The Wonders of Cheap Whistles

[Jayhawk]

As I'm getting ready to teach a beginner's whistle class at a local Irish trad festival, and as I tune a box of 30 Feadog whistles, I'm finding myself drawn back from higher end whistles to, well, these Feadogs. They're well in tune, have a wonderful rich/chiffy sound, and well...they're ALL pretty great. No flashing to be removed, no issues at all...apart from them coming sharp and requiring a good twist to get the head into tune.

I've played everything from O'Brien 3 part rovers, Killarney whistles, nearly everything Dixon made, etc., but I've recently stuck a plain old Feadog in my flute case because it has that old school charm, warms up so quickly and just doesn't clog. Those last two qualities are huge for someone who primarily plays flute and just plays whistle for a few tunes during gigs.

Just had to share...playing with a box of 30 Feadogs does things to you. LOL.

Eric

[Terry McGee]

That's great, Eric. But let me expose you to a quite different experience. I have a number of Feadog's in my bundle, some old and some recent, and all of them are rubbish. They squeak, they rasp. They are among my worst whistles. I often wonder, down here on the Pacific Rim, do we cop the world's cast-offs?

If I'm right - that we are a dumping ground - it's nothing new. Back in the early seventies, Generation did something really bad in their head molding. Australia was suddenly awash with crap whistles. Unplayable whistles. As luck turned out, I spent 7 months in England, Ireland and Scotland in 1974, and, before I left, went to Barnes and Mullins in London and bought two boxes of D whistles. Boy, was I popular when I got home!

I'd be interested to hear from others who share my experience rather than yours. But hey, wouldn't it be nice to find this era is over!

[Steve Bliven]

I often wonder, down here on the Pacific Rim, do we cop the world's cast-offs?

If I'm right - that we are a dumping ground - it's nothing new.

Extended residual of the whole penal colony thing?

Best wishes.

Steve

[bruce.b]

It never ceases to amaze me how differently people hear whistles. I bought a Feadog D about a month ago to have an inexpensive whistle for when I travel, since I didn’t want to take my expensive Midge. I just played it for maybe ten minutes and it’s not even good enough to bother to take when I fly. The upper octave has a raspy tone that I dislike and I don’t find it at all expressive. I can’t lean into notes like I can on my Midge. I wouldn’t play whistles if this was what I was stuck playing. It’s barely a “musical” instrument to my ears. I almost forgot, even after warming it up it still clogs.

[Sirchronique]

I feel the same way about Acorn and Oak whistles, which are of the same type and price range (actually cheaper, I believe). I love them and have them scattered all over my house and vehicle. A good thing about Oak whistles is that they do not glue the head, so you can tune them right out of the box without risking breakage. I prefer their C whistles and Acorn’s D whistles (I think the same parent company owns both, or at least did at one time). Acorns can vary pretty drastically from whistle to whistle, but I’ve never gotten one that was horrible, and I’ve gotten a couple that were superb, with a very sweet upper register and a warm and round low end. The tuning also seems to be identical to Feadog whistles.

With Feadogs I have not had any luck, except with their very earliest MK1 models. All of the recent ones sound too nasal and dirty to me, and even when I have heard top-class players play them, this tone was still unpleasant to my ears. I suppose it just comes down to differences in one’s personal preference in regards to tone.

On a more positive note, the Feadog tubes are really good in regards to tuning, though. I use their brass bodies with heads from other whistles, simply as I prefer the tactile feel of the brass and the holes on those tubes. It looks and feels a lot nicer than the nickel-plated Oak tubes.

[Jayhawk]

Terry...I have no clue if you all are a dumping ground down under, but others here appear to support your view of Feadogs worldwide. I apologize for the other 6 continents if we're sending our garbage whistles your way.

All I can say after tuning 18 more of the suckers this morning...they're lovely. They have that old school whistle sound for sure, but they're in tune and ALL perfectly usable. Maybe something has improved? I just played one back to back with my O'Brien improved feadog, and they sound just about identical to my ears. Also, there have been zero flashing bits to remove, which is something I don't recall from older (as in 10 or 20 year old) feadogs and generations.

FWIW, I was able to get this 36 pack that brought the price down to $5.75 USD each. I couldn't find anything else cheaper and I'm tossing them in free with the price of the beginner's class at the festival, so I didn't want to spend too much anyway. That said, they'll all be leaving with really nice, playable whistles, and if they want to they can buy more expensive whistles on their own dime!

Eric

[Average Whistler]

Has anyone tried the Feadog Pro? Apparently the barrel wall is thicker than the standard Feadog, plus it has the word "Pro" in the title and costs more, so therefore is must be better

Curious if anyone has tried it and their opinion.

AW

[stringbed]

I have a few Feadog Pros and really like them, all ordered online from the manufacturer. They’re noticeably but not a whole lot better than the regular Feadogs, which I also regard as Jayhawk initially presented them. I have a variety of cheapo, midrange, and pro whistles for comparison and would probably recommend the Killarney as an initial acquisition for anyone who can afford the added cost. One of the factors that has yet to be introduced into this discussion is the somewhat paradoxical need for a reasonable degree of skill and experience to bring out the best in what might otherwise be regarded as an entry-level whistle. Same goes for the Generations.

[Moof]

I wouldn’t play whistles if this was what I was stuck playing.

I'd echo that with the D. The sound of mine felt like being stabbed in the brain.

The C I bought at the same time is in a different class, though. I don't play high whistle all that often, and it's good enough that I haven't thought of trying another.

The D got its head levered off and the bits went into the plastic and metal recycling, to make sure nobody else could commit torture with it.

[bruce.b]

Mine is the Feadog Pro. The upper octave is way too raspy and the upper G is pretty much unusable. There must be a lot of variation with these as I can’t imagine anyone would like this one. A long time ago I had an Oak high D and that played ok for me.

[Terry McGee]

Terry...I have no clue if you all are a dumping ground down under, but others here appear to support your view of Feadogs worldwide. I apologize for the other 6 continents if we're sending our garbage whistles your way.

All I can say after tuning 18 more of the suckers this morning...they're lovely. They have that old school whistle sound for sure, but they're in tune and ALL perfectly usable. Maybe something has improved? I just played one back to back with my O'Brien improved feadog, and they sound just about identical to my ears. Also, there have been zero flashing bits to remove, which is something I don't recall from older (as in 10 or 20 year old) feadogs and generations.

That's great, Eric. And of course that's how it should be if Quality Control is doing their job. Hmmm, maybe QC sees its job as separating finished instruments into two piles. Rest of World and Australia.

But no, from the responses here, it's not just that we've been the dumping ground. It sounds like they had a problem in the factory that went for too-long unsolved. Shades of Generation in the seventies. But the fact that you've acquired new stock directly from the manufacturer and it's good seems to portend well for the future.

Now what are we going to do with all these duds? When I get a chance, I'll see if I can work out what's wrong with them. Or has someone already done that?

FWIW, I was able to get this 36 pack that brought the price down to $5.75 USD each. I couldn't find anything else cheaper and I'm tossing them in free with the price of the beginner's class at the festival, so I didn't want to spend too much anyway. That said, they'll all be leaving with really nice, playable whistles, and if they want to they can buy more expensive whistles on their own dime!

Eric

That's a great plan, well done! Gulp, the world will soon be awash with hot young whistle players armed with good instruments. We're all in trouble!

[David Cooper]

It might be helpful if we could hear sound recordings to illustrate all these different whistles with them all using the same tune and recorded with the same type of microphone at the same distance. For the microphone I'd suggest a £10 Gyvazla tie microphone. (I don't have shares in the company - it's just cheap and good enough for the job while being worth owning anyway even if you already have something more expensive.) This can be clipped to the top of whatever clothing the player has on (while those who normally play naked can wear a tie).

[Narzog]

My biggest issue with the cheap whistles is that because there's so much out there of people saying they are bad, new players shouldn't start with them unless they know an experienced player who can play it and confirm its a good one. Because new players will generally be bad regardless of if their instrument is good or bad. but it makes it really easy for them to immediately write it off as the instrument. When they could have a perfectly good whistle and are just bad as a new player should be when they first start out. Getting a premium whistle is still significantly cheaper than buying almost any other instrument (at least depending on what maker you buy from, burkes cost way more than Killarney). And then you know its been made and tested to be of quality by a professional and reputable maker. And then there's really no excuse and you can just focus on getting better.

[RoberTunes]

My experience with the el cheapo range of whistles is mostly uniform, with some exceptions:
1) The Walton "Guinness" whistle, otherwise marketed as the Little Black whistle, is easy to play, sounds considerably
better than any Generation I've ever had (about 7 keys of them). They tend to start getting slightly raspy in the
upper half of the second octave and into the third octave, but still musical and controllable. Not particularly expensive, but not $8 either.
2) The Generation range from high G, high F, high D, high C, all of them inconsistent, raspy and waste a lot of air.
Not musical instruments. Never again.
3) Walton's regular brass whistles. I had two in high D and one high C. These had consistent playability, the tone was
adequate for a beginner whistle (a far cry from rosewood Sweetheart whistles, but $12 of brass and plastic is what it is).

I haven't played one, but I've seen consistent good reviews about the beginner level plastic Tony Dixon DX001 whistle in D,
for playability and tone. They're inexpensive. I once played an Oak whistle and thought it was OK, but so long ago I have no
idea what I'd say as an accurate review of it.

I also haven't played the very inexpensive Walton's Mellow D, which from what I've seen on YouTube, isn't particularly "mellow", its
wider bore gives it a fuller tone and the upper octave is more controllable without breaking into raspy noise. Gets a lot of good reviews.

This discussion parallels a long marketplace discussion about harmonicas. There are bad, good and very good harmonicas available
for low cost, medium cost and a variety of quality at high cost. Those who search, can find them. Those who just run to the nearest chain musical instrument store, who buy off the rack
like that's all there is on this planet for musical instruments, are likely going to get the crap, or think you have to spend $200 to get a good
harmonica, when you certainly dont!!!!!

[Katharine]

Honestly-- I've enjoyed the (brass) Walton whistles I own. I still mourn my first that died (well, the head did, so, same thing); it was my first whistle. It had a unique, sort of "reedy" tone that I'd love to find again (but without buying a boatload of them and playing them all and then figuring out what to do with any I don't want... not gonna happen, probably-- though if anyone has a reedy-sounding one looking for a new home, I might like to hear about it). I have another brass one now-- got it still boxed from a thrift store, oddly enough!-- that is one of my main whistles, though the tone is not quite the same as the original. I also have a "Little Black" that I got from someone here, somewhat reedy tone, but too lightweight for me.

I have a Feadog, but I'm not a huge fan. It's not a bad whistle, but I have other ones I like the sound of better, and it's very unforgiving on the squeaks and squawks. Yes, of course the answer is "do a better job of making sure your fingers don't budge on the holes," but it's still a bit disheartening when I have (many) other whistles that are more forgiving in this arena.