Hello all,
Is it possible, and I am more less sure it is, to make a whistle head for a flute?
I have an Yamaha 211 (Boehm, Keyed), which I quite like to play as it is. But I think it would be nice to blow it from the other side.
If it is indeed possible, who would be able to produce such a head?
Cheers,
Erwin
Yes, they are possible, and yes, they are made & sold.
Ethnicwind does them for flute and piccolo. (Having been burned by Ethnicwind in the past, I don’t think I could bring myself to try one new from the maker; but you might have better luck!)
Not convinced he ever got the design quite right…
http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=84374
The Educci ones looked/sounded far better (more accurate intonation over a wider range), but Martin’s (educciman’s) YouTube videos of it now appear to have been taken down or made private and his site has gone ‘BALD VERFÜGBAR’ (available soon)…
https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/fipple-head-joint-for-concertflute/78102/1
Good morning my whistle - & flutefriends. Thank you very much for your interest in my “hybrid-instrument-studies” and trying to contact me in the last months. I am still working on the add ons for Boehmflute - the whistlestyle head and the quenastyle head.
StatusQuo is: I am fighting with hundreds and thousands of millimeters to get the flute with my whistle-mpc in tune - especially with a curved elbow-pipe!?
The straight tenon mpc is working fine, good sound, good intonation but bad ergonomic handling…
I will be back in a short time and can present professional updates…please wait for some new youtube-blogs in the next year.
You can find only 3 videos right now( - bad artistic quality - but…)
one sample:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWiXHW5wJ-4
Well that sounds fantastic to me!
I for one would be very interested.
Please keep us updated on your progress!
I will say that perfecting the 3rd register of the Boehm flute is unimportant for me.
I would be quite happy with a headjoint which produces the 1st and 2nd registers accurately with a big rich tone.
Roy McManus makes them for the Bb flutes, not sure if he has made them for a concert flute though.
Fife-sized flutes/piccolos or Alto Flutes?
EDIT: some Googling made it clear, it’s for Bb piccolos/fifes
https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/roy-mcmanus-bb/91809/1
BTW interesting that he spells his last name using Irish spelling, his first name using English spelling.
Would be interested also to find out what the Irish spelling of “Roy” would be.
I also have a whistle head made by him ,for my Peter Worrell Bb flute.
Update: From the all knowledgeable interweb :
The first name Roy was originally derived from the Gaelic nickname Ruadh…one with red hair.
I guess it depends on “which Irish” (Proto-, Old, Middle or Modern) and “which Roy” (French, English or Irish) you’re after. There is a very old Irish name, Róich (as in Fergus mac), which tends to get Anglicised as “Roy”. If his name is Irish, then that might be a good direction to look. But if his name is French or English, well, then all bets are off as these are descendants of the Latin “rex” rather than Irish “ríg”.
I was just about to post amessage concerñing thiis topic and spotted the thread. A little while ago, I bought a cheap ‘Irish pattern’ keyless D flute and didn’t really get on with it. As a whistle maker (some of the older members may recall me, it is a long time since I have been on here!) I thought I would convert it into a LowD whistle by chopping end off and forming the emboucher into a fipple
The was comparatively easy to do but…
The original flute wasn’t easy to blow in tune but that in the main was me. The tone and volume of the whistle conversion is fine but the octaves are a long way out of balance. The upper octave is a good half tone sharp.
Now, as I said, I am a whistle maker, not a flute maker and all the principles of whistle making seem to have evaporated. I wonder if there are any far more skilled and technical bodies out therewho may be able to give me area pointers as to where I might look to make some adjustments.
Incidentally, the hole spacings are about right, as is the length. I’m thinking more along the lines of under cutting or shaping the toneholes or adjusting the windway wings for instance.
Any discussions grarefullly received!
Simon
In Scotland, ruadh and ruaidh are usually Anglicised as “roy” and is quite common in personal names cf Gilroy Gille Ruadh, Mac Giolla Ruaidh, and Mac Gille Ruaidh “son of the red-haired servant”. The Mac gets left off oftentimes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gille_Ruadh
There’s a town here in California named Gilroy
I’ve got one of these whistle heads for my Bb flute and they are very well made/finished.
I’m so happy to go a few steps forward with my developments, please have a look at this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_FcyC6fco
I need to have a thumbrest and a few design-improvements at the fipple head…I hope to make a propper ( affordable ) pricecalculation in the next few weeks…well, wait a little more and have a look at my website from time to time. I intend to make and sell FIPPLE HEADS for you soon.