pancelticpiper wrote:
About the OP's "Loch" whistle design, I would have as much thickness as possible at the socket because as you know plastic whistle heads tend to split there.
Yep, that's what those recorder-y rings are for - reinforcement.
pancelticpiper wrote:
You are taking a marketing risk in using a Recorder-style head.
I think it's less recorder-like in person, but the juxtaposition of a meaty head on a narrow body certainly looks a bit odd. I just knocked up this particular image for fun. For the actual release of course I'll have photos that are color balanced and show many angles. I would have preferred to make these even more Generation-like, but a long, skinny "nose" tends to get warped even with LFS (Low Force Stereolithography) as the model must be repeatedly peeled from the membrane separating the laser and the build platform. This tends to impart a small amount of Z-axis warping to very thin, long parts.
Frankly I've had a lot of difficulty with modeling the mouthpiece shape as Fusion 360 tends to have a meltdown computing certain kinds of curvature. One thing I do like about the head shape is the chamfering toward the end of the mouthpiece - I find that it really encourages one to elevate the whistle and play with better posture. I might add a decorative ring to the foot to try and visually balance the top-heaviness.
pancelticpiper wrote:
People coming from the Recorder world and perhaps also from the Boehm flute world (who have seen a Recorder or two in their day) will find it attractive and/or familiar. I would expect a whistle with a Recorder style head to have a thumb hole, is that part of your design?
Absolutely not. I have very strong feeling toward thumbholes; to me they are both unnecessary and actively interfere with the tone as moisture leakage starts affecting the seal. I'll make a note to emphasize this is a 6-hole instrument when I finish my website.
pancelticpiper wrote:
On the other hand I'm guessing that most people coming from the Irish-trad world will hate it. They'll want a sleek no-nonsense design in black. (I talked with the owner of Susato and he said his ivory-coloured and wood-coloured whistles sold great in Japan but in Ireland they only wanted black.)
I'm planning to make limited runs with different colors, styles, and decorative etches on the tube, which will include a black and silver one. Here I was trying to do a little callback to the old red tops and blue tops, but the color turned out too bright and kind of clashes with the brass. It would probably look better with nickel plated tubing. Since I'm printing these rather than injection molding, there is a little less pressure to go for mass appeal since I don't have $25k to recoup on a mold, but I also don't want to turn people off from even trying one, so I appreciate that feedback.
