MTGuru O-Ring Susato Tweak

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Re: Mute Tweak

Post by MTGuru »

You're welcome guys! I'm so glad the tweak is working for you. A few of my whistles, not just Susatos, now sport O-rings. They're easy enough to move in and out of position. I wonder if Kelishek will start including them with new instruments? :-)

Nano, I'd love to see a photo of your modified thumb rest!

Sure, Weeks, rubber bands work - I used them before trying the rings. But they're harder to position, have to be folded over, etc. And maybe the rounded toroid profile of the rings gives a smoother effect.
benbrad wrote:If you want to mute a whistle ...
I think you misunderstand. The purpose of the O-ring tweak is definitely *not* to mute the whistle, but to increase backpressure and improve response. If anything, the whistle tone may seem stronger because it's a bit more focused.

And for a photo of the standard paper clip mute, see this:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... ht=#676358
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Re: Mute Tweak

Post by Nanohedron »

MTGuru wrote:Nano, I'd love to see a photo of your modified thumb rest!
I wish I could. Some day I'll get the hang of that, I guess.

Basically, it just looks like a wide black band. After I filed the prominences away, I took some P600 emery paper to it so that it would have a uniform matte finish and not completely look like crap.

BUT: here's something very interesting. I left one side edge of the band flat perpendicular in profile with the topmost edge sharp, and on the other side, I took the emery paper to the upper edge so as to give it some curvature and approximate an O-ring's toroid profile (although I didn't do the same to the lower edge). Tried 'em both, and the faux-toroid wins. There IS a difference in this case. Wonder if that would be an across-the-board result...by the look of things, you can't go wrong with an O-ring for results and convenience. :)
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Post by Nanohedron »

Whoah. Further update: I decided to complete the approximation and took the emery paper to the under-edge to give it the same curved profile as the upper (as much as humanly possible on the fly), and the result was even better! Weird. I wonder what sort of physics are going on here.

Instead of dicking around, just get an O-ring, I say.
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Post by MTGuru »

Experimental acoustics in action, Nano. Very interesting.
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Post by khl »

Just wanted to give my thumbs up to this tweak. It makes a noticeable difference, as many have mentioned. I've put rings on the mouthpieces that go with the Eb/D/C/Bb and also the A and low G. What's most remarkable to me is the ease that the whistle can play up into the third octave now.

I also tried this with a few other whistles. The one it helped most was my Hoover Low F (pvc). This whistle sounds fine, but takes lots of air. The tweak tempers this enough to make it more manageable.
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Post by misterpatrick »

After Nano pointed this out to me this past weekend, I threw an o-ring on my unruly Susato B. Working great. The second octave is now working fine. I had to really over-blow it before. I also threw one on a Feadog, and while it makes the 2nd octave easier to blow, it doesn't improve the scratchy tone that thing has.

Wait, let's throw some o-rings on my chanter and see what that does!

heh.
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Post by Nanohedron »

YMMV on this, but I also found on my Susato B that if the o-ring (plastic-band-as-o-ring-analog, in my case) is placed just a touch away from where it would sit closest to the windway, the results seem to be optimum. Dunno if this would be across the board for the Susato B whistles much less any other keys - or other whistles, for that matter; and maybe it has something to do with the player - but the nice thing is you can play around with it and find out.

And I'll see if I can weasel misterpatrick into taking a photo or two of my modified thumbrest alternative to the o-ring, MTGuru. He knows how to do that stuff. :wink:
Last edited by Nanohedron on Fri Aug 17, 2007 12:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by MTGuru »

Glad to hear it, Mister P! It's a curious little tweak, and really does seem to work. Mixed results on non-Susatos, though.

If I discover a chanter ring I'll let you know. Of course, it will be very expensive, with a 3-year waiting list ...

Hey, does this make me Lord of the O-Rings? :P
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Post by Nanohedron »

MTGuru wrote:Glad to hear it, Mister P! It's a curious little tweak, and really does seem to work. Mixed results on non-Susatos, though.
It is indeed, and it does indeed. Anent other makes, I used a stretchy hair-tie (yes, I used to have a ponytail and still have all these ties sitting around looking at me) in place of an o-ring in my Dixon Trad soprano D, and also got a good result. Some day I'll replace the hair-tie with the real thing.
MTGuru wrote:If I discover a chanter ring I'll let you know. Of course, it will be very expensive, with a 3-year waiting list ...
Better yet, find the secret to the just-as-good-as-or-better-than-cane bulletproof synthetic chanter reed, and the world will beat a path to your door.
MTGuru wrote:Hey, does this make me Lord of the O-Rings? :P
Be a mensch and settle for Guru, already. :P
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Post by celticgarrison »

I am going to get some O-rings this very day !

Thanks MTguru it's nice to be able to improve my susato's i absolutely love them!
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Post by celticgarrison »

misterpatrick wrote:After Nano pointed this out to me this past weekend, I threw an o-ring on my unruly Susato B. Working great. The second octave is now working fine. I had to really over-blow it before. I also threw one on a Feadog, and while it makes the 2nd octave easier to blow, it doesn't improve the scratchy tone that thing has.

Wait, let's throw some o-rings on my chanter and see what that does!

heh.
On your chanter...it's not a whistle, unless you are talking about something other a than a bagpipe or practice chanter ?
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Post by Lyn D »

Well, I finally sat down and tested the o-ring tweak on my Susato Kildare NT high D; Susato Kildare T high C; Oak high D; and my Feadog brass high D. It was really nice and seemed to do the same on all the whistles.
It seems like it brought the tone of the notes more together, more rounded and focussed. It seems like it lowered the volume a tad, but I'm wondering if it really did lower the volume or if it just seems that way, because of the change in tone. Hmmm... Any comment on this?
Nice job MTGuru.......this is one tweak I can do!

Lyn
Last edited by Lyn D on Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by katshan »

Just got back from the hardware store with my O ring. Took my whistle with me to make sure of the fit. Works like a charm. Don't know if the volume decreased or not, doesn't seem as if that's the case, but the tone of the whistle (Susato high D) has changed some. Mellower, not as scratchy and takes less air now - easier to play.

Thanks for posting this simple fix that makes a real difference in this whistle. It's brilliant!!

It's pretty nice when anybody can do something this simple to improve their Susato.


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Post by Nanohedron »

celticgarrison wrote:
misterpatrick wrote:After Nano pointed this out to me this past weekend, I threw an o-ring on my unruly Susato B. Working great. The second octave is now working fine. I had to really over-blow it before. I also threw one on a Feadog, and while it makes the 2nd octave easier to blow, it doesn't improve the scratchy tone that thing has.

Wait, let's throw some o-rings on my chanter and see what that does!

heh.
On your chanter...it's not a whistle, unless you are talking about something other a than a bagpipe or practice chanter ?
That was a joke.

You have to know Patrick. :wink:
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Post by fancypiper »

Lyn D wrote:It seems like it brought the tone of the notes more together, more rounded and focussed. It seems like it lowered the volume a tad, but I'm wondering if it really did lower the volume or if it just seems that way, because of the change in tone.
In my experience, less air requirements=less volume (on one instrument). However, halving the loudness (sound is half the original power) only makes barely noticeable reduction of volume as the ears hear logarithmically. To halve volume, the sound level must drop to about 1/100 (from memory, may be 1/10 but I am too lazy to google it) of the original power.

Read up on the term "decibel" for more geek talk.

I didn't have an o-ring to fit my Susato, so I made a "shield" from poster putty.

I can adjust the height of the shield as well as the placement and I can vary volume quite a bit, even with my old ears.
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