Got my own whistlesmith!

[Anyanka]

Since I took up the whistles & flute last summer, Mr Husband has become very interested - not in playing, but in making them. As he has an engineering background and decades of woodturning experience (and a helpful book on making instruments), I am quite excited!
He has finished the first plastic tubing prototype in F, which plays fairly tunefully in both octaves, even though the fipple is improvised - all pretty impressive. Needs a little bit of fine tuning, but it looks like I can stop running up debts to satisfy my whistle needs. Next step is metal - and then wood.

To avoid wasted time & other blunders, Martin would appreciate any tips & hints from those of you who've attempted to make your own - useful websites etc.

[AvienMael]

But it's taking the time to make the mistakes that he will benefit the most from

There are numerous threads archived on this topic, along with frequent discussions that keep it all current. Search them out and all will be explained. I think the suggestion was posed at one point for a sticky thread to be dedicated to this topic...

CPVC is probably the best choice in material for learning on because it's cheap and plentiful, and it sounds nice enough. It's also nice because it will help him to develop techniques for keeping his holes centered, etc., that he can carry over to other more costly and more time-consuming materials like wood.

But probably the best bit of advice I have for him is to learn to play the whistle well. That is the only real way to know if what he is doing is "right" or not.

[Kypfer]

http://www.ggwhistles.com/howto/index.html is possibly one of THE definitive guides to making plastic whistles ... and they work well

Not that I've actually done it (but probably wouldn't have a problem), but I wouldn't anticipate making a metal whistle to be any more of a challenge than making a plastic whistle. The requirements, apart from a couple of tools more suitable for metalworking, would be virtually identical.

Making a wooden instrument, however, does need a degree of patience, allowing the material to "settle" between procedures, ie drill one hole, wait a bit, drill another hole etc., else it's more likely to split.

With practice, you can "knock up" a playable plastic whistle (that may need a bit of "fine tuning") within minutes rather than hours

Good luck ... to both of you

[Feadoggie]

You are one lucky girl!

To avoid wasted time & other blunders, Martin would appreciate any tips & hints from those of you who've attempted to make your own - useful websites etc.

I am afraid that AvienMael has it right from my experience. Being a player is most important in assessing the quality of your work. Books, articles and websites can help with methods of design and construction and they can serve as inspiration to get started. But making whistles critiquing them and making more whistles is the standard procedure. How many whistles it takes to get to a good result will vary based on one's experience with the instrument both as a player and perhaps as a keen observer of other whistles. If your goals are modest then you could be happy with the results in short order.

So here are some resources to look for. Glenn Schultz wrote and article for Woodwind Quarterly in , I think, 1996 which outlined his design and methods for making the Thin Weasel whistle. It is chock full of information, some of it is between the lines. That was Glenn's writing style, I believe. Reprints of the article are available here.

There are many books on making woodwinds. Some have interesting information. You can research those on your own or look here.

There are many websites devoted to flute or whistle making. Some will give you the "how" of whistle making and few will give you the "why" of whistle making. What works for you depends on what your goals as a maker may be. Guido Gonzato has a very nice site devoted to amatuer whisle makers with designs for many keys and interesting scale layouts. If a picture is worth a thousand words then make sure to check out Tyrone Head's website. These sites are at opposite ends of the spectrum for illustrating what tooling it takes to make a whistle.

Don't forget to look through YouTube for flutemaking and whistlemaking videos. Some are quite hysterical (or I just have a strange sense of humor maybe).

You might need to do some math to design a whistle. You can start with several sites on flute physics or just use one of the available calculators like TWCalc, Flutomat, or TWJCalc. Start with the flute physics sites if you want to know the "why" of whistle making.

As was said earlier, you can search through C&F for many topics on whistle making. Let us know what turns up. And good luck.

but it looks like I can stop running up debts to satisfy my whistle needs. Next step is metal - and then wood.

Nope! it doesn't work like that. The man will need tools, I say, tools! Tool acquisition disorder or PTSD (power tool shopping disease) is a frightfully worse malady than WhOA.


Feadoggie

[highwood]

tools are much more expensive than a few whistles - but they are more versatile too

making a whistle is not too hard (with a little beginners luck)
making a good whistle is harder
making a really good whistle is much harder than one might think
and the journey is worth it

Bill

[Anyanka]

Thank you so much from both of us for the advice and especially the useful website links!

You have a good point about learning to play, but we're going to keep our division of labour - he'll make, I'll try them out. He's musically busy learning to play the melodeon (and taking it apart to fix, tinker & fine-tune). And the mandolin.

Nope! it doesn't work like that. The man will need tools, I say, tools! Tool acquisition disorder or PTSD (power tool shopping disease) is a frightfully worse malady than WhOA.

Feadoggie

Don't I know it. Fortunately, this man has had the TSD and overcome it and has the webpage to prove it:
http://www.martindudley.co.uk/Tools.htm

[Feadoggie]

Fortunately, this man has had the TSD and overcome it and has the webpage to prove it: http://www.martindudley.co.uk/Tools.htm

Nice website! Sorry, it looks like he's just nipped the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. He'll be wanting a machinist's lathe and a few more additions to that shop. Actually you should do just fine with the woodturning equipment. It just suggests different designs, methods and perhaps tolerances. I use the woodturning lathe to rough out my blanks and then move to the machine lathe to do the details and metal work. Plastic and metal whistles are turned start-to-finish on a machine lathe That's just my preference. But there is more than one way to relieve a cat of it's hide. I am sure you will both have great fun making whistles.

Since your whistlesmith is a woodturner, I thought you might enjoy Luc Verhoeven's website on making wooden flutes. The methods illustrated can be quite similar for making a whistle. As can those used to make re(%^@ers.

Keep us updated on the progress.

Feadoggie

[Daniel_Bingamon]

Always make the whistle body a little longer than calculators come up with. The variations in Fipple design throws a wrench at a lot of calculations. Once you trim the body note into tune, TWCalc and other programs mentioned (I wrote TWCalc) will find the drilling centers of the holes for you.
Hole measurements are taken from the bottom end of a whistle - it's relative to the bottom note.

When making the ramp/blade/labium (whatever you want to call it), pay as much attention to the underramp as would to the one on top. And practice with plastic whistles to get the angle of the chamfer on the edge of windway floor right.
Windway floors must be smooth, slice marks will cause the air to spill out unevenly.
Tiny files and patience will make a whistle sound good.

Smooth any couplings so that the air never approaches a 90 deg angle. It will weaken the sound.
Read up on orifices, inlet geometery of a hole. Rounding the edges of holes will effectively make the tonehole bigger without making the tonehole bigger.

Second octave air frequency and pressure sees the bore differently than the first octave at lower pressure. Higher pitches are affected more by porousity of the wood. (Important to soft wood flutes and whistles).

Wall thickness affects tone more than material does.
Shape of fipple window affects tone. Square is more flutelike, Rectangular is more "whistley"

Too low of a Local Cutoff frequency on tonehole will make it sound muffled. A whistle that has a mixture of muffled and clean holes is not usually well liked. A whistle with all muffled holes actually sound better than something that is mixed. The ultimate goal is to have toneholes that are clear in tone and consistent with each other. The size of the holes affects this. The lowest hole on each hand is the critical one. The second tonehole from the bottom of a whistle is usually larger than the others because of the "diatonic" scale and the smaller tonehole below it. The combination is need to get the cutoff frequency correct for good tone.
On TWCalc and Flute-diatonic.xls, I have a "Cutoff Ratio" which is cutoff frequency / frequency. The ratio helps in comparing other toneholes better. Keep the value higher than 2 and relatively consistent for good tone.

[tyiam]

If a picture is worth a thousand words then make sure to check out Tyrone Head's website. These sites are at opposite ends of the spectrum for illustrating what tooling it takes to make a whistle.

Don't forget to look through YouTube for flutemaking and whistlemaking videos.

Just finished eight new video on how to make a Silver /and or Brass Fipple Flute:

http://www.youtube.com/user/headiam?feature=mhum#g/u

[TBG]

When I first started making whistles, I was like, "Hey, I can do that!" After many, many feet of tubing, I'm still discovering new methods and mistakes along the way. It's like an addiction, but if I'm going to get hooked on something, it may as well be this hobby! And I agree with everyone else... You'll end up wanting more materials, more tools, and more time to play. All the best to your husband, Anyanka, I hope he enjoys the hobby as much as the rest of us do!

[Tunborough]

But probably the best bit of advice I have for him is to learn to play the whistle well. That is the only real way to know if what he is doing is "right" or not.

I'd offer another motivation for learning to play at least a couple of good tunes on the whistle. I've made or repaired a few instruments over the last few years, and its always more satisfying when you can make a nice sound with it when you're done. My wife does the serious whistle testing in this household, but I still enjoy taking one out for a spin now and then.

Our best to you both.

[Corgicrazed]

Oh my gosh you are soooo lucky! Seriously, I'm jealous.

[Anyanka]

No need to be jealous. At least, not yet. I'm still waiting for the successor to that prototype F (which can't be played for any length of time as the mouthpiece is only provisional, and not ergonomic).

He's now taking apart & nearly fixing melodeons and accordions...

[Thomas-Hastay]

Massive Library Archive on woodwind construction...
http://www.mimf.com/

[Anyanka]

Massive Library Archive on woodwind construction...
http://www.mimf.com/

Thank you, good stuff!