My first attempt at whistle-smithing

[dbcollies]

Since I didn't win anything in the raffle I decided that perhaps I should attempt to construct my own low whistle. How hard can it be, right?

I've been following some instructions that I found at http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/low-d.htm, which seem pretty straight forward. But I'm at something of an impasse, so I was hoping that I could get some advice/encouragement.

I've got the basic whistle body, with an appropriately sized plug. After much tweaking with the "blade" end of the opening, I got a nice clear tone. I thought I was home free. I removed enough material from the bottom to tune my 'D', and proceded to mark my initial locations for the finger holes. So far so good.

I drilled small (1/16") holes initially, per the recommendation in the procedure. But I can't tune it. With all the holes covered, I still get my nice clear 'D'. But as soon as I uncover the bottom hole (or any of them, for that matter), all I get is a general "breathy" sound with only the vaguest hint of what sounds to be close to the right pitch.

Does what I'm describing make sense to anybody? Thoughts on how to proceed? (Other than giving up and buying something). One point that I should mention, which may or may not have any bearing: due to the various deformations of the head of the whistle, the plug doesn't fit snuggly any more. I've wrapped teflon tape around it temporarily to keep it in place for testing, figuring that I'd secure it permanently once I had everything set. I was careful to make sure that the tape did not cross over the windway - it's wrapped around the sides of the plug. But that does mean that the end of the plug that's exposed to the body of the whistle has some ragged bits of teflon tape there, rather than a smooth vertical wooden surface. Could that be causing the problem?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

[Darwin]

I suspect that 1/16" is a bit extreme. Try gradually enlarging the sixth hole, maybe 1/16" at a time.

[pizak]

Yeah, I agree. Keep going! enlarge the bottom hole slowly. Is the clear note you are getting a low D or a high D. I find sometimes the initial reaction of the whistle is to go straight to the overtone, which might be causing the odd problem. If you are getting a low D I think you are doing VERY well and you should take heart.

Paul

[RonKiley]

Drill that lowest hole about a 1/16 under the final value. Then see how you make out with the E. Make sure you did not make the window larger than the plans call for and you may need a small bevel on the fipple plug on the window end. Do not make this very large.. Try it first without the bevel. If the low notes (Dand E) are weak the bevel may help.

I made this whistle and it came out quite well. I made the window a little too large and it is quite breathy. The next one will be better. There is only one thing worse than WhOA. It's whistlesmithing.

Ron

[pizak]

If (and please dont this spoil your positive mental attitude). If you mess up the holes, the fact you have use plumbing pipe means you can "bank" all the good work you've done on the mouthpiece by cutting off the messed up end, putting a plumbing join on and putting another bit of cheap pipe on. Then you can start again. You know, the gizmos that they sell to join your two bits of plumbing pipe together. Oh - and then you can claim its tunable!

Paul

[dbcollies]

Yeah, I agree. Keep going! enlarge the bottom hole slowly. Is the clear note you are getting a low D or a high D. I find sometimes the initial reaction of the whistle is to go straight to the overtone, which might be causing the odd problem. If you are getting a low D I think you are doing VERY well and you should take heart.

Paul

Yes, it's a low D. In fact, that was something else that I found quite interesting as I was working on it. I got the low D. Then got the high D. Then I thought I'd see if I could get up another octave. And what I got wasn't the next D in the sequence - it was an A. Overblowing even more then got me that third D. I was quite surprised.

Make sure you did not make the window larger than the plans call for and you may need a small bevel on the fipple plug on the window end. Do not make this very large.. Try it first without the bevel. If the low notes (Dand E) are weak the bevel may help.

I made this whistle and it came out quite well. I made the window a little too large and it is quite breathy. The next one will be better. There is only one thing worse than WhOA. It's whistlesmithing.

It could be that I did in fact make the window too large. I'll watch that more carefully on the next one.

Unfortunately, I can't try out the advice I've gotten yet. My "embryonic whistle" is at home in Houston, and I'm spending the week at a client site in Dallas. So it will have to wait until this weekend before I can work on it again.

[Jerry Freeman]

The window length is extremely important, as also is the blade position relative to the windway height, as is the cleanness of the surfaces inside the whistlehead.

If the window is too long, it will favor lower notes at the expense of higher notes. If the window is too short, it will favor higher notes at the expense of lower notes. If the window is much too long, that might account for not being able to play higher up the scale, but since you're able to play a middle D, I'm inclined to think that's not the main problem.

The inside of the whistlehead needs to be as free as possible of ragged edges, fluff, etc. Anything that creates turbulance in the airstream can be problematic.

The bottom of the soundblade should be exactly even with the windway floor or just above it so you see a sliver of daylight under it when sighting into the mouthpiece against a bright field. You can experiment with different positions of the soundblade to see which performs best for your particular whistle.

I suspect you need to start again and create a fipple plug that fits more perfectly. Also, you can try moving the plug slightly forward or back relative to the soundblade. A very small change in the position of the fipple plug can make a remarkable difference in how the whistle behaves.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[peeplj]

Yes, it's a low D. In fact, that was something else that I found quite interesting as I was working on it. I got the low D. Then got the high D. Then I thought I'd see if I could get up another octave. And what I got wasn't the next D in the sequence - it was an A. Overblowing even more then got me that third D. I was quite surprised.

That's the harmonic series.

For a good info page on this, see

http://www.music.sc.edu/fs/bain/atmi02/ ... audio.html

--James