feadóg nua

Gael Uirbeach

conas tá sibh? Im still a relative newbie to the tin whistle, have a few songs under my belt at this stage, Ive a Tony Dixon DX001 (Polymer) in D for a while now, think I paid 15 euro for it b'fhéidir, anyway Ive come across some money over the Nollaig and was thinking of getting a new whistle, would like to get one made of tin/some sort of metal, think they sound better, any suggestions for good one?

Blade

Gael Uirbeach wrote: »

conas tá sibh? Im still a relative newbie to the tin whistle, have a few songs under my belt at this stage, Ive a Tony Dixon DX001 (Polymer) in D for a while now, think I paid 15 euro for it b'fhéidir, anyway Ive come across some money over the Nollaig and was thinking of getting a new whistle, would like to get one made of tin/some sort of metal, think they sound better, any suggestions for good one?

Well you can't go wrong with the "Dixon Trad" (DXTRAD) in brass in D. It's only 20 Euro. They also make it in nickel but I prefer the brass. I've found a lot of whistles sound very "airy" on the high E and F notes, but not with the Dixon Trad. It's got a nice pure sound on all notes right up into the 3rd octave and well balanced between the octaves, breath requirement wise. You should find it easier to play and purer in sound (less airy sounding) than your polymer.

Personally other than that I'd be looking at a John Sindt whistle but I hear there's a waiting list of over one year at the moment. I really should get my order in!

You might also look at a Dixon low D...

coffeelover

Personally other than that I'd be looking at a John Sindt whistle but I hear there's a waiting list of over one year at the moment. I really should get my order in!

Ya John Sindt whistles are the best. Must order one. Do you know where you could order one?

Blade

coffeelover wrote: »

Ya John Sindt whistles are the best. Must order one. Do you know where you could order one?

Got this a while back, not sure it's still his email: sindtwhistle@aol.com . Let me know what he says about the waiting time.

coffeelover

Thanks a million. You don't know how much they are do you?

Blade

coffeelover wrote: »

Thanks a million. You don't know how much they are do you?

No idea, they were around $100 in 2005 There'll be P&P and Irish VAT on top of that assuming customs stop it on the way in.

Gael Uirbeach

Blade wrote: »

Well you can't go wrong with the "Dixon Trad" (DXTRAD) in brass in D. It's only 20 Euro. They also make it in nickel but I prefer the brass. I've found a lot of whistles sound very "airy" on the high E and F notes, but not with the Dixon Trad. It's got a nice pure sound on all notes right up into the 3rd octave and well balanced between the octaves, breath requirement wise. You should find it easier to play and purer in sound (less airy sounding) than your polymer.

Personally other than that I'd be looking at a John Sindt whistle but I hear there's a waiting list of over one year at the moment. I really should get my order in!

You might also look at a Dixon low D...

iontach, go raibh maith agat a chara, just another question ot two, i googled the Dixon Trad and saw it has a "Tuneable ABS head", does it have to be tuned? also whats the transition, if any, from a tin whistle to a Low whistle? I hear the holes are spaced much further apart, would you suggest a particular one to start out? I was thinking of tryin my hand at either the Low whistle or the flute once I became more proficient at the tin, though I hear the Low and the flute cover pretty much the same area so to speak, if you get me.

coffeelover

also whats the transition, if any, from a tin whistle to a Low whistle? I hear the holes are spaced much further apart, would you suggest a particular one to start out? I was thinking of tryin my hand at either the Low whistle or the flute once I became more proficient at the tin, though I hear the Low and the flute cover pretty much the same area so to speak, if you get me.

I made the transition from whistle to flute in September. The flute is a lot harder to play as you have to get the breathing right but once you have playing tunes is must the same on both

Blade

Gael Uirbeach wrote: »

iontach, go raibh maith agat a chara, just another question ot two, i googled the Dixon Trad and saw it has a "Tuneable ABS head", does it have to be tuned? also whats the transition, if any, from a tin whistle to a Low whistle? I hear the holes are spaced much further apart, would you suggest a particular one to start out? I was thinking of tryin my hand at either the Low whistle or the flute once I became more proficient at the tin, though I hear the Low and the flute cover pretty much the same area so to speak, if you get me.

The Dixon Trad is tuneable yes, you really need it to be if you're ever going to play with other people. But you don't have to tune it if you're just playing alone, just push the head all the way down. You can always tune it later if you need to, I use a software tuner on my PC (G-Tune) and it's accurate and easy to use. Warm the whistle up before tuning and once you have it bang on you can mark that point on the whistle so you know that's the correct tuning. If everyone else you're playing with is using tuners then you should be bang on with them, if not you'll just need to adjust slightly flat or sharp. Most people use tuners though so you'll probably never have to reset it.

There's much more of a stretch on the low D whistle and it will take a while to get used to, you may even need to use a piper's grip to cover all the holes comfortably. It's a similar stretch for the flute so you could start off with a low D before moving to flute. Again the Dixon Low D requires less of a stretch than any other low D on the market so I suggest you go for one of those. They're around 90-100 euro and come in polymer and aluminium, both sound great, only difference I found was that the polymer was lighter and so easier to hold. I got the aluminium but I'm kinda sorry I didn't just buy the polymer as it doesn't really need warming up like the metal ones.

Gael Uirbeach

go raibh maith agat a chara aríst, I just got the Dix trad in brass today, fantastic it is, just another question on the low whistle out of curiosity, would I be right in thinking they are a bit more air hungry than standard whistles?

Blade

Gael Uirbeach wrote: »

go raibh maith agat a chara aríst, I just got the Dix trad in brass today, fantastic it is,

Great, knew you'd like it

Gael Uirbeach wrote: »

just another question on the low whistle out of curiosity, would I be right in thinking they are a bit more air hungry than standard whistles?

They certainly are, that and the stretch are two things low whistles have in common with flutes. You'll need to find more breathing spots, shorter phrasing like.

Futurecrook

Glad to see Blade is continuing our good work of converting people to Dixon. I think at this rate we should be getting a commission. :P

Low whistle can be a tough one to get the hang of. I've been playing flute for 8 years at this stage and still find the breathing and stretch tough on a low whistle.