Tin whistle
In recent years a number of instrument builders have started lines of "high-end," hand-made whistles, which can cost hundreds of dollars US each — expensive in comparison to cheap whistles, but nevertheless cheaper than most other instruments. These companies are typically either a single individual or a very small group of craftsmen who work closely together. The instruments are distinguished from the inexpensive whistles in that each whistle is individually manufactured and "voiced" by a skilled person rather than made in a factory.
Tin whistle
The whistle is tuned diatonically, which allows it to be used to easily play music in two major keys a perfect fourth apart and the natural minor key and Dorian mode a major second above the lowest note. The whistle is identified by its lowest note, which is the tonic of the lower of two major keys whose tonics are a perfect fourth apart that the whistle most easily plays in. Note that this method of determining the key of the instrument is different from the method used to determine the key of a chromatic instrument, which is based on the relationship between notes on a score and sounded pitch. Whistles are available in a wide variety of different keys.