Well, I got my brass Dixon Trad D a couple of weeks ago now and I’m very disappointed. It sounds no better than some of the maas produced cheaper ones I’ve had. On top of that, there’s a slight buzzing sound when I play it. I can hear that sound both from a player’s perspective and on the recordings I made.
Dixon touts ALL of their instruments as being “hand finished”… without going into what that means exactly. But that’s unreasonable on the face of it. I mean you look at their full line of products and how much of it is “out there”, that would be extremely labor-intensive and cost ineffective to have somebody going over all of their instrument to make sure that they are well produced. Yet that is essentially the claim they make.
I think they probably pay. SOME attention to their top-half-of-the-line products, but everything else in the lower half or third of the product line just kind of gets a glance and is sent along.
Although I do like their DX 001( non tunable one piece plastic) as being an "okay " whistle. And I don’t feel a little cheated by that because it performes as advertised as far as I’m concerned. But that’s how I feel with this Trad.
Maybe somebody else who bought a new Trad in the last year or so feels different, but that is my experience; The one I got does not perform as advertised.
The Trad is one of our most popular whistles with is simple traditional design. It comes in a choice of brass or solid nickel body. The nickel we use is solid cupro nickel (copper/nickel alloy) rather than plated, it’s the same material as is commonly used in your silver money.
We have found the brass has a sweeter tone than the nickel which might be, as the foundry tells us, because its 20% harder than the brass. Other than this the main difference being that the brass will inevitably tarnish faster.
I’ve bought two Dixons recently, a Trad brass in ‘G’ a month or so ago, & a tunable aluminium in ‘A’ a few weeks back - I’ve not had any bother with mine - just need to learn how it wants to be played, especially the second octave.
Also have a Trad brass in ‘A’ that I bought pre used, (I really like it), & I have a tunable aluminium Duo in ‘C’ on its way to me right now.
(I have an ABS high ‘D’ whistle, piccolo, & low ‘D’ flute from them too, all play as expected.)
I’d suggest looking in the windway for something small that might be making your buzzing, only thing I can think of.
I bought a lot of “cheap” whistles (including two slightly more expensive Dixon Trad D) back when I first started. Not that long ago (2012), and I haven’t advanced very much w.r.t. playing music. But when I now go through those old whistles, including the very first one (a “Guinness” edition Walton that I bought at the airport when leaving Ireland), they’re all.. fine. There’s nothing wrong with any of them, I could easily use whichever for what I do. Although I have settled on just two whistles (with a third one, extremely different from the other two b/c it’s actually got what’s called “backpressure”, in testing). But as I said, the other ones are fine. Walton, Feadóg, Clare, Generation, Clarke.. and some others. They all have various levels of “non-purity” to their sound, if I can call it that, but they are completely ok whistles. In some ways they feel different (as in “better”) from when I first started.
I’ve had very good luck with my Dixons, especially the D and C. It’s hard tell whether there is something wrong with the particular whistle or with your playing skill. If I am unable to try out a whistle before buying, I listen to other people playing on YouTube. Every whistle’s playing characteristics must be learned and it takes time, at least for me. In my opinion, the Dixon folks have successfully run a good, honest business for years with many happy customers, so their quality control should be very good. In the chance that your whistle is indeed somewhat defective, you should be able to contact Dixon. Too, there are perfectly fine whistles whose nature may never agree with you.
I’ve a few of the Dixons and haven’t noticed any problems. Everyone’s whistle and playing experience is such a subjective territory making for difficult commentary. If you’re that disappointed ask Dixon about their return policy.
I’m glad everyone else has had more positive experiences. Like I said, I like their cheaper DX001 just fine. As well as I do a couple of my other whistles.
Anyway, with all these positive experiences chances are in the favor of most anyone else having a positive experience with one too. For me, the one I got, did not live up to its reputation for twice the money of other traditional whistles.
Oh well.
You could probably just sell it (and other unliked whistles) to someone here at not much of a loss. Chalk it up to lesson learned and try something new.
Whistles are one of the few things in life where you don’t necessarily “get what you pay for.” Just about the only objective improvement you can have on a whistle is the intonation. Even then, some people like a flat Cnat, or prefer equal temperament vs just intonation.
Everything else is a matter of personal taste. If you are disappointed that a whistle that cost 2x the price didn’t sound 2x “better,” I think that’s an issue with expectations rather than the whistle itself. There is a maker who is very popular and charges $500 for a D whistle. I would take a Generation over one of his every time. But hey, other people love them!
If, however, there is an actual manufacturing error (as you seem to be describing with the buzzing), I would send it back as defective and get a new one. Maybe you’ll like that one better.
This got me looking at various Dixon whistles on his site and on other sites.
It’s a bit confusing, all the different high Ds he makes (or made).
So I’m seeing
a simple moulded black plastic head that fits over the metal tube more or less like a Generation etc.
a sleeker-looking black plastic head with a metal ring or band at the bottom, on metal tube body
a fancier looking all black plastic whistle with brass tuning slide like a flute
one-piece black plastic
two-piece black plastic
It was years ago that I met Tony at his booth and I got to play the range of whistles he made at that time. He had High D’s with black plastic heads and alloy bodies, I don’t know what model it was or if Tony still makes them. I played all 20 or so that he had and they did vary (as most whistles do) and some were quite nice, a respectible professional whistle with an interesting dark tone.
Selling your whistles in a bundle is a good idea. It should be easy selling them at the right price. I would have pounced at it when I first started going through whistles.
