Hi everyone,
What are secondhand Dixon whistles going for these days? Specifically the brass high D (which I know isn’t made anymore, so secondhand would be my only choice). I know they’re good whistles so I don’t imagine many people are selling them on. I’ve always fancied trying one, though, and they’re on my “short list” as I consider a new (or new to me) whistle, so would be interested to know how much they tend to go for. (How are they on the upper octave? I love my Impempe high D, but it’s just never going to be my daily player-- and I really did try-- because I find the top end a bit difficult.)
I tried searching “sold and old” for “Dixon brass” and it “ignored” the term “Dixon” so that left me with way too many results to sort through (73 pages or something like that, though I tried to go through some of the more recent ones. I’m sure Copelands are nice, but not what I was looking for…).
I can’t help you with the price, and mine won’t be going up for sale, sorry. It’s a very good sounding whistle imo, my favorite of the traditional sounding whistles that I own. I have several Dixons, and the ease and balance of the upper octaves on all of them is a big reason that they are among my favorites.
Thanks, everyone! Confirmed what I suspected-- they’re as good as they’re said to be! LOL (Yeah, I maybe should’ve bought one years ago, but I was happy with the whistle I had so I didn’t need another… but then broke it, and now I need a new “go to” whistle.)
Are any of the other Dixons (nickel, for example) similar in sound? Not looking for the alloy version because it’s a bit pricey for me, and not interested in the polymer versions (and it seems like that’s mostly what they’re going to making these days). I imagine the differences are probably subtle between the different models so maybe it doesn’t really matter, but I like to imagine the claims that brass is more “mellow” or “rounded” than the “brighter” sounds of some other metals are true…
Dixon’s own website describes the brass as “sweeter” (I would say the nickel is brighter) but it’s subtle. My main complaint is that the nickel can be slippery and I had to place a piece of cloth tape under my thumb.
I own the Dixon polymer D… it’s a different sound altogether, not better or worse, but different. What I like about it is that it is always in tune, supports an in-tune OXX C-nat, and plays the G# and A# cross-fingerings in tune rather than requiring half-holing. Best of all, it doesn’t set off the metal detectors at the airport and has become my go-to travel whistle. It’s funny how airport security gets nervous about metal pipe-shaped objects in carry-on luggage…
Most of a whistles tone is supposed to come from the mouthpiece and not the tube material. Obviously the tube material is still part of it. So as long as they didn’t make a new mouthpiece you will still probobly like the nickel trad. And its much easier to get.
I bet if you put a big buy order out there someone would bite though. Someone’s going to want to sell their spare whistle they got for $20 for $75-100.
I’ve never really liked the sound of any polymer whistle I’ve heard. (I have a couple PVC whistles and they’re okay, but not my favorites.) Sound is subjective (I cringed to use the word “mellow,” lol), but most plastic whistles I’ve heard have a sound that is, to me, reminiscent of a recorder.
In my experience, that’s been true. I’ve tried a couple other whistle heads on the body of the one I broke (I broke a small plastic piece inside the head) and found that for the most part, they still sounded the same they did on the body of the whistle they originally came with.
(I’m sure someone would love to sell their whistle for baller bucks, but that’s way too rich for my blood!)
I’ve heard good things about it, but it would just be overkill for my purposes. I’m not a skilled player, mostly play for fun (and a bit at church, usually with other instruments, for people who don’t know any better), so don’t need a lot of whistle or to spend a ton. The former “go to” whistle that I broke was a Walton, so… (I replaced it with another but that one just isn’t as good.)
Talking about Dixons, has anyone seen any non-D plastic low whistles on the used market or are people hesistant to sell theirs? They seem to be no longer manufactured and I have no idea how sought-after they are.
Lucky! I’m currently trying to find that exact key. Wondering how its sound and playability compares to the alloy one. I love the sound of the plastic low D and if it was possible I’d buy a set of that kind of whistle in different keys haha
Anyone know what’s behind Dixon downsizing their whistle line? I wouldn’t be surprised if demand is at issue for low polymer whistles other than D, but I would have thought the Brass Trad was among their better selling models.
What makes extra little sense is that their mouthpieces are molded. So there’s not really any reason they cant have a brass body and a nickel body, and plastic bodies. They stick the same mouthpieces on them. So my only guess is whatever way they use to mass produce them, its easier to have them make less versions.
Would someone really pay more for a used Dixon Trad than a new Killarney? If so, I’ll start rummaging through the pile of whistles on my desk to see what treasures I may have lying around.
So, someone else PM’d me with an idea I’d actually had myself but sort of pushed aside-- that Hobgoblin had the brass piccolo and of course one can get a whistle head to go with it. Worked for me… I figured the piccolo might be fun to play with. So I called them today to ask about that. At first they didn’t think they had a head and weren’t sure whether they were interchangeable on that whistle anyway. But after they told me that and we hung up, they called back a few minutes later and said they’d found a whistle head for me (I thought it was cool of them that they actually went digging rather than just letting it go), and that if I got it and found that it didn’t actually fit, I could send them back. Voila! I ordered both and was a happy camper.
Then they called back again and said they didn’t have the piccolo (and couldn’t get it from Dixon, either) and weren’t sure why it was shown on the site. Well, I thought that situation was maybe a bit too good to be true (considering that IIRC, the brass whistle was discontinued some time ago and no way nobody else would’ve had that idea while the piccolo was still available). So I switched my order to the nickel whistle. I think I’ll like the nickel one as well.
Oh, I’m sure some people would. Me, I don’t want one that badly that I’d pay that much (not with the nickel version being an alternative, as well as the Dixon being only one of the whistles I was considering), but no doubt there are people who would. (If I wanted to pay that much, I could’ve just gotten the alloy whistle new, plus a couple more cheap Waltons just in case I got a gem-- or bought the nickel version and then the other whistle I was considering-- and called it good.) You could always polish up the herd and see what happens.
It’s a very good sounding whistle imo, my favorite of the traditional sounding whistles that I own. I have several Dixons, and the ease and balance of the upper octaves on all of them is a big reason that they are among my favorites.
