Chiff and Fipple Forums

I made another whistle, this time an Alto A. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX05Hh2 ... e=youtu.be

I'm happy with the tone, but the tuning isn't quite what I'd like. If any makers have suggestions for improving the tuning, I'm all ears. The vented A is very sharp. Also, the very top F# is weak and airy, and (more critically for me) I can't cut on it or it drops out. Can this be tweaked? I thought about shaving down the plastic above the start of the windway, which might weaken the bottom a bit, but maybe give more playability to the top end.

Any other helpful suggestions are welcome.

AngelicBeaver wrote:and (more critically for me) I can't cut on it or it drops out.

While you might get lucky with further tweaking to the voicing, I suspect the bore's your main problem there because it looks enormous for an alto A. I had similar problems in that register with the Chieftain high D I've long since sold, but found them at least partly ameliorated by placing a piece of rolled-up plastic film (and subsequently a piece of thin-walled brass tube) inside the bore at the tuning slide. Whether this improved top C#s, Ds and cut As and Bs because it created a slight constriction in the bore at that point or simply as a side effect of eliminating the tuning slide 'gap' from external tuning slide on thick-walled tube when I also had the whistle tuned down a fair way from being very sharp, I couldn't tell you now, but worth a try?

How wide is the bore? Looks like 18 mm (3/4") i.d. to me. That is wider than ideal, but the alternative, 12 mm or 1/2", is definitely narrower than you want. 5/8" PVC is hard to come by.

I have an A whistle in 18 mm PVC. It doesn't have the two problems you describe*, so I would be inclined to suspect the voicing more than just the bore. Mine uses an external wind-way cover, a la Guido Gonzato. As he recommends, I aim to have the floor of the wind-way (the top of the fipple) a hair lower than the underside of the splitting edge. From the video, I'm guessing that your whistle has an internal wind-way, and the floor of the wind-way may be quite a bit lower than the underside of the splitting edge. This may contribute to the weakness of the high F#.


* - It does have other issues. With this design, the wind-way is the same thickness as the pipe, which makes for a thick wind-way and requires more air than I like. And it has a more flutey tone than I like, probably because of the wide bore.