Chiff and Fipple Forums

I had the plan for quite some time but never got around to it, until a member of a FB-group brought it up. Others have done it before--some time ago you could even buy a whistle with a Sweetone mouthpiece and straight bore metal body from TWZ. So I thought I'll give it a shot.
In the first experiment I simply took the body of a Waltons "mellow D" because it has a wider barrell. I wrapped some sticky tape around the barrel and stuck the Sweetone head on it. Worked like a charm but it was no perfect fit. So I made two bodies from PVC--the first one had tuning issues as it was just a quick and dirty job. Made another one today and this time it plays gorgeously. Insanely agile whistle, snappy ornaments, in-tune cross-fingered C nat--it performs better than any plastic whistle I have bought so far. And it was a fun little experiment. I used a small insert in the head to bring the octaves in tune since it is now a wide-bore whistle and without the insert the 2nd octave was flat -- bigger holes might have solved this, as Chuck Tilbury told me, but it would have made it louder. The 2nd octave is also less loud with the insert. It is still a bit louder than with the original body but it plays so much better and finally I can use the fantastic mouthpiece of the Sweetone and got rid of the annoying seam of the rolled-tin barrel.

Congrats, & it looks nice too.

Thanks -- it is a slightly different material than what I normally use. It's more of an off-white and less grey like the usual cable canal stuff from the hardware store. Looks definitely nicer.

play us a tune - looks very clean

Your wish is my command. I am still working on that tune. It is "The High Level" as played by Micho Russell but my execution is still sloppy and I am not the best player. It is also just recorded with the built-in mic of the laptop as my son "borrowed" my Samson GoMic for his online gaming.
https://youtu.be/USyBwi_RJjo

sounds better than a regular sweetone, i am a firm lover of the original Clarkes, never care for sweetones

Thank . I also think it sounds better than with the original tube. I do like the sound of the original Clarke, too. I also like my Shaw. Not too fond of the air requirements though. I sometimes run out of breath on long phrases. I wonder how a tweaked version plays. I heard that Jerry Freeman has tweaked them for instance.

Sedi wrote:...I can use the fantastic mouthpiece of the Sweetone and got rid of the annoying seam of the rolled-tin barrel.

A blob of blu-tac / poster putty cushions the seam with a lot less effort. An interesting experiment though.

Yes, I also thought about simply using sandpaper to make the seam less pronounced. But the experiment proved a success. And it was not really a lot of work.

Sorry to bring back an old thread, but being stuck in the house has me looking for projects!

What diameter PVC did you use for the body?

What was the "insert" you added? I'm new to whistles and I don't recognize the term.

Thanks, I'm hoping to do some of the same experimenting over the next few weeks!

Mike

The tube has 16mm but the inner diameter of the mouthpiece is 17, so I had to add some clear sticky tape. The insert inside is just a small piece of tube, cut to size so it will fit inside and then stuck inside the tube from the top right under the mouthpiece. Maybe 2 cm long. It's just to bring the octaves better in tune, otherwise the 2nd octave is slightly flat. But knowing what I know now after making a bunch of whistles, I'd probably bring the octaves in tune just by making the holes bigger. That will also increase the volume.

Thanks. Now I just need some PVC!

Sedi wrote:The insert inside is just a small piece of tube, cut to size so it will fit inside and then stuck inside the tube from the top right under the mouthpiece. Maybe 2 cm long. It's just to bring the octaves better in tune, otherwise the 2nd octave is slightly flat. But knowing what I know now after making a bunch of whistles, I'd probably bring the octaves in tune just by making the holes bigger. That will also increase the volume.

Changing the holes isn't nearly as effective at balancing the octaves as the insert would be. Stick with the insert. How thick was your insert?

I think about 1mm. And maybe 2 cm long (just checked the tuning again and the 2nd octave is much too sharp, I should make it smaller, but I never play that whistle anymore so I didn't bother). Enlarging the holes has a very nice effect on flutes. The last one I made plays and sounds exceptionally well. Should work on whistles, too however. The trick is, to make the window just right in order to make the 2nd octave blow a bit harder (but not too hard) so it will be in tune by itself. Or make the window shorter but the holes larger (Chuck Tilbury builds his whistles like that, short window and large holes, and they are among the best tuned whistles out there, next to Carbony whistles). There's many different ways to get the tuning right on a whistle. I experimented a lot with wedges (on whistles and flutes) but I didn't like how they affected the sound. They had an effect but you needed to blow a bit harder anyway, which would probably have taken care of a flat 2nd octave even without the wedge. I like to keep the construction as simple as possible. So no more wedges or inserts for me .

Good work Sedi!

That's the sort of thing I love to do, tinker with whistles and come up with improved things.

The mezzo A whistle I made is my favourite A (Generation Bb head and home-made brass tube body).

My strangest experiment was to marry the body of a Low F whistle to the barrel and mouthpiece from a clarinet.

The ID of both was identical, and it played great.

I added a thumb-hole to the whistle's normal six fingerholes, giving me an octave range.