I’ve got bloodshot eyes reading reviews of low whistles. How about the Alba Low D? What a great looking whistle and a good price. I’m hoping to get my first low D soon. It would be great to get that good combination of reasonable volume, finger spacing etc. Does such a thing exist?
You just described my low Albas. 
I got a low F and a low C, in other words no low D, but I should certainly have an idea of how it would be. Amazing sound, low breath requirements, good finger spacing (totally subjective, of course), good looking and a nice price!
I have an Alba Low D and like it a lot. Soon after it arrived, I sold my Howard Low D as I found the Alba much easier to play and better sounding to boot.
I have played the Alba low C and I have a low F. I could play the low C easier than most low Ds I have tried. I would love to have an Alba low D but not in the financial picture right now.
Ron
Check out this thread. You might work out a deal on an Alba Low D.
Well, that seems like a very good deal!
M
I have a low D and a low C Alba. They both have wonderful tone and play well in both octaves but they do reqiure the piper’s grip in the right hand unless you have very large hands. I have medium to large hands but I can’t play the lower holes without using the grip. I understand that the Wanderer doesn’t use the piper’s grip. He uses the little finger of his right hand to cover the bottom hole. I tried that and it was awkward for me but I suppose if you practice it a lot you can do it. I was already in the habbit of using the piper’s grip before I heard about his method and so I would have to break that habbit before I could successfully use his. I just played my low C in our Good Friday church service and got several compliments on it. The C is so large that the D will almost fit inside of it. Since they are metal and get cold easily, I reccomend that you warm them up before you play them in public. I warm mine up by covering the fipple hole and top three holes with my hands and blowing deep breaths into it for about a minute before playing. The lower notes seem to play easier when I do this. A good side effect of doing this is that after you have blown all of these deep lungfulls of air for about a minute you can now hold a larger volume of air in your lungs and can then hold a note much longer without wavering and play more notes between breaths. As a side note I had a Kerry low D and traded it because I knew that for me I wouldn’t need any other low D but the Alba. I’m glad to have them. I hope to someday get a high D Alba because I have heard good things about them. I thought this info might help you.
All this rave about the Alba low D… Has got me interested in one. I have a question though, well, maybe 2 questions, maybe more! Anyways, Main concern, how big is the E hole on the Alba, say, compared to the massive one on the Chieftain low D? I used to own a Chieftain, and I had the most difficult time playing it, due to my scrawny fingers (and yes I use piper’s grip on the low D) and covering that huge E hole; but the trad-off was, I could lay my fingers out on the bottom hand notes alot more relaxed, as the spacing was a bit more even between the bottom 3 holes of the whistle, vs. say the Burke, or a Susato. Which would bring me to my next question, how is the spacing on the Alba low D compared to that of the Chieftain low D on the bottom 3 notes, more specifically, between the D and the E hole, or, the bottom 2 holes of the whistle. And I guess one more question yes I know I’m demanding… But, could anyone also tell me how the tone of the Alba compares to that of the Chieftain low D? I really liked the Chieftain’s tone.
Thanks,
-Eric
Yup, you understand correctly 
I don’t really remember how the hole spacing compared between the Chieftain and Alba low D’s..I remember not having any problems with the Alba, but I’ve spent a lot of years getting used to playing low whistles–there were no internet sites to speak of to recommend a grip to me when I started!
Here’s a short (15 second) video of me playing the Alba at a renaissance fair: http://www.tinwhistler.com/misc/me/mov01316.mpg
As I recall, the tone is a little mellower and huskier than the Chieftain, especially in the second octave (where the new range cheiftains can sound quite bright).
Hey Wanderer, I enjoyed the video. I know that tune you were playing but I can’t place it. What was it?
The Gravel Walk
I don’t think you’re allowed to work in any renaissance festivals around here without knowing it
Thanks. It was really bugging me that I couldn’t remember the name.
how big is the E hole on the Alba
Okay, here are the bottom three hole sizes and spacing between them on the Alba low D. The lowest hole (D) is 9mm or roughly 11/32 in diameter. The next hole going up (E) begins 1 1/2 inches up from the edge of the bottom hole and it is almost 10 mm or roughly 3/8 inch in diameter. The next hole up (F#) is 17.5 mm or about 11/16 inch from the edge of the middle hole and the diameter is about the same as the bottom hole or about 9mm. The reach to the bottom hole is the only problem for me and thus why I use the Piper’s Grip. Now just for good measure here are the top three hole measurements. Still going up the next hole (G) is 1 11/16 inches from the edge of the F# hole and is about 8.5 mm or just over 5/16 inches in diameter. The middle hole of the top three (A) begins 1 1/16 inches from the G hole and is almost exactly 1/2 inch in diameter or 9.5mm. The top hole (B) begins 1 1/8 inches up from the middle hole and is 9mm or 11/32 inches in diameter. The inside diameter of the whistle body is 22mm which is just under 7/8 inches. The entire legnth of the whistle is 22 3/4 inches long from the tip of the fipple to the end of the barrel.
That is about as exact as I can get and I hope this helps you get a good picture of the layout.