Loads of good info here guys. I've had to do a lot of name googling haha. Theres so many options, the hardest part is cost. If I wanted to budget out Susato and Dixon are great but. The other part of me wants something "cool" and "high end" (no hate to dixon or susato users. I just feel like they are known for being mass produced). Theres just something cool about being able to have brand loyalty to your high end product of choice.
It doesnt help my cause that my initial key I'm going for is high C. I feel like I just like high C over D, D is just too high. But Playing a D song in C sounds fine its just a tad lower. Vs like using my Bb is a huge jump, so on guitar it can be way different. Which can be problematic. I also want to get a Low F in the future, and I'd like many others like A (better D to me lol), G, D, one of my Fav songs is Eb but I will prob just play it in Low D, etc lol.
If I could ditch tunable, I would prob just get a shearwater C because its really affordable but still is in the "hand made" category. But shearwater adds flat 30 pounds for tunable. Which isnt huge for the low whistles, but for the supranos pretty much double the cost. Which then makes it the cost of my other options, making my choice harder., where before tunable it was so affordable it was a easy choice. but once its $100 shipped with a possibly long wait time, it has a hard time competing with a lot of my other good $100 range options below.
Some good contenders I've found-
Syn Whistles- One of my top picks sofar- It doesnt have the option to get just the C, but as the pack if they are good is a very good deal in the long run. 130$ or so for 3. Its only 1 headpiece but thats fine. From my research I think they seem good but I've heard some mention of buzzing. But in the sound clips i listened to it didnt seem like a problem except the spot they were intentionally showing the buz. but I feel like the buz just adds some character. I feel bad spending 160$ but as a longer term where I eventually am going to have to get a D and stuff, the pack is really eco friendly. I love ones that have switchable bodies to save money. I need to do more research tho, these are noticeably cheaper with the packs than some of the others, not sure how the quality is vs others like Killarney. But it could also just be a good deal and be good quality.
Killarney seem promising, definitely a good contender. I've heard nothing but good, and is only 100$ shipped (sadly the C costs noticably more than the D). But for the cost the quality just seems really good. Is it possible to buy discount price bodies no head for these? I love the concept of that.
Tillbury are 90$ on his site but some sites seem to say its $75. So I'll prob look into them more. At 90$ tho they compete with my other options making it harder. At 75 tho it gives them a boost.
Tweaked are a good budget option but it feels bad when I upgrade from my feadog to a tweaked feadog lol. Theres lots of good plastic options like goldfinch and parks it just feels really not cool. Which sounds liek a stupid reason but feeling cool is half the battle in life
@kkrell I bumped into Gene's whistles earlier while researching. They seem really cool. Sadly out of my budget but if I up my budget are a possible option. I'd want to get a cool wood one but more upkeep is kidna rough. Reyburn also seem cool but once again out of my current budget. But I like how he has a lot of keys. A lot of makers seem to have diff erent keys. Which isnt necessarily bad it just means you get to have multiple favorite makers.