Hello C&F world! Long time follower, first time poster here!

I've been playing an original Clarke D for 13 years, and recently thought I'd branch out a bit and got a Feadog. I love the general sound, but I have a few problems. I've been searching the forum for answers and can't find one, so I figured I'd post.

1) The second octave is flat - and if I tune it a bit so that it's in tune the first octave goes sharp. It's not so bad when I'm playing by myself, but I'm not looking forward to going to sessions with it like that.

2) The bell note has a pretty strong buzz to it. The whole first octave in fact has a bit of a buzz, which is fine, just the low d is a bit too much.

So... any tweaking options? I've read the tweaking page and I'm just not sure exactly what to do to fix these problems. I tried the sticky tack, and that didn't really help either issue... and that's as far as I've had the guts to go. I also don't see and extraneous bits of plastic to sand off.

Thanks for any help!!

Maddo

Sure ... A cylindrical bore whistle like the Feadóg requires a different breath regimen from a conical bore whistle like the Clarke. In effect, you have to slightly overblow the 2nd octave and slightly underblow the 1st octave to put them in tune. And no amount of fiddling with the head tuning position will change that.

As for the buzz ... Feadógs do tend to be a bit buzzy - it's part of the sound. But coming from a Clarke, chances are that you're overblowing the 1st octave significantly. Try a very gentle breath on the bell note, and increase very gradually as you go up.

Also, small changes in the head position can have a dramatic effect on the buzz. First tune the 1st octave A to 440, using very moderate breath. Then move the head in or out a millimeter at a time looking for the sweet spot, playing up and down and adjusting you breath accordingly. Experiment until you find it.

Also keep in mind that in a session / group context, the buzz tends to disappear in the mix, and the whistle may sound quite different to other listeners than it does to you. Recording yourself with a microphone placed at a distance may help you to make more objective adjustments.

Good luck!

You could always get a professionally tweaked whistle;
http://www.bigwhistle.co.uk/Shop_Result ... rod_id=510
http://stores.ebay.com/freemanwhistles

Yes, but the issues I described above are inherent and normal to any cylindrical bore whistle. So until you have a handle on those, coming from a Clarke, another cylindrical whistle - tweaked or otherwise - will present the same challenges. And of course, both the O'Briain and Freedman whistles are cylindrical as well.

Yeah, or take up the bodhran. Alternatively, follow MT's wise advice.

Freeman! (Go ahead and delete this post after you've corrected the misspelling.)

Best wishes,
Jerry

Anyways.....Welcome to the forum, and hello Maddolyn.

You've never played a Freedman whistle? You should! I've heard that they are amazing....

You're right, I find that if I tilt my head 13 degrees to the left and face sunward the buzz goes away completely Just kidding

Thanks for your advice though, after probably 20 hours of playing over the last few days it's a lot more consistent. Still a tad flat in the upper range, which I'm sure will go away after a couple pints.

Happy whistling folks!

Maddo

Guilty of PWI - Posting While Illiterate.

Actually ... Adjusting the angle of the whistle to your lips - left/right, up/down - can influence the tone. Don't know about the sun thing, unless you're into Feng Shui. Facing away from the prevailing wind can definitely help ... or there's always the Tidy Cat solution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixckTW21e4I

(Yes, that never gets old!)

I apologize for quickly butting in but what tune is being played in Lunasa's Tidy Cat set?


Thanks!
Celeste

They're playing the "Leckan Mor" set from their album Sé, Track 2: Kalyana Jig, Up in the Garret, Leckan Mor.

Thanks! I must have missed that album when I was trying to find that tune:)