Chiff and Fipple Forums

Who makes low c whistles? I know Carbony has one.

Goldie, Alba, Shearwater (John Bushby) are some of the names that come to mind but any (low whistle) maker who makes whistles by hand should be able to make a low C on request.

Howard make a "low" C too.

Not a recomendation, I've never played or even seen one.

MK as well:

https://mkwhistles.com/bass-c

Hammy Hamilton:

http://www.hamiltonflutes.com/Low_Whistles.html

Susato made/makes a Low C that's very good, the best Susato I've played.

I think the best Low C I've played overall is my Goldie, which is excellent. It's surprisingly ergonomic and easy to play.

Here's what mine sounds like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-fQhvleWq8&t=56s

(I've owned Low Cs by Susato, Goldie, Reviol, and Alba.)

Fascinating that MK has entered the Low C market- I've love to try one.

I ended up buying a Kakapo low C. They're made in New Zeland and sold on Etsy. It was $50 delivered for the tunable model. For the price it's really nice. The fingering chart interestingly includes F# xxoxxx and G# xoxxxo (that would be G# and A# in D whistle nomenclature). They're more airy, but could work as passing tones.

It's been my experience that crossfingered notes work better on Low Whistles than on high ones.

For sure most Low Whistles do a nice in-tune flat 7th

oxx xox

and a passably in-tune flat 6th

xox xxx

in the low octave, but other good low-octave crossfingered notes usually aren't available.

In the 2nd octave you have a lot of possibilities, because putting fingers down can raise the pitch of some notes, for example on my Low D whistle a flat 6th

xxo oxx (putting fingers down raises A to Bb)

or the more normal

xox ooo (putting a finger down lowers B to Bb)

Depends from whistle to whistle which is more in tune.

Flat 3rd usually means half-holing.

I think the reason why cross-fingering works better on low whistles is not that they are low whistles but because they have a thicker wall. A deeper chimney for the sound holes has the effect that a finger below an open hole has a bigger influence in lowering the note. Those cross-fingerings should work just as well on a high D with a thicker tube. Diameter of the holes also has an influence of course. For instance I have one high D (a Qwistle v.2) on which oxoooo produces a perfectly in tune C natural. Probably because of the combination of a thick wall with a rather small top hole.

Sedi wrote:I think the reason why cross-fingering works better on low whistles is not that they are low whistles but because they have a thicker wall. A deeper chimney for the sound holes has the effect that a finger below an open hole has a bigger influence in lowering the note. Those cross-fingerings should work just as well on a high D with a thicker tube. Diameter of the holes also has an influence of course. For instance I have one high D (a Qwistle v.2) on which oxoooo produces a perfectly in tune C natural. Probably because of the combination of a thick wall with a rather small top hole.

IDK. This particular whistle has pretty thin PVC walls. I have a Carbony low D which has massive walls -- probably 1/8" thick. The C natural needs oxxxooo. But it's conical and this one is straight. My guess would be there are a lot of factors that probably just need experimenting with.

Yep, I am sure you are right. Hole size plays a role, too (like I wrote). I also have a relatively thin walled F flute (but with a large bore) on which cross-fingerings work like a charm. But in general it works better on thicker walled whistles. At least on the ones I tried. The Carbony has a tapered bore as you mentioned, which behaves quite differently. So what seems to influence it (just from experience, no computer modelling, calculations made) -- thick wall plus cylindrical bore and hole size and bore diameter. Definitely more than one factor.
What might be an influence (just speculating here) on whistles (flutes) with a large bore is that they start developing some characteristics of a vessel flute (the breath pressure will for instance have a bigger influence on pitch) -- and on a vessel flute, only the surface of holes covered and uncovered is important but not where they are located. I think that might be a reason why a closed hole beneath an open one has a larger influence on the sound. But I am no expert on the physics involved. It's just speculation from playing a large numer of different whistles, flutes and wind instruments. I sure wish I had a better understanding of the physics involved.