The Session >> Discussions >> Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
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Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Yes yes, so I decided to try out other whistles, so I'm going to try a Feadog and see how it compares to my Generation, which is, I believe, to be a good Generation D. Brass. So, I KNOW there's a difference, someone mentioned how one was better for jigs and reels and the other was for airs or something.
OTHER QUESTION TIME!!
I was on the Big Whistle Shop site, and I think it's pretty good, reasonable prices and all, and I was looking for a Low Whistle in D, and I came across a 12 dollar and something cents tin low whistle, it was quite a jump from all the 100 dollar ones I've been seeing. does anyone happen to have one of these? Or rather, do you think it'd be worth it? Or should I get X low whistle?
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
I got some stuff (books and a cd) from Big Whistle. They are really good. They sent me a free D Meg whistle and a leather beer mat with my order! Very impressive. Beer and a whistle what more could you need!
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Overall, on average, allowing for the odd one being better or worse, in my experience, at the cheap disposable end of the market, Feadog whistles are approximately 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,158,034 times better than Generations - although its several years since I bought any of either, and last time I had a Feadog there was a new head design which was not as good as the previous one, but still better than any but a "lucky best glad I found this one" Generation.
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
I have to disagree with showaddydadito on the feadog vs generation debate. In my opinion generation whistles are much better than the feadog ones, but as they are both mass produced, it's pretty much luck of the draw with these type. I personally really like the simple generation whistles.
With regard to the "Low Whistles" FiddlinViolinin, I would highly recommend Colin Goldie's Overtons, see either: http://www.overton.co.uk or http://www.overton.de. I suggest you should make contact with Colin Goldie himself. The guy's an absolute gentleman and very approachable! Let Colin know what your after and he'll do all in his power to accomodate you. I personally own 3 Overton low whistles made by Colin in D, Eb & F and they are all fantastic and all have their own characteristics. Hope this is of help to you (they are well worth the money!)
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Do NOT get a 12 dollar low whistle. You will regret it!! The best deal is probably a Kerry low D. They are only $75 from this site here: http://www.thewhistleshop.com. It's a very good whistle.
Feadog Ds are much better than Generation Ds. The only Generation that I like is my Bb, and that took a lot of tweaking.
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Max, with no disrespect meant, you don't find too many 'good' whistle players in Ireland playing the feadog brand whistles; here we have easy access to both the generation and feadog whistles. I mean no disrespect to the makers of feadog whistles neither, but I would imagine that most good whistle players you ask from Ireland would say they prefer the sound of the generation whistles. I find that the feadog whistles are a bit gimmocky and are mostly aimed at the tourist market with their little learner books. I really don't mean to disrespect anyone here, but that's just the way it is. I taught tin whistle lessons from about the age 14/15 and would honestly cringe when I saw pupils bringing in the feadog whistles, but each to their own, and if people can get a decent sound out of them, then fair play to them. Hope I haven't insulted anybody's £2 tin whistles
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
P.S. Max, the little glue seal on the bottom of the plastic head on generation whistles, if you carefully take a lighter to it, hold it at an angle and burn the whole way around, then use a bar-towel (or normal towel if you are at home) to pull twist the plastic head of the generation whistles to make them tunable (a little trick john mc sherry taught me when I was very young.) Sometimes a little crack will emerge in the plastic head, so just use black insulating tape (electician's tape) to make sure it doesn't crack madly and bravo, u have a tunable generation whistle. If however you live in an area where smoking (& pyromania) is banned in bars, then you can do this at home without a lighter, just put the bottom (metal end of ur generation whistle) into a boiling pot of water for a few minutes (this is if your Ma doesn't like you playing with lighters or your too young or wise to smoke). This way the heat of the metal barrel of the generation whistle will heat enough to melt the glue bond at the bottom of the head (just keep it in for about 3-5mins so the head doesn't crack) and be careful when taking it out as it will be roasting hot! Use a tea towel or whatever to lift it out and immediately pull and twist the head of while the glue bond is still melted. Again wrap some insulating tape around the bottom part of the head of your generation whistle, and scarpe the glue of the barrell and ta-da, you have a tunable one. Who wver thought that such a cheap whistle could be so complex. Now you know what it's all about when you see people with insulating tape at the bottom of the heads of their generation whistles.
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
I actually did made my Generation tuneable by using a Hairdryer, safer =] just don't burn yeself! It's fun to put it up to the mouthpiece so it plays haha, but it gets too hot to play anything for long =|
Hmmm, I see, I think I'll end up getting a Generation C or.. Naah, maybe I'll just wait, I need a P & H Bow!!!
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
I too have a generation C which is a real belter. It's a pity about them glueing the heads on. When I was last buying feadogs (which, as I said above was several years back) they were a nice snug fit but not glued, saving a lot of the faffing around that Murrough describes - I've done all that, and have the scars to prove it.
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Murrough, I love my Generation Bb, it's just the D that I don't like as much. And it could just be that particular whistle. I have managed to get all the heads off my whistles, but what I mean by out of tune is out of tune with itself. The B and F# are flat.
I take back what I said about the tone though. Playing the two side by side, I can't really say that I like one better than the other. I'm still new to whistling though, so I'm still trying to shape my opinion on stuff like that. So, I guess the only complaint I have about the Gen D is that those two notes are flat.
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Yeah, I've been spending some time on the Tin whistle tune site, and I like the sound of the high Susato, and the Generations, but my D isn't that great either hehe..
Oh bw, Max, pretty good playing you have there on the site =P And the Drowsy Maggie band one never worked. =|
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
I liked the high Susato ok until I got my high Dixon, which I was perfectly happy with until I took a chance on a Sweetone, for about 1/2 the price. I've heard (here, on a previous thread) that Sweetones are notoriously out of tune, so maybe I just got first-draw lucky with mine, but I love it.
By the way, the Sweetone white cartoon figure is easily erased with nail-polish remover.
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
I got a Feadog D today and it really is a dog,it sounds terrible.
I also have a Susato D.....sounds O.K.
Clarke Meg D which sounds better than the Susato!!
And an Overton (Goldie) D,which sounds better than them all!!!!!
Having played Generation whistles for some time, I'd say that if you're going to get one of these, get a brass one, not a nickel one. The nickel ones, if I remember, actually have a fuller, better sound than the brass ones; however, given any sweat at all on the fingers, they slither about under the fingers to such an extent that it is, or can be, almost impossible to control them when, for instance, a fast reel with a lot of rolls is being played. The surface of a brass whistle, on the other hand, has a "stickier" quality under the fingers, especially when the gloss of a new one has worn off, and the thing stays put when you're trying to play complicated stuff. So make mine a brass one any day: its sound's good enough for me, and practical playability's the key.
Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Yes yes, so I decided to try out other whistles, so I'm going to try a Feadog and see how it compares to my Generation, which is, I believe, to be a good Generation D. Brass. So, I KNOW there's a difference, someone mentioned how one was better for jigs and reels and the other was for airs or something.
OTHER QUESTION TIME!!
I was on the Big Whistle Shop site, and I think it's pretty good, reasonable prices and all, and I was looking for a Low Whistle in D, and I came across a 12 dollar and something cents tin low whistle, it was quite a jump from all the 100 dollar ones I've been seeing. does anyone happen to have one of these? Or rather, do you think it'd be worth it? Or should I get X low whistle?
::Jumps between Mia Violina and Whistles::
Thanks,
Armand!
# Posted on August 5th 2004 by armandale
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
I got some stuff (books and a cd) from Big Whistle. They are really good. They sent me a free D Meg whistle and a leather beer mat with my order! Very impressive. Beer and a whistle what more could you need!
Sarah
# Posted on August 5th 2004 by Sarah the Flute
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Overall, on average, allowing for the odd one being better or worse, in my experience, at the cheap disposable end of the market, Feadog whistles are approximately 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,158,034 times better than Generations - although its several years since I bought any of either, and last time I had a Feadog there was a new head design which was not as good as the previous one, but still better than any but a "lucky best glad I found this one" Generation.
# Posted on August 5th 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Hmmmmm, those never really answered my questions haha, oh WELL!! At least I know Big Whistle is reliable ^_^
# Posted on August 5th 2004 by armandale
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
I have to disagree with showaddydadito on the feadog vs generation debate. In my opinion generation whistles are much better than the feadog ones, but as they are both mass produced, it's pretty much luck of the draw with these type. I personally really like the simple generation whistles.
With regard to the "Low Whistles" FiddlinViolinin, I would highly recommend Colin Goldie's Overtons, see either: http://www.overton.co.uk or http://www.overton.de. I suggest you should make contact with Colin Goldie himself. The guy's an absolute gentleman and very approachable! Let Colin know what your after and he'll do all in his power to accomodate you. I personally own 3 Overton low whistles made by Colin in D, Eb & F and they are all fantastic and all have their own characteristics. Hope this is of help to you (they are well worth the money!)
# Posted on August 5th 2004 by Murrough
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Do NOT get a 12 dollar low whistle. You will regret it!! The best deal is probably a Kerry low D. They are only $75 from this site here: http://www.thewhistleshop.com. It's a very good whistle.
Feadog Ds are much better than Generation Ds. The only Generation that I like is my Bb, and that took a lot of tweaking.
# Posted on August 5th 2004 by Max Becher
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Murrough, the reason I like the Feadog much better than the Generation is that the tuning is better, and also I like the sound better.
# Posted on August 5th 2004 by Max Becher
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Max, with no disrespect meant, you don't find too many 'good' whistle players in Ireland playing the feadog brand whistles; here we have easy access to both the generation and feadog whistles. I mean no disrespect to the makers of feadog whistles neither, but I would imagine that most good whistle players you ask from Ireland would say they prefer the sound of the generation whistles. I find that the feadog whistles are a bit gimmocky and are mostly aimed at the tourist market with their little learner books. I really don't mean to disrespect anyone here, but that's just the way it is. I taught tin whistle lessons from about the age 14/15 and would honestly cringe when I saw pupils bringing in the feadog whistles, but each to their own, and if people can get a decent sound out of them, then fair play to them. Hope I haven't insulted anybody's £2 tin whistles
# Posted on August 6th 2004 by Murrough
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
P.S. Max, the little glue seal on the bottom of the plastic head on generation whistles, if you carefully take a lighter to it, hold it at an angle and burn the whole way around, then use a bar-towel (or normal towel if you are at home) to pull twist the plastic head of the generation whistles to make them tunable (a little trick john mc sherry taught me when I was very young.) Sometimes a little crack will emerge in the plastic head, so just use black insulating tape (electician's tape) to make sure it doesn't crack madly and bravo, u have a tunable generation whistle. If however you live in an area where smoking (& pyromania) is banned in bars, then you can do this at home without a lighter, just put the bottom (metal end of ur generation whistle) into a boiling pot of water for a few minutes (this is if your Ma doesn't like you playing with lighters or your too young or wise to smoke). This way the heat of the metal barrel of the generation whistle will heat enough to melt the glue bond at the bottom of the head (just keep it in for about 3-5mins so the head doesn't crack) and be careful when taking it out as it will be roasting hot! Use a tea towel or whatever to lift it out and immediately pull and twist the head of while the glue bond is still melted. Again wrap some insulating tape around the bottom part of the head of your generation whistle, and scarpe the glue of the barrell and ta-da, you have a tunable one. Who wver thought that such a cheap whistle could be so complex. Now you know what it's all about when you see people with insulating tape at the bottom of the heads of their generation whistles.
# Posted on August 6th 2004 by Murrough
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
I actually did made my Generation tuneable by using a Hairdryer, safer =] just don't burn yeself! It's fun to put it up to the mouthpiece so it plays haha, but it gets too hot to play anything for long =|
Hmmm, I see, I think I'll end up getting a Generation C or.. Naah, maybe I'll just wait, I need a P & H Bow!!!
# Posted on August 6th 2004 by armandale
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
I have to say I agree with all the people advocating Generations, I personally really like my generation C.
Anders
# Posted on August 6th 2004 by To-Tretur
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
I too have a generation C which is a real belter. It's a pity about them glueing the heads on. When I was last buying feadogs (which, as I said above was several years back) they were a nice snug fit but not glued, saving a lot of the faffing around that Murrough describes - I've done all that, and have the scars to prove it.
# Posted on August 6th 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Murrough, I love my Generation Bb, it's just the D that I don't like as much. And it could just be that particular whistle. I have managed to get all the heads off my whistles, but what I mean by out of tune is out of tune with itself. The B and F# are flat.
I take back what I said about the tone though. Playing the two side by side, I can't really say that I like one better than the other. I'm still new to whistling though, so I'm still trying to shape my opinion on stuff like that. So, I guess the only complaint I have about the Gen D is that those two notes are flat.
# Posted on August 7th 2004 by Max Becher
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Yeah, I've been spending some time on the Tin whistle tune site, and I like the sound of the high Susato, and the Generations, but my D isn't that great either hehe..
Oh bw, Max, pretty good playing you have there on the site =P And the Drowsy Maggie band one never worked. =|
# Posted on August 7th 2004 by armandale
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
Thanks, Armand! I don't know why the Drowsy Maggie one doesn't work, I should send Tony the url again.
# Posted on August 7th 2004 by Max Becher
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
I liked the high Susato ok until I got my high Dixon, which I was perfectly happy with until I took a chance on a Sweetone, for about 1/2 the price. I've heard (here, on a previous thread) that Sweetones are notoriously out of tune, so maybe I just got first-draw lucky with mine, but I love it.
By the way, the Sweetone white cartoon figure is easily erased with nail-polish remover.
# Posted on August 8th 2004 by ketida
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel? Ideal prices for low whistles?
I got a Feadog D today and it really is a dog,it sounds terrible.
I also have a Susato D.....sounds O.K.
Clarke Meg D which sounds better than the Susato!!
And an Overton (Goldie) D,which sounds better than them all!!!!!
# Posted on August 13th 2004 by banjo billy
Re: Tin whistle: Brass or Nickel?
Having played Generation whistles for some time, I'd say that if you're going to get one of these, get a brass one, not a nickel one. The nickel ones, if I remember, actually have a fuller, better sound than the brass ones; however, given any sweat at all on the fingers, they slither about under the fingers to such an extent that it is, or can be, almost impossible to control them when, for instance, a fast reel with a lot of rolls is being played. The surface of a brass whistle, on the other hand, has a "stickier" quality under the fingers, especially when the gloss of a new one has worn off, and the thing stays put when you're trying to play complicated stuff. So make mine a brass one any day: its sound's good enough for me, and practical playability's the key.
# Posted on August 6th 2006 by nicholas