The Shaws have a lovely breathy sound,and are very reasonable priced. They have a sweet soft breathy sound without much chiff. They come in a good variety of keys. Some of my Shaws are not tuned to pitch however, and work okay for solo stuff or if it is an setting where accompanment can tune to the whistle, as they are not tuneable. Basically the thing with them is the AIR requirement. Compared to all of my other whistles they require a LOT of blow especially in the upper octaves. A lot of it depends on the player, and how...well full of hot air they are...okay it doesnt have to be hot.