"Cheap" Whistle Materials

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Mr.Gumby
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Re: "Cheap" Whistle Materials

Post by Mr.Gumby »

For example, look at this listing
I did, and posted the links several posts up the line:
Hehe, I hadn't seen that. If one crowd can do it, they all can. Turn it into a free for all. Would be interesting to try one (it's here )
And also they assembled it backwards, suggesting not a lot of knowledge or attention to detail.
It's assembled correctly in one pic, with the tube detached in others and arseways in one. The photography department's assistant apparently doesn't play the whistle and doesn't know how to assemble one. I wouldn't read too much into it.
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Opisthokont
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Tell us something.: I'm a multi-instrumentalist who has acquired (as of about a year and a half ago) a tinwhistle habit. I'm exploring what this cheap but beautiful little instrument can do, and I've got a ton of questions, and I decided it was about time I start asking people who might have a clue about the answers. Hopefully I can help out others as well!

Re: "Cheap" Whistle Materials

Post by Opisthokont »

Jerry Freeman wrote:I don't have proof, but I'm fairly certain Generation whistleheads are ABS, not polystyrene.

Bear in mind, ABS plastic is a mixture of acrylonitril, butadiene and styrene monomers, and the proportions vary according to the properties desired in the finished product. I wouldn't be surprised if the plastic Generation uses contains more styrene than the plastics Feadog, Waltons, etc. use. I would guess that styrene is the cheapest of the three resins used in ABS plastic and cheaper plastic will contain more of it.
This is interesting... I measured the density of all of my whistles' heads empirically, and though my volume measurements are not the most accurate, they are reasonably consistent amongst the 7 new Gens I checked, so they can't be that bad. Generations (the new ones) were all 1.01-1.02, Oak and Feadog very very slightly denser at 1.02-1.03, Waltons significantly denser at 1.06-1.07, and Clarke's Meg (I couldn't get the heads off my Sweetones, which are good enough that I don't want to risk breaking them) was denser still, at 1.09. Clarke mentions on their site that they use an ABS-polycarbonate blend, for which my measurement fits. The densities I've seen for polystyrene and ABS vary, especially for ABS (as you point out, it's a blend, the proportions of which can vary), but polystyrene is usually in the 1.01-1.02 range, and ABS slightly higher; the Waltons material is just at the upper limit of that range.

I wasn't able to get a good measurement of my (very nice) pre-1980s Gen, though, as after making its head removable, a certain professional whistle-tweaker had very kindly put a brass ring on it to keep it from splitting. That throws off the mass measurements, but I'm content to live with an unknown in this case...!
LI Whistler
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Re: "Cheap" Whistle Materials

Post by LI Whistler »

Someone asked why would a Chinese company clone a Killarney then not undercut Killarney's price? If they can sell it full price with greatly lower labor & production costs then their margin of profit is immense. They are not looking for volume but to make a killing.
Tommy
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Re: "Cheap" Whistle Materials

Post by Tommy »

PB+J wrote:For example, look at this listing:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Brass-I ... autifyAB=0


It's unmistakably a clone of a Sindt or Killarney. Somebody in China decided it was worth it to tool up to make this, the blade and opening and ramp are different.
I'm just interested in what to make of it.
They used a round end mill instead of a squared/flat end mill. Sindt and Killarney use a small squared end mill making several passes. The China round end mill only making two passes saving a bit of machine work.
''Whistles of Wood'', cpvc and brass. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=69086
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