Recorder Workshop 922D Irish Whistle in D - Black

I have tried three budget whistles. My first was the budget dixon - that looks, feels and sounds like a plastic toy to me. I hated it immediately and returned it the same day. The second whistle, for a third of the price of the budget dixon, was the budget brass feadog - I still have this. That plays sharp, is not tunable, and either screeches or breaks on any note above second octave A, but still a good little whistle for the cheap price. This recorder workshop whistle is the cheapest whistle I've bought so far - it's slightly fatter than both the dixon and feadog, so more comfortable to hold, sounds smoother, is louder (but not too much) and it's even tunable! I'm so happy I can't stop playing it. Having said that, it suffers from shrillness once you hit second octave G and above, such a pity because the lower octave is a joy and super easy to play. I would recommend to anyone starting out on the tin whistle.

For the money this is an AMAZING bargain. Its manufacture seems to be based on a popular American instrument of similar design which costs a mind boggling amount more. The lower octave is very controllable in volume and tone, the upper seems to require more careful breathing to avoid any tendencies towards harshness. With a matte finish it looks nice and has obviously been thought about. This whistle would surely hold its own in a noisy context. It's not ENTIRELY perfect but then I've played ones that cost thirty times as much and they aren't either. It's worth serious consideration and deserves to be far better known.

At the ridiculous price of £5.50 and with many glowing reviews, I couldn't resist splashing out and trying this whistle out. I wasn't disappointed. For background, I am an experienced tin whistle player, having played in an Irish band for a number of years and with a large collection of (much more!) expensive whistles to compare it with. Here are a few basic facts about this little beauty.1. Yes it IS tuneable—just twist the shoulder near the top.2. Pitch-wise the notes are very true, right along both octaves. The sound is OK to my ears but this is a personal choice and it depends more on who is playing it.3. The lower register is easy to play. It gets a little tougher in the upper register where it may squeak at first. My tip is that it needs a good strong blow in this register to get a good sound. If you feel this may be anti-social to family and neighbours, place a strip of sticky tape across the blow hole so that it covers roughly three quarters of the area (keep making small adjustments until you get the right balance between tone quality and loudness). This will let you practice firm blowing. In general, the higher the note in the upper register, the harder it will be to get a nice sound but provided you have trained your fingers to cover the holes correctly, this will come in time.Finally, if you want to learn to play the Irish whistle, just give this little gem a go. It is cheap but very cheerful!

First impressions were it's a plastic whistle wish it was metal, sound isn't bad but it does have a recorder sound which isn't ideal my daughter is a tin whistle player and her feadóg sounds very screechy so I thought a better practice whistle was needed I know it being plastic is going to put her off immediately but I'm sure she'll give it a chance (hopefully) it is tuneable though which is a plus.

The media could not be loaded. This is for the recorder workshop tin whistle, which is plastic and comes in two parts. This is actually handy for tuning it if you need to. There is a finger chart that comes with it. I took it out of the packet because it kept going far down and getting stuck inside. That was kind of annoying but not a deal breaker I wasn't using it anyway. You can find finger charts online if you need one and usually in beginner tin whistle books anyway.I've found after awhile of playing you get spit buildup and it breaks the sound of the instrument. Abit annoying all you can do is do the shake to remove excess spit, and give it a clean gently with a recorder cleaning stick. It's not just for this instrument, it happens in general to all recorders etc.This is my first tin whistle that I've ever bought so can't make any comparisons with other whistles. I've made alittle video of me playing very badly but it gives you an idea of the sound. I cut the video short because I messed up the fingering at the end, but I hope there's enough there to get an idea.The tune I played was from the book Irish Songs for tin whistle by Thomas Balinger which I recommend as a beginner/intermediate player. All the tunes are for the whistle in D which this one is of course!For me as a beginner and wanting something cheap and cheerful to learn on its perfect for the price. I like the design and as its plastic it just feels like a recorder to me. For £5.99 it's worth it. I would definitely buy it again if and when this whistle fails me and needs replacing.

Wow! Blimey! and Gadzooks! I'm really pleased I read the reviews from the previous purchasers of this Recorder Workshop Irish Whistle in D. I'm reluctant to say too much in case there is a run on these instruments that would push the price right up, however, I'm delighted with my purchase. The quality is excellent and the tone is beautiful to my ears. I'm not a highly skilled player by any means and I've only owned Generation, Feadog and Feadog Pro in the past so there are bound to be holes in my knowledge and competency but after only playing for a few minutes I feel this is going to allow me to get to the next level slightly easier. I've looked at some of those more expensive and even the extremely expensive models on various sites and couldn't work out why they commanded such a high price. For the very low price of £5.50 plus P&P I was daft to sleep on it before deciding to buy. The black matt finish is brilliant and not slippery plus the wide bore of the whistle makes handling and fingering a little more comfortable for me. You'll be mad to miss out on this incredible value for money bargain.