Worst Whistles?

meir · Post by **meir** » Mon Aug 05, 2002 12:29 pm

just have to come to the defense of the feadog, at least the recent ones. they do not have the most exciting tone. however the 2 i have (one for my car, one for my son, and yes, i play only at red lights) are adequate. they play all the notes and are more or less in tune. apparently, for a whistle to be classified on the "worst list" it should either be way out of tune or not play all the notes.

meir

Sean · Post by **Sean** » Mon Aug 05, 2002 1:53 pm

I must whole-heartedly agree about the Feadog whistle being the worst I've ever had. I've bought three over the last few years and not one of them was good. The last two were MII and nigh on unplayable. I gave them to my five-year old to learn fingering with but will soon have to give him something that is in tune w/ itself. OTOH my Clarke original(D) is awesome with some minor adjustment to make the mouthpiece more comfortable. And Generation... (insert your own derisive comment here).

Mark_J · Post by **Mark_J** » Mon Aug 05, 2002 3:15 pm

I will second the dislike of the direction that this thread is going. "Whistle X is CRAP" is a statement that is of no use to anyone. Even adding minor qualifiers like 'out of tune' or "harsh" or "breathy" don't really do justice to a whistle when you are considering (1) a unique player who may not choose to blow the whistle in tune, or some other way that makes the whistle more playable as well as what is nice to me may be too breathy, chiffy, or harsh to you, and (2) a unique whistle that may be a blem and not representative of the average whistle made by one manufacturer.

I've found my Oak to be a lovely whistle (until the sticky tack melted all over the blade and made it less of a whistle) and one of my favorites. I have a Mellow D from Waltons that (in this case) has a mouth piece that is identical to a Brass C, Perri C and GoldenTone C. The Mellow D did not sound good, but the others sound marvelous. I also have a Irish D that sounds great.

I think Clarke Originals are wonderful whistles which sound great in the hands of a master and I really enjoy playing them, even though I am far from a master.

Feadog whistles are another ball of wax all together. If I had listened to the constant Feadog bashing that goes on here, I'd have never owned one. After my first (which was a MkII with the bump on the blade ramp), I may have not gotten another one. I later heard that old Feadogs without the bump were better. I got two of them at a store that had hundreds of feadogs to choose from (most of which were MkII). I found the Mk I Feadogs to be wonderful, if a little quiet. Just recently, I picked up a McCullough-Piggott Feadog (made prior to Mk I fipples and the sale of the company). The M-PFeadog is one of the best whistles I own. Since I got the Mk I that I liked, Feadog scrapped the Mk II (possibly from user feedback) and began production of the MkIII fipple, which is reported to be marginally superior to MkI fipples.

I personally have noticed, that as I improved my whistle playing through practice, many whistles sound better when I play them. I wonder if anybody else will have that experience, as well.

What I want to ask everybody that belittled a whistle here on this thread is which of the following statement is most similar to your experience with a make of whistle.

(A) I bought a WhistleX, played it for two days, and I say they are all crap.

(B) I've played 20 different WhistleX whistles and I found that they have problems with tuning and I personally find the timbre to be non-traditional, even after giving some of them a month of playing time.

All of this was not really necessary since the answer to the post can be found on the main web site as Dale did a survey to find out how many people like and dislike which whistle. I didn't respond to the thread earlier because I thougt it was a troll for exactly what the thread ended up becoming.

On positive thing that may come of this is that many whistles have entered the inexpensive whistle market since the last survey and some whistles have changed production for one reason or another. Maybe it is time.

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Mon Aug 05, 2002 3:33 pm

No way, man. Chevies are great, but Fords are garbage.

mamakash · Post by **mamakash** » Mon Aug 05, 2002 3:38 pm

The first tin whistle I owned was the most god awful thing . . . a cheap "toy" sold at Colonial Williamsburg. Must of cost two bucks. I lost interest in it immediatly(way back in 86') but discovered it again eleven years later. I learned how to play a scale and a few choppy tunes but that was it. It did pave the way to one of my favorite hobbies, but thinking about how it shreiked on every note sets my teeth on edge.
I threw it away after I bought my LBW, but now I wish I had it, just to see how it sounds now that I know how to play.

Some instruments are dissapointing . . . but it's hard to bear when you've shelled out top dollar for one. The only one I truly dislike is the Suato Low D, and while it wasn't overly expensive, it was a waste of money.

Whitmores75087 · Post by **Whitmores75087** » Mon Aug 05, 2002 4:48 pm

Hi Mark J,
I wouldn't knock the fact that people are knocking some brands of whistle. As you said, it may have been user feedback that caused Feadog to make some changes. I've noticed most people don't like Walton Mellow D. I happen to like it's sound (although it's not well in tune). But with all that negative feedback we may see some changes. It's a new world out there, and people can have their say. What they say will bring changes for those with ears to listen.

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Mon Aug 05, 2002 4:50 pm

Dear Mark J.
The Shaw I own still sucks by all of your qualifiers (number of whistles owned, played, etc etc.). I think Martin's does too.

The question was asked and I answered.

If I can save somebody the $20 i spent on it with at least a warning to not mail order it or really make sure and try it in the store, I am glad. i thought I was specific enough but maybe not...

I think a side-effect of WHOA is whistle ownership regret. When you have a whistle thats so bad that you don't even want to give it away, you end up sorry you spent the bucks. This one may be tweakable though, in fairness....In the case of more expensive whistles that you have a hard time playing but are not intrinsically bad, you still have the regret of ownership but different category. I only came clean about the Chieftains after there was an entire thread about how to warm em up and get em to play and I realized I was not alone. I am hesitant to knock products and players more than others on the Forum and I think I understand your concerns but......

Best wishes,
Reasonable W/endr.

Ridseard · Post by **Ridseard** » Mon Aug 05, 2002 5:22 pm

After reading Mark_J's post, I pulled out my "worst" whistle, an LBW, and played some jigs and reels for about 45 minutes. After about 3 tunes I got the feel of the instrument, and I have to say it really kicks butt on fast stuff! (I had based my evaluation almost entirely on how it sounds on slow airs.) I hereby officially withdraw the LBW from my "worst" list. (Now, however, I don't even have a worst whistle. Maybe if I buy a few more...)

burnsbyrne · Post by **burnsbyrne** » Tue Aug 06, 2002 6:14 am

I have several cheap D whistles. Clare (1 pc) Feadog (new) Gen all 3 brass. A Sweetone, a MEG, a LBW and an Oak. With the exception of the Sweetone and MEG which are so easy to play and so forgiving, all the others have been at one time my "best" or my "worst" whistle. As my skill develops I have found that, to a great extent, the problem has not been with the whistle but with the whistler. Some of the honks in the second octave of some whistles were cured when I learned to blow harder on those notes. So if an expert player says a certain whistle is bad and why it's no good I'd give that more weight than if a less skilled player says the same thing.

Mike

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Tue Aug 06, 2002 8:46 am

In my limited experience I dislike my Walton Mellow D the least. It is highly out of tune with itself.
Also, my Susato Low D seems to have a flat C#. Maybe I'm fingering it wrong or my breathing isn't right but I'm going to be highly disturbed if I spent all that cash on a low D and it doesn't make me happy!
Anyway, how can I "tweak" my Shaw and Clarke originals to make them sound less like a tornado and more like a whistle?

Caoimhin · Post by **Caoimhin** » Tue Aug 06, 2002 8:51 am

IMHO, "worst whistles" should more appropriately be "worst attributes of whistles" or something else about bad characteristics, not particular stuff. Remember, inconsistency exists.

Ridseard · Post by **Ridseard** » Tue Aug 06, 2002 9:29 am

Anyway, how can I "tweak" my Shaw and Clarke originals to make them sound less like a tornado and more like a whistle?

Sometimes I'll just play a simple D scale using as little air pressure as possible, to remind myself that the Clarke doesn't <I>have</I> to sound breathy. With a little care, you can even get up to G or A without undue breathiness.

The Shaw is more problematic when you go above the 2nd octave D, and making the windstorm noise may be the only way. However, the lower octave of the Shaw is wonderfully round and warm when it's blown gently.

I would be wary of trying to do any tweaking which involves narrowing the airway, since this might change the airflow enough so that the blade won't cut the airstream properly.
A lot of Clarkes have been ruined this way. If you're interested in this, I think it would be best to get a professionally tweaked Clarke from the Whistle Shop.

Sean · Post by **Sean** » Tue Aug 06, 2002 9:35 am

On 2002-08-06 10:51, Caoimhin wrote:
Remember, inconsistency exists.

That is absolutely true and yet no one snivels about a Generation being called the Best whistle when we all know that for the entire product that can't be said.
So what if people espouse "their opinion" about what whistle is good bad or otherwise.
And yes I'm sure this was a troll, but sometimes it's nice to gripe a little to people who share a commonality with you.
In the end do you truly think it will change the purchasing trends for certain brands bsaed on what we write?

Cees · Post by **Cees** » Tue Aug 06, 2002 10:12 am

In my own limited experience (the only one of this kind I've tried), and as a beginner, I have to say the regular Susato D I had is the worst whistle I've tried. (I've probably only tried about 10 different whistles). I know I am a beginner, but I have no problems hitting the second octave on my other whistles. The Susato, however, I had to blow so hard that my ears popped to hit the high notes (second octave G and above)and when they chose to come out they were ear-piercingly loud. If I didn't blow that hard, they just honked like a goose in a lot of pain.

I love my black nickel MKIII Feadog, though. It's the best whistle I have. It's funny how the quality can vary so much in different whistles of the same brand!

Mark_J · Post by **Mark_J** » Tue Aug 06, 2002 2:29 pm

Dear Weekender,

Nobody has mentioned them so: My Shaw E whistle is the worst. I got it because I needed an E whistle badly for sea chanteys. . . For sale, original owner. . .
Signed,
Am I the REASONABLE person Weekender?

For sale, eh? Let me get to that in a minute.

On 2002-08-05 18:50, The Weekenders wrote:
Dear Mark J.
The Shaw I own still sucks by all of your qualifiers (number of whistles owned, played, etc etc.). I think Martin's does too.

Best wishes,
Reasonable W/endr.

I'll start by saying I was truely not clear enough in my post. Shaws are known for having high wind requirements, low backpressure, high chiff, low to medium low volume, and some whistly sounds beyond chiff. If these are the reasons that you dislike the shaw, then I might say that not everybody dislikes those things, including myself (although I will admit to being in a small minority for having that opinion). If there are other reasons that you dislike them, then I'd like to hear it (as I am going to make you an offer on the Shaw E). A whistle like that will probably always suck in your opinion, but will always be right nifty to me. I hated shaws for a long time until I saw the singer/whistler with the band "So's Your Mom" who played a Shaw D with great proficiency and had no interest in other whistles. I started fiddling with my Shaw D that I did not like (except for the timbre, which I have always liked) for the first two years I owned it. My opinion changed with experience and persistance.

What I was really trying to get at was that people don't all like or dislike whistles for the same reasons. That is what makes the survey so valuable. All opinions are expressed at the same time. My response to the original post would be look at the survey and see which are best liked and least liked. Be advised that if you are in the chiff-loving minority with me, you may not be well served by the results.

I also intended to ask, have you played 5 or more Shaw High E whistles. If they are all from different batches of production and are all out of tune, then Shaw has serious quality control problems. The one Shaw high E I played was in tune and responsive while being breathy and chiffy. I liked it, dispite the low volume and high noise. I have a Shaw high D that played like that and I like it.

Back to your Shaw E. Is it in tune? Have you checked it with a tuner? How far off is it? Can you blow it in tune after some experimentation? If it is or can be played in tune (through second A), I'd like to know if you are serious about selling it. I am working in a praise team and I only have a Low E. A high E would be right nice (similar to your need with chanties). I've missed placing bids of Shaw E whistles on E-bay lately. Would you take $15 and include delivery in a tube with some bubble wrap or news paper? If you want to sell, contact me off line. Thanks.

M Johnston.