Hello all,
First of all, let me warn you this post is long - sorry! Anyhow, I’m new to whistling (2 months) and I have found this board very helpful, so many thanks to Dale and Rich for running it and for the rest of you for sharing your extensive knowledge. I’d like to tap that knowledge if I may, so here goes…
Fortuitously, I discovered whistles right before my birthday (end of this month), and I am planning to use my b-day money for new keys (i.e. non-soprano D). I’ve already decided on a Gen. Bb and sop. G for the high stuff, so my questions are about the lower whistles. I’m thinking the Tony Dixon low G and low D are good prospects. However, I can’t try before I buy (as far as I know! I’m in Charlottesville, VA if anyone knows of whistle havens near there?), but instead am planning to buy online (plug: I’m buying from the Whistle Shop again - excellent service there!). This leads me to the following questions:
a). Is there any difference between the Dixon tuneable (70$) and non-tuneable (50$) low D, besides one being tuneable and one not? I.e., does either have better tone, or is one more in tune with itself (this is important to me; however, I play alone for now, so matching other instruments isn’t important)? Or should I just save enough for an expensive low D and wait until I can eventually get to a store and try a bunch of them?
b). If I were to forget about low D’s until I can go try a bunch out, but still wanted a lower-type whistle now to tide me over: what are opinions on the Dixon tuneable low G (42$) on its own or compared to the low D?
c). Any fabulous/obvious options I’ve missed?
Thanks much!
Paul
P.S. I have rooted through the archives about this stuff and as far as I can tell these specific questions weren’t answered before, but apologies if any of them are repeats of earlier topics!
[ This Message was edited by: Paul Patrick on 2001-10-11 13:22 ]
Paul,
I haven’t had a chance to play a Dixon low d or low g (tunable or not). I do have a dixon high-d though and I like it .Of course, I am like you…I can’t play before I buy them…So I haven’t played very many whistles to compare the Dixon to. Anyways, if you don’t play with anybody than you could go ahead and save some money and get the non-tunable (as long as the whistle is in tune with itself). Personally, I would go ahead and get the tunable but I play with people. Well, this is my $.02
If you want to buy the Dixon, you might as well spring for the tunable, because you probably will play with someone at some point, and the ability to tune to another musician is pretty convenient. I have a tunable Low D “Duo” and really like it BTW - so much so I have a Dixon 3-piece flute on order with The Whistle Shop.
Hi Paul
I have a few Dixon whistles sop-D,C,Bb,A & F.
All play fine and I consider them exceptional value. The G uses the same bore tube as the A & F so I see no reason why it shouldn’t play as well. I visited Tony at his workshop back in the summer. He uses the same fipple jigs for his tuneable and non-tuneable whistles as far as I remember so I wouldn’t expect there to be much difference between them. I’ve had a brief go on a low D but decided I wasn’t quite up to it yet (you need a good reach, fat fingers and a lot of wind for one those). I opted for the F, which I find more than enough to cope with for the present.
You talk about getting a Sop-G, this is a very tiny whistle and definitely needs slim fingers to play and can result in wife, kids, pets moving out.
I would recommend you see how you get on with the G before you commit to a Low-D other useful keys would be C & Eb.
Hope this helps
Joe
Thanks Brent, Bgull, and Joe for the helpful info! I’m definitely confident now about the quality of Dixon’s work. More opinions or afterthoughts are always welcome
Joe raised a good point about hand size - mine are average but I have pretty slender fingers (ring size = 6). Hopeless for low D’s? Or is it just getting used to a big stretch? I guess if I can’t play the low ones, I’ll just chase the local canines with my high G!
I have average size hands, and I dont have a problem with the stretch on my low D. It’s just that you have to use a pipers grip, which takes some getting use to.
While having slender fingers might be a problem on some low Ds, it is not on the Dixon, which has by far the smallest holes I have ever seen on a low D.
I too have average/longish, but slender fingers and have no problem with any low Ds. However, they do take some getting used to, so the fact that you might not be able to get a real sound out of the damn thing at first, doesn’t mean you won’t at some point.
On 2001-10-10 15:08, Joe wrote:
I have a few Dixon whistles sop-D,C,Bb,A & F.
All play fine and I consider them exceptional value. The G uses the same bore tube as the A & F so I see no reason why it shouldn’t play as well…
I have the Dixon low G and (alto) A. While both play well, the A is somehow much better. The bell note is more stable and not so sensitive to air pressure. The notes are clearer/purer/firmer/louder somehow. Maybe the difference in length of the barrel does make a difference. Or it could be particular to these 2 that I own.
As for the difference between tunable and non-tunable, I have both models for the C whistle (nice guy – Tony Dixon threw in the non-tunable for free when he had to replace my tunable C because there’d been something wrong with my original one).
They actually sound different. I prefer the tunable because it is purer. It’s great and easy to play. The non-tunable seems rougher in sound, but still very playable. I must say though that when I tried to play a marching fife-type piece last week, the non-tunable sounded much better. The tunable was too genteel for that type of music.
Does that help or does that muddy the waters even more ?
Hey, this is fabulous - what a great board! Thanks for the info from my fellow small-handed people.
Thanks also Tuaz - exactly the kind of stuff I’m looking for.
Ok, so about the Dixon mezzo A vs. low G: have others had the same experience as Tuaz (the “A” just seems to sound better)? Maybe this is true for whistles in general?
I doubt if the difference your hearing between your Cs is down to tunable/nontunable. Its far more likley to be due to slight variations in the fipple window and blade shape. These are cut by hand and do vary slightly from one whistle to the next.
