I’ve been learning the whistle for about a year now and have built up a fair collection of inexpensive whistles (all in D). To my ear, the only one that sounds in tune “with itself” is my current favourite, the Sweetone, but it does sound distinctly flat when I play along with recordings. I’ve pushed the mouthpiece into the barrel as far as it will go to sharpen, it but my question is can I can file a bit off of the barrel to slide the mouthpiece up further, or will this just completely bugger it up?
Secondly, with the other whistles, if I were to try to sharpen particular notes by slightly opening up the holes, should I make them wider across the barrel, longer along it, or just generally larger?
The problem may not be the whistle not in tune with recordings, but the recordings themselves may be off. I’ve noticed this over the years with classical violin pieces, and even pop recordings: when I play along with a guitar, violin or flute that I KNOW is in tune, yet it doesn’t jive with what’s on the CD.
I would be VERY CAREFUL changing tone holes and such. Granted, you’ve cheap whistles, but you still don’t want to ruin 'em.
A caveat: I tend to err on caution’s side. I took almost a year to screw up the courage to tweak my Generation F. Fortunately, it does play better. ~Whew~
-Tom
Tom Gallagher
aka fiddling_tenor
fiddlingtenor@usa.com
“If schools had glass walls, the kids could watch the fire engine go by without having to stand up.”
[ This Message was edited by: fiddling_tenor on 2002-02-11 16:07 ]
Hey Joshua,
What Tom says is true. The recording may not be playing in tune especially if using tape. If you’re that concerned, I’d invest in an inexpensive tuner to check it out. You shouldn’t bugger up your Sweetone by filing a little off of the fipple end of the tube. But be careful of taking off too much or bending the tube.
Play On!
Vinny
The Sweetone definitely sounds a bit off to all the recordings I have- some tutorials on CD.
Anyhow, the other question- longer, wider or just a bit bigger, what is the opinion from those who know?
The Sweetone is a conical(decreasing)bore and as such,it accents the lower harmonics. This may be what you are hearing. Cylindrical whistles play flat in the second octave and the recordings may have been made with cylindrical whistles.
My “best guess” is that each tape player has motors that turn the tape at differing speeds. This determins the pitch of your recording playback. Special recorder/players with variable speed controls are available but pack a hefty price tag.
If you wish sharpen your whistle’s fundamental pitch,all you need to do is add some putty or a blob of beeswax to the face of the fipple plug(or fill the undercut). This will reduce the internal cubic area and sharpen pitch but can be easily removed/modified without harming your whistle.
If you are forced to modify a tonehole because it plays Flat,roll a piece of fine grit sandpaper into a cone shape and use the tip to sand a slight undercut at the side of the hole closest to the voicing. Make small adjustments and test with an electronic tuner. Remember that you can “bend” a note with breath pressure,so keep it uniform and steady.
Thomas Hastay.
[ This Message was edited by: Thomas-Hastay on 2002-02-13 16:30 ]