Does anybody make them? I’d like to get one if they do.
Mike Burke makes them.
Erle Bartlett, Syn whistles.
I suppose it depends on your perspective, but I have always seen them called Csharp.
The only D flat whistle I’ve seen was a Generation D that got stepped on by a horse when the whistle’s owner accidentally dropped it in the stall.
Colin Goldie also makes them.
So does Gary Humphrey. I love Db whistles, they have a wonderful mellow sound!
compared to what?
Ya, what’s up with that?
I could have sworn that in my youth when I was taking piano and music theory lessons, that I learnt the C# major scale (ie 7 sharps, the scale that comes after F# major) rather than the Db major scale. But since I started frequenting this board, I’ve noticed everyone talking about Db major rather than C# major.
Did some revamp of music theory take place, that I wasn’t aware of? Or maybe the American music system is different (my lessons were under the Royal School of Music syllabus)?
Compared to a dentist’s drill. 
I have a hunch that Chris Abell and John Sindt now produce C# whistles but I’m feeling too lazy to do the checking for you.
FWIW, I’m certainly going to order a C# from Erle Bartlett in the near future as well as whistles in other unusual keys.
I could have sworn that in my youth when I was taking piano and music theory lessons, that I learnt the C# major scale (ie 7 sharps, the scale that comes after F# major) rather than the Db major scale. But since I started frequenting this board, I’ve noticed everyone talking about Db major rather than C# major.
Did some revamp of music theory take place, that I wasn’t aware of? Or maybe the American music system is different (my lessons were under the Royal School of Music syllabus)?
Maybe it IS one of those American things. I went back to my Mechanics of Music workbook, and found that there is a key of C# AND a key of Db. So both are right. At least according to this book (by Roger Jenni, c. 1974), which is published in the U.S. I also find both keys articulated in more recent publications. Also U.S. publications.
Doesn’t matter for tinwhistle, I guess. Either way, it’s hard to find, but apparently findable. Thanks for the help, everyone.[/quote]
It’s not that Dflat doesn’t exist as a key but just like nobody would go looking ever for an A sharp whistle of a D sharp (but for B and E flat respectively instead) it’s positively strange to ask after a Dflat.
Well, I guess I’ve still got some nooB left in me. Until we had the internet, I never knew there was anything but a D whistle. C# it is, then.
Db and C# are essentially the same key (and are as far as whistles are concerned…string instruments are a different story).
Db is a bit of an easier key to handle in the classical wind world…5 flats as opposed to the 7 sharps of C#. So many people in the classical world will naturally call it Db.
~Crysania
Thanks, I get it now. I think the difference is significant only when score-reading is impt, as it would be in the classical world. I would find it troublesome to keep reading “E#” and “B#” in scores when these notes would have looked more straightforward as “F” and “C” respectively.
The 5-flat key signature eliminates the need to read F and C that way.
If you play by ear and all you need is a whistle that can play the major scale starting on C#…hmmm… I’m with Peter on this. I would still call it a C# instrument because Db just sounds weird to me.
Certrainly in regards to Irish music, Db is an odd note (and an even odder key)…you see a lot of C#s because of all the sharp keys you play in.
Really just think of it however you want to! I can’t help but think “Db” thanks to my 22 years of clarinet playing, but if C# works, run with it.
~Crysania
Kind of like the difference between being whacked on the head with a rubber mallet as opposed to a ball-peen hammer.
I’ve always been of the opinion that anything more than 2 was just showing off.
And why would anyone struggle with 7 sharps, when they could drop it half a tone and have none?
Why kill yourself in B, which has sharps like a hound dog has ticks, when you can raise it half a tone and get rid of all of them, or drop it half a tone and have only 2 flats.
And don’t even get me going on F sharp/G flat, which are spawn from the very bowels of musical hell, or the redundant C flat, which has no purpose in the company of decent folks.
And why would anyone struggle with 7 sharps, when they could drop it half a tone and have none?
grins Because each key has a unique sound to it. C# minor is MUCH darker sounding than E minor. Db is a lot darker than B which is much brighter than D.
Plus sometimes when you’re composing you just end up there by the way the melody goes. 
~Crysania
grins Because each key has a unique sound to it. C# minor is MUCH darker sounding than E minor. Db is a lot darker than B which is much brighter than D.
~Crysania
This is especially true when you’re talking just intonation (another discussion altogether). I took some ear-training lessons that really concentrated a lot on relative and perfect pitch, and I was surprised at the difference between just and equal temperaments, especially in regard to the moods/timbres inherent in each key.