Trouble is these days you can't go through a box of them to find the good ones; never sue what the variables are, but as with tuning then so with tone. The tune I play when checking a new whistle is the old Abbots Bromley Horn Dance (so-called!) which necessitates using the top three holes as a 3-hole pipe to reach the upper notes.

My favourite whistle of all time is my old red-top Generation Bb bought at the Rothbury Folk Festival in 1983. Never formed a close relationship with any other Generations though; for a C it's a Clarkes every time and even the Clarkes D (not Megs or Sweetones which are shite) is generally preferable to a Generation. My favourite D is from the first batch of Faedogs to hit Whitley Bay around 1983. That said I fell in love with a Shaw D in a Newcastle music shop the other week, but fiscal shortage prevented the union. Next time maybe...