad. A brass.

I just posted a thread where I take a look at the various naming systems used by different makers, where they agree, where they are totally inconsistent

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=109482

I don't know if it will help, or help confuse.

The Dixon Trad 'A' is a good whistle.

maiingan wrote:Does anyone know about the Tony Dixon ALTO TRADITIONAL WHISTLE in key of A?

I found Tony Dixon’s Alto Trad. whistle in A (brass) in my price range. He even offers free shipping to the states. Jerry Freeman's A whistle (with his own body and a tweaked Generation head) is more than the Dixon. Does anyone have either one or both of these? What do you think of them? Thanks.
Since this has veered off the B's should I start a new post to ask about the Dixon's? I did a search and couldn't really find anything on Dixon Trad. A brass.

I have both the Freeman A and the Dixon A. I prefer the Freeman. They are both good, but to me, the Dixon requires more careful breath control. The Freeman is beautifully voiced and very forgiving.

I ended up ordering The Dixon Trad. brass A as I could get it on Amazon and had a gift card. With the gift card I only paid $11. It does take a little more breath control but it's not that bad to adjust to it. I can easily go back and forth between D Killarney and the Dixon A. The finger spacing is obviously farther on the Dixon, but the only real stretch is on the last hole and it is doable. There was a little strain on that finger at first but now it doesn't bother me very much. I tried to experiment with the pipers grip but the holes seemed to close together for it to work right.