An Introduction

[CAMcClellan]

I have been lurking for a while, soaking up all whistle information, and thought that I might as well introduce myself. I love not just ITM, but Scottish music and most folk. Living in the Appalachian Mountains, it’s easy to find.

I’ve eyeballed whistles off and on for a long time, and finally decided last week to bite the bullet. Ordered a Generation Bb, a Faedog C, a Dixon Brass Pro in D, and a Chieftain Custom low D. I figure this will give me a good variety of sounds and feels to see what really speaks to me.

[Narzog]

Welcome to the world of posting. Thats a great starter collection. Should help figure out what traits in a whistle you do and don't like.

[pancelticpiper]

Welcome!

I agree that's a pretty wide spectrum to get you going. I'd like to hear your impressions of those various whistles after you've had a chance to put some time on them, some of them I've tried and some I haven't.

Thing about Generations, they can vary tremendously from whistle to whistle. I tend to like the ones from the 1970s and 1980s, though they vary too.

I have a fantastic Generation C that I got around 1980 that I still play. I never did come across a good Generation Bb for sale even though I tried every one I could get my hands on over the last 40+ years. Yes I played fantastic ones but they were not for sale, being cherished by their owners.

I now have a couple great Generation Bb's, one was modified by Jerry Freeman and one was modified by myself. If the Generation you get isn't to your liking you might try a Jerry Freeman one.

I'm from central West Virginia, my grandfather played fiddle, banjo, and several other instruments. Yes the Mountain Music is all around! But I've been marooned in California for many years.

My mother lived in Elizabethton (near Johnson City) for several years before moving back to WV so I have visited that area.

[CAMcClellan]

I live in Kingsport, and spend a lot of my time in southwest Virginia, so your mother was right down the road from me.

I haven't spent a great deal of time with the whistles, and the Chieftain just showed up yesterday, but there are some things that I have noticed right off the bat.

I don't get much in the way of squeaks from any of them, but there is something in the tone color that I simply don't like about the Faedog C. It may be less of the whistle and more of the fact that it may just be a key I don't care for. The sound from the Dixon is what I would call sweet, and it is really strong from xxx xoo to about xxo ooo+. I can get a full 2 octaves scale out of all of them.

The Generation is one that I really like. I like the Bb key, and the whistle seems to have a good tone. I do notice that unlike the Dixon, it really likes to be pushed in the second octave.

The Chieftain has an exquisite sound, but I am going to have to get used to the stretch. I have medium sized hands, but I have a huge stretch from years of playing upright bass and other strings. I can make the stretch with the piper's grip, but it will take some getting used to. I can also tell that it will be able to take a very different approach to ornamentation.

[Narzog]

I live in Kingsport, and spend a lot of my time in southwest Virginia, so your mother was right down the road from me.

I haven't spent a great deal of time with the whistles, and the Chieftain just showed up yesterday, but there are some things that I have noticed right off the bat.

I don't get much in the way of squeaks from any of them, but there is something in the tone color that I simply don't like about the Faedog C. It may be less of the whistle and more of the fact that it may just be a key I don't care for. The sound from the Dixon is what I would call sweet, and it is really strong from xxx xoo to about xxo ooo+. I can get a full 2 octaves scale out of all of them.

The Generation is one that I really like. I like the Bb key, and the whistle seems to have a good tone. I do notice that unlike the Dixon, it really likes to be pushed in the second octave.

The Chieftain has an exquisite sound, but I am going to have to get used to the stretch. I have medium sized hands, but I have a huge stretch from years of playing upright bass and other strings. I can make the stretch with the piper's grip, but it will take some getting used to. I can also tell that it will be able to take a very different approach to ornamentation.

Oops i missed ur response, hopefully you still log in to see this haha. Glad you are liking (most) of them sofar. I doubt the problem with the feadog is the key. I have a very bar relationship with my feadog. Try playing it to a tuner. If your is like mine, it doesnt play anywhere near being in tune. theres free phone apps the work fine for this. If yours is actually in tune its still possible that you just dont like its tone. Feadogs have a very unique tone.

With the low D you are having more success than a lot of new players who get low D's but I'm going to say anyway. Make sure your doing the piper grip properly. Read up and watch as many videos on it as you can. My hands a on the larger side, but I don't feel like I stretch at all on my Mk low D. Its all about proper hand angle. Turning your hand clockwise makes reaching the last hole easier usually. For things like my low F and smaller which have less stretch I turn my hand counter clockwise so that my middle finger is perpendicular to the whistle (dont turn it more counter clockwise than this that would be weird lol). Make sure that you arent trying to stretch your last finger out far when you dont have to. Because I can play my low D with the same hand position as my F by stretching my finger. but I can rotate my hand and have no stretch. One good way I heard to find proper hand placement is to cover the last hole with the pad of your ring finger, and then rotate your hand around until your other 2 finger cover the holes easily.

[CAMcClellan]

That’s one thing I noticed early on; rotation and hand angle seems to be key to properly using the pipers grip. I found someone in the past that mentioned the exact method you just did with the ring finger. It may have even been you. I actually started several weeks à ago going through the entire whistle forum. I now about 215 pages deep. I think that’s somewhere around 2007. When I mentioned I lurk, I really lurk.

I still haven’t spent a lot of time with any of them the way work is right now, but I’m taking a long weekend and slotted some alone time in just for that.

The Faedog seems to be in reasonable intonation, but I’ll probably buy a Faedog D to see if I like it any better. I need a few more inexpensive D whistles to stash in the car and around the house, so I’ll probably use that as an excuse for another Faedog and maybe a Clark.

[CAMcClellan]

I figured out the problem with the Faedog. I finally popped the head off for a look, and there was some excess plastic. I got tiff of that, and now the tone is not getting on my nerves. It helped the responsiveness a bit, too.

Got a Dixon Trad coming for a car whistle tomorrow, too.

[an seanduine]

OMG, yet another one on the road to perdition now Another one lost to the ranks of the tweakers. . . First, it's just a few baby steps down the 'Garden Path', nicking a bit of wayward flashing leftover in a whistle head, then Saints Preserve us, who knows what ye'll do next. . .
Now you are truly on the 'Way of the Whistler'

Bob

[CAMcClellan]

I stared too hard and too long into the whistle; it stared back at my soul. It said “Come to me! Love me!”

Then it said for me to go get some tacos.

On an unrelated note, all of my dogs seem to love the whistles. The black lab climbs up behind me on the chair and listens. I really thought it would be the opposite. The pit bull seems to be excited when I play Morrison’s Jig, and does not seem impressed with Foggy Dew, while the little ones are fascinated by the low D.

How’s that for strange?

[Narzog]

On an unrelated note, all of my dogs seem to love the whistles. The black lab climbs up behind me on the chair and listens. I really thought it would be the opposite. The pit bull seems to be excited when I play Morrison’s Jig, and does not seem impressed with Foggy Dew, while the little ones are fascinated by the low D.

My moms dog enjoys low whistles. Hes afraid of thunder storms so whenever there's a storm he comes up and sits under my desk and I break out the Mk low D. But by break out I mean reach like 4 feet over to my wall rack and pick it up haha.