My Dixon Low D review

bgull · Post by **bgull** » Thu Jul 26, 2001 11:29 am

Well, I ordered the Dixon low d "Duo" from The Whistle Shop a couple of weeks ago. In the three times I have ordered from Thom’s shop, the service has been excellent, by the way (thanks again Thom). I’ve had some time to evaluate the whistle from a beginner’s perspective and I have to say that overall I’m pretty pleased. I have to say though, when I first inspected my Dixon whistle I was a little disappointed at the finish quality. My only previous experience with a low whistle was a Susato tunable low d I purchased from The Whistle Shop a few weeks before, and compared to the Susato, the Dixon is a little rough around the edges. There was some slight paint smearing in the small grooves above the gold painted "Dixon" emblem. There are a couple of deep scratches on the whistle body, just below the windway opening where the round shape of the pvc was ground flat. The windway window itself was cut a little uneven as well, but you have to remember this is cut by hand, not molded. After a while, I realized I was making a mistake in comparing the finish quality of the Dixon to the Susato’s, because the Susato is molded by machine and the Dixon is made mostly by hand. I think these differences in manufacturing technique account for the "imperfections" I found with the Dixon. I would consider these to be minor esthetic issues and they in no way effect the sound quality of the whistle. So my overall review is;
The tone of the Dixon is very pleasing, with a nice round mellow tone quality. The whistle plays easy in both octaves, and the breath requirements are manageable for a beginner. Compared to my Susato, the fingering is much easier, mostly I think because of the funky oblong E/RH 2nd hole on the Susato.

jduffy · Post by **jduffy** » Thu Jul 26, 2001 12:01 pm

Thanks for the review! It's making my anticipation grow even more as my Dixon Low D and High D are scheduled to arrive tomorrow (Friday) from The Whistle Shop!

Joe

bgull · Post by **bgull** » Thu Jul 26, 2001 12:14 pm

I think you will like them very much. I've really "bonded" to the Dixon low d, because it's so easy to play and sounds so nice, I'm interested in getting a Dixon high d as well, but I'm holding back till I get some more time in on my low d. BTW, I ordered the large sling music bag for my low whistles from Tuffbags.com and its pretty cool. Kind of like a small soft-sided golf bag for whistles,

and I can fit my high whisles in the side pocket too, so it's pretty versatile.

DaveO · Post by **DaveO** » Thu Jul 26, 2001 1:29 pm

I am a beginner (2 1/2 months on the whistle) and I have been playing my Dixon Low D for about two months now. It's easy to play, I like the sound, and I'd recommend it to anyone starting on the Low whistle. While I prefer the tone of a friend's Burke Composite Low D, and his whistle hits the bottom D and E better than the Dixon, I find the spread of the last two holes to be more comfortable on the Dixon, and the Dixon costs less too. It's a nice whistle.

Dave

Jens_Hoppe · Post by **Jens_Hoppe** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 4:15 am

I recently bought a Dixon low D. Here are the plusses and minusses:

+ Easy fingering.
+ Easy breathing (ie. lower air requirements than any other low D I've tried).
+ Very nice cound, not very loud.

- Has a cheap "plasticky" look.
- It's not very well in tune with itself (eg. 1st octave E is OK, but 2nd octave E is much too low).
- I've saved the worst for last: In a fit of miserliness I decided to save a few $ and get the nontunable version, because, in general, the low Ds I've tried have been pretty well in tune. However the Dixon is <b>not</b> one of them! In fact the whole whistle is so highly pitched, it's as close (if not closer) to Eb than to D. Major bummer...

So, concluding, the Dixon low D is the whistle I will play for practice when I feel lazy and want an easy whistle. The out-of-tuneness means I can't play it with the rest of the band however...

Jens

Post by **rich** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 7:26 am

Jens,

Have you dropped Tony a line telling him about the problem? While his whistles tend toward the inexpensive side, they <i>are</i> still individually hand-made, and from what I hear he wouldn't usually let one like that out the door.
<ul>-Rich</ul>

Jens_Hoppe · Post by **Jens_Hoppe** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 7:34 am

No, but it's a good idea, so I definitely will. Thanks!

Cheers,
Jens

adriancarrington · Post by **adriancarrington** » Tue Jul 31, 2001 8:35 pm

I use a Dixon low D, and would like to add that it is really an excellent choice for a starter, easy playing, and nice tone. I suggest you try the flute mouthpiece option also.
You can take on both these potentially tricky-to-play instruments for a very low financial investment, and you will have a nice benchmark to judge by should you choose to invest in a high-end instrument.
Tony Dixon, if you are reading this...thanks, and best wishes to you.

Jens_Hoppe · Post by **Jens_Hoppe** » Thu Aug 02, 2001 6:19 am

Follow-up to my low D story:

I wrote to Tony telling him about the problem, and he wrote back right away, offering to send me a (tunable) replacement without further charge. What a cool dude, what a service! I'm a happy customer, see for yourself:

So, thanks to Tony and thanks to Rich for suggesting I brought it to his (Tony's) attention in the first place.

Cheers,
Jens