Feadog Mark I, Mark II, Mark III whistlehead comparison pic

Stu H · Post by **Stu H** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 9:24 am

Does this comparison apply to Cs? I brought two new Feadogs this very morning from a local retailer. The D is a Mk III for sure but the C is identical to the MkI in the picture, any thoughts?

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 9:38 am

Assume it has lived in the shop for a very long time, c is slower to sell

Borderpiper · Post by **Borderpiper** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 9:42 am

My Favourite whistle is a mk 1 with a generation brass body. It's quiet but it has a lovely sound. My friend lost my first mk 1 and it took 4 years of asking "got any old whistles you don't play?" before I found another. I think they had the best sound.

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 2:16 pm

I have two Feadog Mk IIIs. Although as a beginner my favourite whistles change from week to week, I must say I always come back to the Feadog - which was the first whistle I bought. The tube seems to be in better tune with itself than my Gens or Waltons, and it handles high register better than my Clarkes originals and Sweetones. Only prob I have is with the bell note which seems to crack unless blown so gently that the note is too quiet. Do any of you experienced tweakers reckon there's a way to fix/improve that. Might blunting the blade a bit do the trick?

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 2:37 pm

Feadogs are extremely sensitive to anything you do to the soundblade. You may be able to strengthen the bell note by carefully taking a little off the soundblade, but you may find that the timbre changes considerably when you do.

Instead, I would recommend filling under the windway with poster putty. If that doesn't strengthen the bell note as much as you would like, very carefully scrape a slight bevel on the windway floor edge where it meets the voicing window. If you overdo this, it will have exactly the opposite effect, making the bottom two notes impossible to play at all. However, if you do it very carefully and don't take it too far, it strengthens the bottom notes.

The only whistles that tolerate making a bevel on the windway floor/window edge are whistles where the soundblade isn't too high relative to the windway floor. Other whistles, it will wreck. I can't think of any other factory run whistle I can recommend this for other than a Mark III Feadog.

Best wishes,
Jerry

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 3:01 pm

Thanks very much, Jerry. I'll try the putty thing.

How on earth do you get to know so much about modding so many different kinds of whistles? And such tiny-scale, precision alterations! Did you write off hundreds of instruments during the learning process?

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 3:23 pm

buddhu wrote:How on earth do you get to know so much about modding so many different kinds of whistles? And such tiny-scale, precision alterations! Did you write off hundreds of instruments during the learning process?

Not hundreds. Maybe fifty or so, various makes. Sometimes I learn something new, and I can dig out a whistle I had given up on and get it to sing after all.

The same things apply, more or less, to every whistlehead, so it's not that hard, with a little experimentation, to extend something I learned from one kind of whistlehead to the behavior of another kind of whistlehead.

It helps that I do this full time. It also helps that I'm nearsighted to the equivalent of a ten power (seven diopter) magnifying glass. I do the close work without eyeglasses from about four inches distance, so the small details don't look small to me at all.

Best wishes,
Jerry

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 3:37 pm

Wow, I can't focus on stuff that close at all!

For someone who tweaks full-time it's very good of you to share advice so willingly.

Shame that the word "whistlehead" is already applied to the mouthpiece/fipple/whatever part of the instrument, otherwise it would have been a fine term for one who plays/is obsessed with whistles!

Thanks for starting this thread. Seeing the different heads explains why I'd heard so many people dismissing Feadogs as dreadful when I've found them very nice indeed. Presumably many of them were criticising versions I or II...

Norm · Post by **Norm** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 3:45 pm

Jerry Freeman wrote:Feadogs are extremely sensitive to anything you do to the soundblade. You may be able to strengthen the bell note by carefully taking a little off the soundblade, but you may find that the timbre changes considerably when you do.

Instead, I would recommend filling under the windway with poster putty. If that doesn't strengthen the bell note as much as you would like, very carefully scrape a slight bevel on the windway floor edge where it meets the voicing window.
Best wishes,
Jerry

Thanks Jerry, I think you've just solved my problem with my Feadog, just like Budah's. The bell note is there (sorta) if you listen close... I'll give your trick a try, though I don't think I'll doctor the sound blade

As a fly tyer I use a head mounted magnifier for tight & close work. I already butchered a Walton with an Xacto knife

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 6:42 pm

buddhu wrote:Seeing the different heads explains why I'd heard so many people dismissing Feadogs as dreadful when I've found them very nice indeed. Presumably many of them were criticising versions I or II...

Not necessarily. I got a Mark III, and it was quite awful. Not being able to get out and pick up any poster putty at the time, I tried just stuffing a ball of damp tissue into the hollow under the windway and tamping it down with a little stick. It worked pretty well, and sounded even better the next day, after the tissue had dried out, but it still was a little flakey. (As far as I can see, the blade edge and windway are very clean on it, so that doesn't seem to have been the problem.)

I decided to go ahead and get a Whitecap for it, and now it's great. It's very even across octaves and relatively quiet, but still has a nice sound and can handle a little expressiveness, too.

tomcat · Post by **tomcat** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 8:12 am

i have a mk 1 i picked up at larkinthemorning in seattle in June 2002. not a bad playing whistle. my pick of the cheapies.

jonharl · Post by **jonharl** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 9:44 am

I received a Jerry Tweaked Feadog this week. I like it a lot. It retains all the normal characteristics of a standard Feadog Mark III with the added bonus of a strong bell note and no breaking up. It's a keeper that I'll put in the play rotation.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 7:35 pm

As a matter of curiosity,

Are the terms "Mark I," "Mark II" and "Mark III," as they apply to Feadog whistles widely known among whistlers familiar with Feadogs, or are they a terminology that's been concocted here so we can talk about them coherently?

Best wishes,
Jerry

jonharl · Post by **jonharl** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 11:31 pm

I knew that terminology before this post. I heard on C&F before.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 11:41 pm

What I'm wondering is whether the "Mark I," "Mark II," "Mark III" terminology is commonly used to describe the different Feadogs outside of Chiff&Fipple.

Best wishes,
Jerry