Thinking about buying a tin whistle for my son

I have a couple of cheap whistles, a Cooperman and one of those with plastic mouthpieces. So far my son is learning how to play quite well on them. But as an encouragement, I was thinking of buying him a nice one. I see that "Generation" flutes are fairly well thought of, and not so pricey as to break the bank.

I don't want to go too far, because he is still young and tends to sit on things or drop them out of trees.

Any recommendations on a low priced but servicable Whistle?

Oh, I should mention that my price range is more in the $30-50 range, since I just saw a whistle for $300!!!

Bill,

I think Jerry Freeman's tweaked Mellowdog D is the finest penny whistle for the money. It's $36.50 plus shipping on Ebay and he guarantees his work for the life of the whistle. Nice guy and one of my fav whistles.

Dennis

I've read that name before, I go have a look at his products. Thanks!

You can't go too wrong with a Dixon Trad ($23 US plus shipping last time I checked). We have two in our pile. If you want to spend a little more, a Hoover Whitecap ($60) is very nice, provided you don't want a boisterously loud whistle.

I like the Tony Dixon stuff.

I guess you can't get a middle priced wood whistle.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a good wooden whistle in the sub-$100 price range. I think the least expensive ones you'd find would be the Sweetheart whistles which are in the $150ish range.

I'll second Jerry Freeman's work, I have a couple of his tweaked Shaw whistles and he does a fabulous job, and I've read nothing but good things about his "Mellow Dog" whistle. I also have a (nickel) Dixon Trad which is really quite nice. I bought one in brass for my niece who showed an interest and liked it well enough to get one for myself.

I don't think you'd go wrong with either of those choices.

Well the one I have with the plastic tip (which seems fairly common) appears to be a Walton. Which is not a bad pipe, from reviews I've seen, in the low priced range.

The Cooperman whistle was just short of trash. I talked to them about it and they said that because they were having "inconsistent" results on their whistles, they only made the one toy $4 one. They say they used to have a whistle guy, who did a good job, but now they can't get the sound they want.

I'm still looking around, I like knowing who I'm buying from, but there are less and less local makers.

I'm a huge fan of Erle Bartlett's Syn whistles. They're made from thick aluminum and have a great tone with fairly high backpressure. I have a C, D and Bb that I really like.

His C/D whistles used to be around the $50 range, looks like they've gone up a bit. Around $70 these days, that might be more than you want to spend at this time. Having said that, I'd look for any whistle that has been tweaked by Jerry Freeman.

Scott

bridges-pdp wrote:

I'm a huge fan of Erle Bartlett's Syn whistles.

Those do look good and the sound samples are nice. Of course the proof is in the playing. How does your D whistle play for you? Is it a full delrin fipple or one of those combo fipples I saw on his page?

James Becker is an academically trained musician who makes a whole line of musically excellent, hand made whistles starting at $5 each. They have high back pressure so need a bit of air and push. It's reported professonals like this, presumably because it gives them more choice of tonal variation. At that price it might be worth considering buying one anyway. How long James will be able to sell at those prices though is anyone's guess, especially as he is getting lots of orders.

http://www.becker.embarqspace.com/

K.

Thanks Keith, I'll check that out.

And welcome to the forum, hopefully things will pick up here a little. Be sure to check the chat announcements in case you can drop by while one is gonig on.

I'm sure many mature whistlers will be relieved to come across such a civil and temperate forum. Don't let it degenerate. Pity it doesn't mention FLUTES AND WHISTLES in the title though. That would get whistlers' attention.

Onwards and upwards.

K.

Well, there are many forums for tin whistles. But few, none that I have found, specifically for simple flutes. For us, a whistle is a fancification of a simple flute.

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