When you get a whistle which is out of tune, what will you do?
For example, if you buy a LowG whistle in the shop, you take
it home and try it, then you discover that the sound F# does
sounds like F, but the shop says you can’t return it, and you
can not try it first before buying it.
it sounds shit, doesn’t’ it?
The same thing happened to me TWICE!
It makes me waste a lot of money!!!
Please give me some suggewtions.
Warren
it sure must be a cheap whistle, if they won’t let you try them. if you can, i’d try some place else the next time.
and if it’s just the F sharp that’s out of tune, no big deal. just file open the F hole a little more.
Is there a tuning coupler on this whistle. I sounds like the body is too short or the fipple has been put on too far.
If you’re buying it from a store, they should give you some help in properly tuning it or they should take it back.
They should be reasonable with you, if they’re not you can file a report with a state Attorney General’s office. In most states, a defective product must be exchanged unless there is clearly posted a “No returns” policy.
You should act quickly, the period to do this varies.
These rules vary in every state, so check out the local regulations.
Chances are, they will have to take it back.
I suprised hearing how many stores are now posting “no-returns” policy sign 7 days after Christmas.
If a whistle cant play an octave properly, it is definitely defective merchandise and should be returnabale as such.
Find a new store. Period.
Buy from a reputable shop. Thom at the Whistle Shop is one that springs to mind right away. If it’s a hand made whistle with a known maker’s name attached you should alo contact the maker to work out a solution.
Either way DO NOT go back to the place that’s ripping you off again and again.
B~
If the store won’t let you return it, I’d try contacting the manufacturer.
I’m surprised at the number of music shops that WON’T let you try whistles or recorders. I only know of one locally that will (run by folk musicians and all-around good folk). I know they don’t want people spreading germs, but heck…they wouldn’t expect you to buy a guitar or drumset without trying it out.
Redwolf
-I was first refused permission to try my treasured Water Weasel low G in the Elderly shop in Michigan, but appealed past the floor salesperson who obtained an OK from the manager after hearing the facts of whistle life.
(No trial, no sale) Perhaps they would have said no if it involved an inexpensive blister-packed whistle, but caved on the chance to sell the WW. They sold it as a result. Sometimes a litigious world puts us at sixes and sevens with one another for no other reason than self-protection.
-Elderly is a great shop BTW, and I would retain the same opinion had they still refused the whistle trial. I’ve been their customer for twenty six years, and they’ve always dealt squarely with me, including their purchase from me a couple of decades ago of a vintage mandolin at a good price-one indicating their retail pricing is not out to gouge their market.
-I don’t scorn merchants’ refusal to allow whistle trials -liability can be formidable if somebody gets sick from an infected instrument and sues the shop-most of which are medium-to-small operations unable to withstand legal costs or the vast awards possible if a sympathetic jury gives the store away to a plaintiff. -Add something like transmissible SARS
to the recent equation, and a shop’s decision to bar fipple instrument trials
is regrettable but understandable.
-That being said, I respect the shop’s policy whatever it is, but won’t buy
a middle or high end instrument without trial-sometimes prefaced by statement in front of several shop employees I assume all risk of infection
and hold the shop harmless. That’s done it the one time the issue came up.
Has anyone heard of this cool invention: Rubbing Alcohol?
It kills germs. It’s neat. It makes things clean so one person can try a whistle and then it can be perfectly sterilized and tried again by the next person! It’s the coolest little thing. 
Seriously I’ve never seen the point to be so paranoid about it all. If there is a concern about frivilous lawsuits, simply post a sign releasing liability for trying any woodwind instrument. Should take care of that.
Did I mention rubbing alcohol??
I’ve purchased several low cost whistles from shops and was always allowed to try them. In fact the salesperson in the first shop I bought in, Folk Music in St Louis, all but insisted that I try the whistle first. I was new and shy but I did and was happy to be able to have my pick of several whistles. Later I went back, tried almost every cheapie in the store and ended up buying four. In St Louis they’ve heard of rubbing alcohol. Personally I’d prefer a little Jamison’s.
Of course when you visit Mike Burke at a festival you are encouraged to try out the wares. I did, and after a long distance phone call home, got permission to buy ONLY one. Mike knows about rubbing alcohol too. I now prefer Burkes and Jamisons. 
Mike
The one store I went into to buy a recorder wouldn’t let me try it until I promised I would buy it… even though I wasn’t sure. Then when I suggested disinfectants the lady had the gall to say they couldn’t use it because it would make the recorder taste funny.
I do not go into that store anymore.
Hadn’t they heard about vodka? Or, perhaps Irish whiskey would be more appropriate?
Unless you can autoclave the mouthpiece, rubbing alcohol is not enough. It will kill germs, but there are some nasty little thingies called “virii”, and even worse, “prions”, which are not killed by alcohol, the latter because they’re not technically alive anyhow.
the likelihood that you will be infected by a mouthpiece that has been contaminated by a virus is small, a prion even smaller, but it does exist. I have yet to see a musical instrument sales counter with an autoclave.
Me? I don’t worry about it. I take a few alcohol wipes with me when I go instrument-prowling for winds, and take my chances with Mad Cow Disease. 
Cheers, (mooooooooooo)
[shrug] Don’t buy from brick and glass shops. If possible, buy direct from the maker, which will allow them a greater share of the profits for their work. Failing that, look to an online WHISTLE store run by a real musician. My personal preference is the Whistle Shop, but I’m sure most of the others would be as good.
Buying a whistle from a shop that makes its money on guitars and drum sets and humongous amps is like buying a hand held calculator from a computer store. You just can expect them to take such a minuscule part of their business seriously.
When I first started whistling on whistles I had a couple that were out of tune on the second octave. I asked similar questions.
I was advised to examine how I was blowing the whistles/flutes. I was told to check my air pressure and such.
Oh, I raged and fitted. I carried on something awful about such verbal abuse and insult. But lately, after almost two years of playing I’ve found those same whistles actually work fine if I adjust my breathing.
I knew I was right all along.
It’s frustrating how some stores deal with tinwhistles.
If the instrument were a Flute, Clarinet, Trumpet, they would probably let you test it - unless it’s merely a guitar and drum store, then it’s even worse, most of them don’t even know what a Tinwhistle is. Some of them think Tinwhistles are, ahem, Rcrd*rs. That’s right, the other fipple instruments.
Anyway, If the head of a whistle is pushed in too far, it will make the top most tonehole extremely sharp. If it’s a tuneable whistle, that might be remedied but if it’s untunable, then it’s definitely a flaw and should be returnable.
Recorder - the other white meat…
(I didn’t take the time to read all responses.)
Use an electronic tuner. Your ear may be deceiving you.
You can sharpen a hole by opening it up, especially towards the mouthpiece end of the whistle.
You can flatten a note by putting tape over the hole at the side of the hole that is towards the mouthpiece.
Don’t be too quick to open up holes. Do it a 64th of an inch at a time and play the whistle between drillings. You can always put tape on a hole you opened too much.
Cal,
“The other white meat.”
That’s cute, actually I do own about four Recorders.
Actually, quite a number of flutes used to be made slightly sharp, like almost A=444Hz. I’ve always heard the excuse, “They sound brighter”. That just doesn’t sound like a good enough reason.