An unexpected side effect of playing a Clarke original

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Re: An unexpected side effect of playing a Clarke original

Post by Narzog »

stringbed wrote: Wed Jun 29, 2022 12:44 am That’s a pretty sweeping condemnation. This thread was triggered by concern with the practice of one of the largest manufacturers of tin whistles, not an unconcerned operator of a solo workshop. What evidence is there of individual makers commonly being untroubled by the consequences of their activity for their own health and that of their clientele?
By 'a lot" I don't actually mean many professional makers. And most good makers just use delrin and stuff anyway so they don't need to put a lot of thought into safety. But I have seen people trying to 3d print, use resins, etc which really just isn't safe the extreme majority of the time. So I expect theres also a lot of hobbyist makers who arent selling who have tried things that also werent safe without realizing. So 'a lot of makers' wasnt the ideal word choice. but it does make me wonder how many makers have thought about safety and how many just use what they use because its what the norm is.
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Re: An unexpected side effect of playing a Clarke original

Post by Peter Duggan »

AuLoS303 wrote: Tue Jun 28, 2022 2:16 pm there are quite a few will tell you that a good plastic/delrin recorder is better than a cheap wooden one.
Yes, a good plastic recorder is typically better than a cheap wooden one. But you'll not find Delrin recorders at the cheaper end of the market because they're turned on lathes (not moulded) and require the same skill to make as the fine wooden instruments to which they're more comparable.
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Re: An unexpected side effect of playing a Clarke original

Post by pancelticpiper »

About unhealthy whistles, I used to have a fife/whistle sort of thing (made by the San Francisco Flute Company as I recall) that had a lead mouthpiece.

About smells, try playing a bamboo flute made by burning out the holes rather than drilling them. That burnt smell lasts forever.
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AuLoS303
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Re: An unexpected side effect of playing a Clarke original

Post by AuLoS303 »

pancelticpiper wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 5:12 am About unhealthy whistles, I used to have a fife/whistle sort of thing (made by the San Francisco Flute Company as I recall) that had a lead mouthpiece.

About smells, try playing a bamboo flute made by burning out the holes rather than drilling them. That burnt smell lasts forever.
I found a whistle in a museum made of tin with a lead block!
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Re: An unexpected side effect of playing a Clarke original

Post by stringbed »

pancelticpiper wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 5:12 am I found a whistle in a museum made of tin with a lead block!
That’s the way they were all made for quite a while. Mr.Gumby posted a photo of a sampling in another thread viewtopic.php?p=1254323#p1254323
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Re: An unexpected side effect of playing a Clarke original

Post by RoberTunes »

pancelticpiper wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 5:12 am About smells, try playing a bamboo flute made by burning out the holes rather than drilling them. That burnt smell lasts forever.
I have a couple bamboo whistles and yes that aroma of burnt bamboo lasts forever, but I find it a quite an agreeable smell, both on whistles and bamboo flutes, and I have the satisfaction of knowing it's just the natural smell of burnt wood and not some additional chemicals I'd have to worry about. I like bamboo as an instrument wood, it's very tough and if selected and worked properly, the instrument can be an excellent quality musical apparatus. The aroma makes me sometimes think I'm out in the wilds playing at a campfire, or possibly playing some kind of fast lead solo running away from a forest fire, although the aroma is faint. It stirs the imagination, and for such a small cost. As far as I remember, the other wood instruments I've had, no aromas. The rosewood Sweetheart whistle, no aroma. Plastic recorders and plastic mouthpiece whistles, no aromas. Clarke Original mouthpiece with absorbent wood fipple block, I noticed absorption of moisture and some kind of faint aroma (not a cedar aroma) but a "stale saliva" aroma starting up soon after starting to play it, so I backed away and only use that whistle for practicing finger work. In the grand scheme of things, that fipple block is so seriously small, I'd suggest to Clarke that they use a more non-absorbent, harder wood type. The cost per whistle, if increased, would only be pennies, which may make a corporate CEO very irate, surely a bottom-line religious transgression, but I think the market would appreciate the improvement.
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Re: An unexpected side effect of playing a Clarke original

Post by AuLoS303 »

Maybe Clarke could use bamboo for the blocks...
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stringbed
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Re: An unexpected side effect of playing a Clarke original

Post by stringbed »

Clarke already offer an alternative to the design with the wooden block that appears to have people fearing for their lives. Their Sweetone retains the conical bore and puts a moulded plastic mouthpiece on it. I personally find it to be quite a nice instrument and certainly preferable to their Original for anyone who is looking for a first whistle.
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Re: An unexpected side effect of playing a Clarke original

Post by AuLoS303 »

Yet to try a sweetone but I like the airiness of the Clarke Original (except that the note C {°••°°°°}doesn't sound so good)
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