Quieting Whistles

merlinthedog · Post by **merlinthedog** » Sat Jul 28, 2001 6:51 pm

Has anyone had a problem with too loud a whistle? I have when playing on the road. I found that by putting a small piece of tissue in the air hole you can quiet the whislte but still hear the notes.

Blaine McArthur · Post by **Blaine McArthur** » Sat Jul 28, 2001 7:08 pm

For those moments when I want to play my whistle, but do not want to disturb others in the house, I place a piece of tape over approximatel two thirds of the wind opening. Not enough tape and it doesn't appreciably quiet the whistle, too much and there just isn't enough air to sound the notes. It is a kind of trial and error thing.

This also doesn't work too well with the susato style mouthpiece. It works fine on my Feadogs, Generation and Dixon whistles.

Blaine

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Tue Aug 14, 2001 11:56 am

oh, this sounds interesting. . .does the tape go longitudinally or laterally? Does it affect your ability to hit the high notes?

My husband is sincerely hoping that this works. A picture would be ideal!

Thanks!

mike.r · Post by **mike.r** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 4:03 am

My five year old daughter just yanks it out of my mouth!:) Mike

brownja · Post by **brownja** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 6:19 am

Hoover.
Plug it in, turn it on. It'll drown out the whistle noises.
Or you can get one of his whistles.
jb

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 8:01 am

A rolled up piece of paper inserted
vertically down into the window up
against the blade does the trick,
in my experience. Push the roll
over to one side of the whistle--
the bigger the area blocked, the quieter
the whistle, of course.

Blaine McArthur · Post by **Blaine McArthur** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 8:14 am

Tyghress,

Sorry about the long delayed reply, after posting my first message I did not go back to this thread. I hope you have figured it out by now. If not:

I take a piece of scotch tape about an inch and a half long, fold over a short 1/8 inch section to make it easier to remove later, and tape it horizontally over the far end of the hole.

blaine

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 8:19 am

I use both tape and rolled up paper:

First I take the rolled up paper and insert it into the ear canals of anyone who tends to complain about my playing, then I cover their ears with the tape to make sure the rolled up paper stays in place. Tape over the mouth is optional....

At any rate, this proceedure seems to mute the whistle volume substantially, at least for those who are normally bothered by it.

If you receive complaints of the whistle still being too loud, I've been told that a solid rap on the noggin with the low D usually produces a ringing effect in the ears that will cancel out the remaining whistle tone. Sort of like a low tech white noise generator......

Loren
P.S. For those who prefer to quiet the whistle rather than the listener, I've been told by one accomplised player that a cigarette butt inserted in the windway makes an excellent mute. Just follow Jim's directions about pushing it to one side. I'm not a smoker so I haven't tried this method, but I hear it works wonders.

McHaffie · Post by **McHaffie** » Fri Aug 17, 2001 8:13 pm

Heya everybody, just to put my 2 cents in... (no pun intended) the tape thingy is the same principal I use in my mouthpieces... one way to get around the Susatos, and other curved windway whistles (that seem to be stubborn about quieting down) I have used a bit of tape accross the top of the windway AND a TINY bit accross the lower part of the mouthpiece or windway... basicaly cover a good portion of the top, and then tape accross the bottom of the mouthpiece, just where it starts to bevel downwards, and only go over it maybe 1/16 of an inch or so... it will work, although you will get more of a whispering sound out of it... it will still play and do both octaves.

anyway, worked for me.

Take care!
John

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Fri Aug 17, 2001 9:08 pm

I don't own any Susatos any more, however I just tried taping my Burke WBB D and a couple of my Sindts, all of which have a bit of a curve to the blade. As with my other whistles, I found that flacing the tape vertically over 1/2 - 3/4 (depending on the whistle) works extremely well.

Horizontal taping hasn't worked as well for me, so perhaps it depends on the whistle.

Loren

StevieJ · Post by **StevieJ** » Sat Aug 18, 2001 6:05 am

The best method I have tried was posted on the old forum by Whistlepeg (SueH), who said she got it from John Skelton. I'm surprised she hasn't added it here.

Take a little ball of bluetac (or whatever you call that putty you use to put up posters and fill windway cavities) and place it on the ramp of your windway. Roll it backwards and forwards and you'll find you can reduce the volume by any amount you want, down to nothing. Works perfectly on Generations, haven't really tried it on anything else.

Whistlepeg · Post by **Whistlepeg** » Sat Aug 18, 2001 8:17 am

Thanks Stevie!
I've checked the board sporadically the last while as we are in the process of moving. Up to my windway in boxes! By the by, I've noiced that you often refer to using Generations. My favourite "inexpensive" whistle is a good Generation, and I have found most to be good (a few - spectacular)and almost no complete duds! It seems that most posts to this board trash Generations. Have I been lucky? Do they automatically send the best to Winnipeg?? (Do you have any of the high-end whistles?)
Sue

StevieJ · Post by **StevieJ** » Sat Aug 18, 2001 10:02 am

Hi Sue. We're getting off topic, sorry everyone... it happens.

On 2001-08-18 10:17, Whistlepeg wrote:
I've noticed that you often refer to using Generations.

Yes Sue, I'm sure most people on the board are sick of me and my predictable comments about Generations by now! But like you, I love 'em.

There are duds, however, and it seems such a shame that the stupid owners don't do something about the quality control. I think it was Bill Ochs that told me that he spoke to them and their attitude was, well we sold 700,000 last year so why should we change anything? Strikes me as the same stupid British managerial attitude that led to the wiping out of the British car and motorcycle industries. (When the first 50cc Hondas came out, BSA and Triumph didn't think it was a threat. Ha!)

On the other hand I find that other cheapies can be equally awful, so I don't know why people single out Generations. I tried a bunch of Feadogs, Clares and Waltons in an Irish gift store recently and not one was tolerable. I got 2 Oaks by mail order 2 years ago and both were s***e.

The only answer for Generations seems to be, try them first, even if it means being politely very stubborn with the store staff. And don't be afraid to do minor tweaking -- it can give great results.

Yes, I have three high-end high D whistles -- Swayne, Burke and Sindt. They're all nice, but I still prefer my hand-picked, hand-tweaked Generations. The Burke has too little chiff for my taste. The Sindt is, get this, a little raspy (a word people love to use about Generations. John said he would check it for me but it's with Azalin in Ireland.) The Swayne is lovely but sounds a tad, sorry, recorderish.

I have Azalin's Water Weasel, nice and chiffy, but its loudness means it's only good for the kind of sessions I would (given the choice) prefer not to play in. Oh, and I'm waiting (still hasn't arrived, Brigitte!) for a parcel from Colin Goldie in which there might just be a modal Overton D/C. I think Canadian customs officers must be arguing about how much GST to slap on it.

Whistlepeg · Post by **Whistlepeg** » Sat Aug 18, 2001 11:07 am

Stevie,
I am very curious about the modal Overton!
After you have had a chance to try it, please post your comments. Sometimes I wonder if Canada Customs takes so long 'cause they are having fun "playing" with the merchandise! Years ago when I ordered whistles, recorders or ocarinas, I had to ask the shippers to put on the package
"tin flute", "flute a bec", "ocarina-flute" or else I would be charged 30% duty plus taxes (there was no duty on "flutes" but they did charge duty on certain other wind instruments...go figure!
Sue