As the title says, I’m interested in hearing from anybody who has any experience with low cost but reasonable quality PVC whistles, such as those made by Shearwater or Dixon or Susato Etc.
In particular the low whistles. From my research so far it seems that getting a PVC low whistle is the best way to get a decent low whistle at a low cost.
My favorite high D whistle is the one I have from susato. The since discontinued Dublin model. I’ve ordered a Dixon high D that should be here any day now. But I’m thinking my next one will be a Low D from somebody, and so looking for ideas.
Right now I’m vacillating between the Shearwater and the Dixon low D’s. But if anybody else has some ideas, with some practical experience to back it up, I’d appreciate hearing about it.
Oh, and I’m going for a low D because it’s my understanding that is a goodb general-purpose low whistle. If anybody feels differently please let me know.
I have a Parks High D whistle, and a Susato fixed tuning low F whistle. I don’t like the “beak” on the Susato F, it’s a combination of wide and shallow, feels really big and oversized. It’s sort of comical, like a giant kid’s toy. It’s very easy blowing with a smooth tone that’s more towards the recorder end of the spectrum. It take a ton of air to play, much more than the MK whistles low D.
The Parks whistle sounds very recorder-ish but he includes a clever simple “tone ring” that lets you bring the tone closer to a traditional whistle. I find I don’t play it very often because I have others I like better. But it would be a good choice for a whistle with a variable character.
I also have a Dixon polymer low D which I really dislike. The low notes are weak and the high notes are shrill. It’s just not fun to play.
Also I’m not very good so please don’t mistake these for definitive opinions!
I like my Dixon ABS high D whistle, it’s quite mellow compared to Generations, & Feadog, & I have found my Waltons Black (aluminium) to be about the same as the Dixon.
Whilst I don’t have a Dixon low D whistle, I do have their one piece ABS flute, it too is fairly mellow, but not as much as the high D, so I’d expect their one piece low D whistle to be similar - beware though that the lower hole spacing takes some getting used to.
I just happen to have several Parks’, Susatos and Dixons.
For me… The Parks whistles are excellent and not at all recorder-like. I play the high C and D daily. Clear, crisp, easy to play, very even octaves. Go listen to some YouTube videos.
I agree with the above about Dixon polymer high whistles. Simply don’t like them. I like the low D, though. Good tone and easy to play. It does take some air, though.
Susato low D… Most excellent. It takes a little bit of air. But, great tone, intonation, octaves and fingering is comfortable for me with my average size hands.
I don’t have any experience with their low whistles, but Parks and Goldfinch make very nice quality PVC whistles at a very fair price. If I’m not mistaken the lowest whistle in the Parks line is the “A”. Goldfinch has a full line of whistles from low “C” to high “Eb”. Parks is based in Florida. Goldfinch is in Europe, but they ship promptly and seem to keep plenty on hand so you don’t have to wait.
If you want a really cheap low whistle, you could make one yourself from pvc pipe. I don’t even bother with a mouthpiece but just make it like on a quena. Takes about 20 min. Cost: 2.50 € for 2m of pipe. But having said that. The Dixon one piece low D is really nice. Just feels a bit flimsy.
Don’t sell yourself short. Making a whistle from the excellent,free, plans by Guido Gonzato is really easy and they play beautifully. The plans include dimensions for many keys of whistles,and building them requires very basic tools that you probably already have. The plans are ultra comprehensive and easy to follow, with many pictures. People here would be glad to help you with any problems. I can tell you that the thrill of playing music on an instrument you’ve made yourself is wonderful.
Someone mentioned not even making a fipple, but playing the whistle quena style. This is certainly possible but the embouchure takes a bit of practice. That could get you on your way to playing Irish flute if you wanted to. It just this moment occurred to me that it ought to be pretty simple to use the measurements for a Gonzato whistle to make a transverse flute.
I completely understand the OP - I have one of Guido’s whistles, and it does play beautifully - unfortunately it’s not tuned exactly to concert pitch, so in practice I can’t use it. Therefore I looked into making one myself, following his plans and having the sample in my hands.
I can’t do it, it’s out of my league.
Is it sharp or flat? Out of pitch overall,or just with itself? There’s a simple way that you might make it tuneable,particularly if it’s flat. Find a PVC coupler of the right diameter. Cut the head off the whistle around where you think a slide should go. I think the Gonzato instructions will give a good idea of this. You can get special PVC pipe cutters,but a hacksaw works just fine. Be careful not to inhale the dust!Remove the burrs and put the whistle together.
The whistle will probably still be flat,maybe even a little flatter due to a ridge inside the coupler. Working very gradually, shorten the top of the body section. Couple of millimeters at a time. The hacksaw may be a bit crude for this. Try coarse sandpaper,or a grinding wheel if you have one and are comfortable with it. Test the tuning and repeat until the whistle is up to pitch.
If the whistle is sharp you may still be able to bring it to pitch.Add a coupler as above but don’t push the sections of the whistle all the way in. This might be enough to get it to the correct pitch.
Yes, it is flat.. but it is in tune with itself. My plan was to do something like you suggested, but I still concluded I couldn’t do it. I spent my early youth trying to learn to build and create things with my hands, until I realized that I’m just not able to do it well, to put it mildly. That’s why I turned my creativity into programming instead, and my hands do work well on a keyboard. The only kind of work I’m able to do with my hands is some very specific maintenance of my guitars.
If you can find the correct size tubing coupler, this job is super easy. All you need is a hacksaw and some sandpaper. If you’re worried about making that cut buy a short length of the same pipe and practice a few cuts.
If you’re only playing by yourself, forget about it altogether.You only need to be in “correct” pitch if you’re playing with others.
I play with others often, so yes.. I need it to be at concert pitch. But the thing is - I can hear if a familiar type of instrument is outside concert pitch even if I play alone, if it’s more than a few cents (I don’t really need a tuner to tune my guitar either - I hear the A in my head, so I tune the A string and then I can do the other strings from that one). It doesn’t bother me - it’s not like as with those absolute pitch folks where it’s apparently like hearing bad intonation or worse - but I notice it (and that’s why I quickly checked the whistle after I got it and tried playing it).
Maybe I’ll try to hack the whistle one day, but I now have three good D whistles which cover my needs, so it’ll probably stay in the drawer. I would have to be confident I could really do it before I would try.
the head off the whistle around where you think a slide should go. I think the Gonzato instructions will give a good idea of this. You can get special PVC pipe cutters,but a hacksaw works just fine. Be careful not to inhale the dust!Remove the burrs and put the whistle together.