curved or straight - that is the question..

[Tyghress]

I can't say why, but all the whistles I tend to really enjoy playing seem to have a curved windway and blade. So far. But I don't mind being tempted by something different!

[serpent]

Serpent whistles, with the sole exception of the Village Smithy, have a D-shaped airway and a curved blade. The combination gives a bit of airy chiff to the sound in the upper register, but is easier to manufacture and tweak without distorting the tube. (The VS has a squared head with a flat airway and blade.) The radius of curvature of the blade is the same as the ID of the respective tube, and the base angle is set at 9 degrees, with the edge being ground to around 45 degrees, with a slightly rounded profile. The edge is set at 0.060" below the inner surface of the tube, and the fipple is set at 0.080" to same (high whistles). The use of the brass fipple plug, machined and polished on top, obviates some of the condensation problems found in wooden and synthetic plugs, so, as Jim Peeples observes, simply warming in the hand prior to play will prevent most clogging. The solid brass plug also presents a significant thermal mass, so maintains heat longer when not being played, than wood or synthetics.

I have experimented with curved fipple plugs, and have not found anything to overwhelmingly recommend them over the D airway, so, since they are at least four times more difficult to make than flat-toppers, have abandoned them as an option. Any extra time spent on them would have to be passed on to the consumer as extra cost, and I don't think the (questionable) advantages warrant that.

Just my 2p
serpent

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: serpent on 2003-02-23 15:48 ]</font>

[bodhrans]

Brewerpaul and Reyburn I can understand quite well, but McHaffie and Serpent, sorry, this is a case where a picture is worth a thousand words. Just can't get my brain organised enough to form a picture of what you are saying.