Tuning Cheap Whistles

raindog1970 · Post by **raindog1970** » Sat Sep 29, 2001 9:45 pm

OK, here's one for the tweaking gurus on this board to tackle!
How about some kind soul posting a tutorial on how to tune Generations and other cheap whistles?
Do you enlarge the entire diameter of the hole to correct a flat note, or do you file just off the top or bottom of it?
Does taking length off the bottom of the tube flatten every note in relation to the bell note?
Questions, questions, questions... anybody care to share the secrets of this proceedure?

Brian Lee · Post by **Brian Lee** » Sat Sep 29, 2001 10:11 pm

On 2001-09-29 23:45, raindog1970 wrote:
OK, here's one for the tweaking gurus on this board to tackle!
How about some kind soul posting a tutorial on how to tune Generations and other cheap whistles?
Do you enlarge the entire diameter of the hole to correct a flat note, or do you file just off the top or bottom of it?
Does taking length off the bottom of the tube flatten every note in relation to the bell note?
Questions, questions, questions... anybody care to share the secrets of this proceedure?

OK, here's the basics...at least as I understand them:

Filing the end of the tube (opposite the mouthpiece end) will only sharpen the bell note. Enlarging a hole will affect the tone, but the greatest difference will come from an enlargement towards the top of it.

A larger hole will produce a louder sound, but it can also become unstable if it's too large, or the shape too irregular. When you file out the top of a hole, what you're doing is in effect shortening the length of the tube the whistle "thinks" it has when you play a particular note.

If you file too much, you may need to apply tape or some other such thing to fool the whistle into thinking it has a smaller hole, or at least one moved down the length of the body somewhat.

I'm sure this doesn't make sense, so perhaps someone else here who's better able to describe this can jump in here...

B~

Thomas-Hastay · Post by **Thomas-Hastay** » Mon Oct 01, 2001 12:42 pm

Brian

You are "right on the money" with your statements. I would like to add that changing the size or position of a tonehole will affect the upper modes(octaves)more than the fundamental scale so take small steps.

Dale(The Wise) has "tweak" and "surgery" pages located on the main site of C&F and I recommend them. If there are other questions that are not covered there,I'm sure the <b>many</b> whistlesmiths here can answer your "specific" questions.

<a href="http://www.chiffandfipple.com/tweak.html">Tweaking Cheap Whistles</a>

<a href="http://www.chiffandfipple.com/surgery.html">Whistle Surgery Page</a>

Thomas Hastay.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Thomas-Hastay on 2001-10-01 14:53 ]</font>