Well, I ordered the Dixon low d “Duo” from The Whistle Shop a couple of weeks ago. In the three times I have ordered from Thom’s shop, the service has been excellent, by the way (thanks again Thom). I’ve had some time to evaluate the whistle from a beginner’s perspective and I have to say that overall I’m pretty pleased. I have to say though, when I first inspected my Dixon whistle I was a little disappointed at the finish quality. My only previous experience with a low whistle was a Susato tunable low d I purchased from The Whistle Shop a few weeks before, and compared to the Susato, the Dixon is a little rough around the edges. There was some slight paint smearing in the small grooves above the gold painted “Dixon” emblem. There are a couple of deep scratches on the whistle body, just below the windway opening where the round shape of the pvc was ground flat. The windway window itself was cut a little uneven as well, but you have to remember this is cut by hand, not molded. After a while, I realized I was making a mistake in comparing the finish quality of the Dixon to the Susato’s, because the Susato is molded by machine and the Dixon is made mostly by hand. I think these differences in manufacturing technique account for the “imperfections” I found with the Dixon. I would consider these to be minor esthetic issues and they in no way effect the sound quality of the whistle. So my overall review is;
The tone of the Dixon is very pleasing, with a nice round mellow tone quality. The whistle plays easy in both octaves, and the breath requirements are manageable for a beginner. Compared to my Susato, the fingering is much easier, mostly I think because of the funky oblong E/RH 2nd hole on the Susato.
Thanks for the review! It’s making my anticipation grow even more as my Dixon Low D and High D are scheduled to arrive tomorrow (Friday) from The Whistle Shop!
Joe
I think you will like them very much. I’ve really “bonded” to the Dixon low d, because it’s so easy to play and sounds so nice, I’m interested in getting a Dixon high d as well, but I’m holding back till I get some more time in on my low d. BTW, I ordered the large sling music bag for my low whistles from Tuffbags.com and its pretty cool. Kind of like a small soft-sided golf bag for whistles, 
and I can fit my high whisles in the side pocket too, so it’s pretty versatile.
I am a beginner (2 1/2 months on the whistle) and I have been playing my Dixon Low D for about two months now. It’s easy to play, I like the sound, and I’d recommend it to anyone starting on the Low whistle. While I prefer the tone of a friend’s Burke Composite Low D, and his whistle hits the bottom D and E better than the Dixon, I find the spread of the last two holes to be more comfortable on the Dixon, and the Dixon costs less too. It’s a nice whistle.
Dave
I recently bought a Dixon low D. Here are the plusses and minusses: 
- Easy fingering.
- Easy breathing (ie. lower air requirements than any other low D I’ve tried).
- Very nice cound, not very loud.
- Has a cheap “plasticky” look.
- It’s not very well in tune with itself (eg. 1st octave E is OK, but 2nd octave E is much too low).
- I’ve saved the worst for last: In a fit of miserliness I decided to save a few $ and get the nontunable version, because, in general, the low Ds I’ve tried have been pretty well in tune. However the Dixon is not one of them! In fact the whole whistle is so highly pitched, it’s as close (if not closer) to Eb than to D. Major bummer…
So, concluding, the Dixon low D is the whistle I will play for practice when I feel lazy and want an easy whistle. The out-of-tuneness means I can’t play it with the rest of the band however… 
Jens
Jens,
Have you dropped Tony a line telling him about the problem? While his whistles tend toward the inexpensive side, they are still individually hand-made, and from what I hear he wouldn’t usually let one like that out the door.
- -Rich
No, but it’s a good idea, so I definitely will. Thanks!
Cheers,
Jens
I use a Dixon low D, and would like to add that it is really an excellent choice for a starter, easy playing, and nice tone. I suggest you try the flute mouthpiece option also.
You can take on both these potentially tricky-to-play instruments for a very low financial investment, and you will have a nice benchmark to judge by should you choose to invest in a high-end instrument.
Tony Dixon, if you are reading this…thanks, and best wishes to you.
Follow-up to my low D story:
I wrote to Tony telling him about the problem, and he wrote back right away, offering to send me a (tunable) replacement without further charge. What a cool dude, what a service! I’m a happy customer, see for yourself:
So, thanks to Tony and thanks to Rich for suggesting I brought it to his (Tony’s) attention in the first place.
Cheers,
Jens