Hello everyone! It's been a while since my last post, but I never stopped whistling! I just got a package of whistles from Mack Hoover the other day, and he surprised me with a bit of innovation that I thought should be shared. I originally ordered a whitecap for a previously owned body, and a whitecap on a Hoover barrel in B. As always, the whistles I received are absolute gems that I would pay far more for than Mack charged, but what I didn't expect was Mack to also send me an experiment of his. In addition to what I originally ordered, Mack sent me a narrow bore B whistle body and a curious bit of brass tubing that is about 2" in length with a narrow end that expands about halfway up into a wider end. He describes this little piece of tubing as an adapter that will allow one of his wide bore whistle heads to be played on a smaller barrel, or in a different key altogether. Let me tell you, it really works! It's incredible! I can swap the insanely quiet whitecap he made for me on my D barrel (tapered, so the top is equivelent to a generation C) with a wide bore head made for a B or Bb whistle, and suddenly I am able to be heard at any session! It is easily the loudest whistle I have ever played while still maintaining an excellent tone and fantastic air requirement.
My experience with using the same head on a number of different pitched barrels has resulted in the sound quality and volume plummeting very quickly as you go up in size, so I am over the moon about this contraption. I would imagine you would be able to change the diameter further on this adapter to allow for other key changes, but I am not going to pretend to understand the intricacies that is whistle making, so I'm not positive. I cannot recall hearing of something like this before so I apologize if this is common knowledge among the knowledgable CnF community.
Also, I should add that this widebore head saw him working on his tools and techniques (like they needed it Mack!), so whatever you did Mack, you hit the nail on the head as always! It makes beautiful music!
A pack of Hoovers and an invention
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Mike Clougherty
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2016 9:29 pm
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- Tell us something.: Well, what can I say, I love whistling and the culture that surrounds it. I've been reading this forum for about a year, which is the same time that I've been playing the whistle, though I've been exposed to ITM for most of my life. With a name like Michael Patrick Clougherty who could've guessed? Haha. Anyway, I love this forum and the people that populate it, and I look forward to participating!
- Location: Midwest, USA