Jerry Freeman Tweaked Shaw D--review

[Jerry Freeman]

Hi Jerry,

I just dug out your tweaked head from the Mellow Dog and tried it again. Your description of the tone is spot on: pure and sweet. The issue I have isn't so much with the low notes (I learned to go gently with those on the first Dixon I had), but more with the second octave. Mostly on tongued notes, the first attack is very fragile. It's better with legato playing, but a careless cut can still break the note and squeak it. Also, just as the low notes need gentle blowing, the second octave seems to take a far more marked increase in pressure than I'm used to, and consequently seems disproportionately louder.

Don't worry too much - I'm sure the 'fault', if there is one, is as much with my relative inexperience as with the whistle.

BTW, do you take some off the top of the Walton tube as well as adding to the bottom? It's a great tube. I can't understand why more cheapie manufacturers don't do a D with the wider bore tube. Bearing in mind how accurate the tuning on Feadog tubes is I'd love it if they did a D in the same diameter as the C. Of course, that is pretty much what you achieve with the Mellow Dog .

The Mellow Dog sound is great, but I don't seem able to handle it well enough to get that tone consistently across the range of the whistle.

Hi, Buddhu.

Thanks for the clarification.

In the top half of the upper register, a tweaked Mellow Dog has a rather definite threshold between "enough" and "not quite enough" push.

It doesn't require the strong push that a tweaked Shaw takes, but you have to give the upper register enough push to stay above the threshold or it will try to drop down into the lower register.

It sounds like you may be playing just "above the break," meaning that you're giving the upper register just enough push to go into the upper register, but not enough to make sure all the notes are staying there. You may find that you adjust to this rather effortlessly if you just play the whistle more. I don't believe there's anything about the whistle's dynamics that are truly problematical, just that it has its own personality.

Yes, I do take a little off the top of the Mellow D tube. If I don't do that, the whistle is only in tune when the whistlehead is pushed all the way on, and there's no room for adjustment if it needs to play slightly sharper.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[buddhu]

...It sounds like you may be playing just "above the break," meaning that you're giving the upper register just enough push to go into the upper register, but not enough to make sure all the notes are staying there. You may find that you adjust to this rather effortlessly if you just play the whistle more. I don't believe there's anything about the whistle's dynamics that are truly problematical, just that it has its own personality...

Yep, I'm sure you're right. This isn't the only case of me not getting on with something others swear by.

After pottering around with the tweaked head again last night I still do like that pure tone. I'm going to have another go and see if I can get the hang of it.

Thanks for taking an interest, and for the tips.

[Jerry Freeman]

Yes, I do take a little off the top of the Mellow D tube. If I don't do that, the whistle is only in tune when the whistlehead is pushed all the way on, and there's no room for adjustment if it needs to play slightly sharper.

I thought I should clarify this.

I don't actually take a little off the top and put a little on the bottom of the Mellow D tubes.

Rather, I move the toneholes slightly higher on the tube. This is more efficient than cutting some length off the top and adding some length on the bottom.

Basically, you remove the toneholes, so you have a solid tube again. Then you reposition the toneholes where you want them. You have to be careful to put the toneholes in the correct sequence, or you'll get a whistle that doesn't play properly. When I first started doing them this way, I made the mistake of removing the toneholes all at once from a whole batch of tubes. Then, when I went to reposition them on the tubes, I found that I'd gotten them all mixed up, and I couldn't tell one tonehole from another.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[OBrien]

You've got to be careful when you have removed the tone holes from several dozen whistles and they are sitting in a pile on your bench. They will sometimes meld into one big hole and ruin the bench. But we might get a good story out of it: "Jerry in Wonderland" (A giant white weasel invites him to a tweak party- take it from there.)

[Jack]

Jerry Freeman rocketh.

[buddhu]

...After pottering around with the tweaked head again last night I still do like that pure tone. I'm going to have another go and see if I can get the hang of it.

Thanks for taking an interest, and for the tips.

Hmm... when I say "pottering around with" I mean playing, NOT modifying. Just want to make that clear.

And so far I have to say there is improvement. Still an above-average increase in volume between 1st and 2nd octaves, but I can now play tunes across the two octaves without breaking many notes - even on tongued ones - and maintaining the clear tone.

Looks like my inexperience was the main factor. No big surprise there... :roll:

Apologies for dragging this away from the Shaw tweak that Wanderer specifically reviewed.

[oscartherabbit]

Basically, you remove the toneholes, so you have a solid tube again. Then you reposition the toneholes where you want them. You have to be careful to put the toneholes in the correct sequence, or you'll get a whistle that doesn't play properly.

That's really interesting and sounds like quite a neat way to do it. It would certainly avoid a lot of messing around with tube cutting and filing.

Does anyone have any experience of swapping tone holes between whistles? I wonder if, for instance, the holes from a Mellow D might improve a Gen D - any thoughts?