An old friend was visited by Ryan MacNeil who showed him a Low whistle he is now making. He said the whistle was simple in design, a bit quiet, but pretty nice.
Ryan has a website.
http://www.macneilwoodwinds.com/
SEE REVIEW BELOW
While in Cape Breton recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Ryan and having a cup of tea with him. He was in the middle of the Fall Festival and I really appreciated the time he took to show me his workshop and whistles. Great guy and his whistles are fantastic. Now the only low D I own is a Howard and he let me try his Copeland, Overton and Howard as well. In my opinion I prefered his personal MacNiel (He did not have any new ones made up for me to try, although lots were in the process) He played a tune or two for me and it sounded brilliant, although I think he would have made anything he played really sing. Interestingly, he is very keen to begin making bagpipes as well as the low whistles. When funds permit, I am definatley getting one of these.
Ian
Ryan MacNeil sent me his low D whistle and it’s really, really interesting. And quite good.
He has a very sharp website at http://www.macneilwoodwinds.com .
Take a look at this picture, which I stole from Ryan’s website:
Also, have a look at his website, especially under the ABOUT tab.
As you’ll see, this is a really innovative design for the head of a low whistle. When I think of all the painstaking design and crafting that goes into the design of the windway blade by most whistlemakers, I had to just laugh when I saw Ryan’s approach. He just, basically, eliminates it. The blade is just the rim of the upper end of the tube. It feels a bit more smoothly finished to me than the bottom of the tube, but it’s still just the rim of the tube. The translucent polycarbonate mouthpiece slides on to it. You use a little etched line on the tube to adjust where to put the mouthpiece, which you can adjust a bit, obviously if you want, and there you go.
The tube is nicely done in aluminum. It’s thin-walled, which I’m liking these days. Good, solid, tight tuning slide with some teflon tape happening. Very nicely finished holes. Comfortable hand & finger positions.
The whistles sounds very, very nice. It’s got a bit of the Cosmic Drainpipe. Nice volume, but probably not as loud as the average Overton Low D. One of the easiest and smoothest upper ends I can remember playing in awhile. Tuned beautifully.
I have only one complaint, which is matter of preference. The contour of the part of the mouthpiece that rests on one’s lower lip, combined with the somewhat short beak, more-or-less forces the mouth into a fixed position. It also forces a relatively more horizontal position for the whistle, relative to the (hopefully) vertical player. That’s probably a good thing but, again, but I like to have a bit more flexibility in that regard. I could live with it.
Mine came packed in a clear plastic mailing tube with black plastic endcaps.
There are some soundfiles on the webpage.
Ryan is selling these for 200 Canadian, which is…(tap, tap, taptaptap)…about 180 in US Dollars, I think. Good deal, in my opinion. I’d buy one of these.
Ooooooooooooh that is pretty. 
I doubt I will be buying one (because I don’t play low whistle 
) but those are really gorgeous.
Super review.
What are the air requirements like? Backpressure?
The labium design is intriguing - even more drastic than an O’Brien, by the look.
Air requirements aren’t bad at all. Moderate. Same with backpressure.
We need a measuring device. I think I might call those MYTHBUSTER guys.
Dale
Dale, how’s the reach, compared to the Overton/Howard kind of whistle? The same, more, less?
Shoot. I wish I had the whistles with me here. I want to say it’s a touch easier than Overton and Howard. The holes are larger, but they’re comfortably spaced.
Dale
That adjustable window idea is fascinating. Tiny adjustments in that area can make BIG differences in the tone of the whistle and being able to alter it at will is very cool.
I’m on it. Spirometer, some hose, and lots of duct-tape. Send me all your good whistles so I can get a good statistical base-line. 
What about Tony Hinnigan’s “NPL tests”?
Spirometer:
Gotta have stardardized lungs.
hey, the spirometer is what started my voyage to get here. i had heart surgery and had to use one of these afterwards. i’m a multi-tasker (i know, this probably helped prompt the surgery) so rather than just use a spiormeter, i learned how to play the harmonica. then i saw and heard a pennywhislte. learned how to play that too. then i picked up the irish flute. then i picked up a silver flute but dang, i learned how to play the whislte left-handed and i’m kinda stuck here until i develop another illness that requires enough time off to learn a new instrument. i hail the spirometer. and thanks for telling me the name of that.
They’re great for anyone who wants to monitor their air - I got mine from a brass teacher. They don’t make my eyes bug out like spirographs, either.
Glad to hear you’re healthier.
My roomate had a disc fused in her neck a few weeks ago..she had to use one of these for exercise in the hospital to ward off pneumonia or something
That’s part of what I liked about John McHaffie’s (sp) whistles… it is a nice thing to be able to adjust to personal and moment-sensitive preferences… quiet or not quite so…
Yes, the adjustable windway is amazing. I love this whistle for that reason. For my playing style it isn’t a workhorse that gets used for everything, but when I need something different, it usually gets picked. Pull the mouth piece out a bit, and you have a whistle that sounds remarkably like a set of pan pipes. Push it in a bit, and out comes a very delicate, wistful sound that reminds me very much of a quena. Push it in farther and it starts sounding almost like an oboe. Of course you start to lose the second octave and tuning also becomes a bit of a problem. (The tuning slide is fairly effective for taking care of these problems. It could be better though.) One last interesting thing. If the head is pushed in almost far enough to stop the sound, the whistle can blow a harmonic scale, rather like an overtone flute. It sounds a bit like a small Fujara. And the whistle looks very nice. Sleek lines, shiny metal, all that jazz. Definitely one for the collection.