Is Alba low F considered a hard blower?

The Ultimate On-Line Whistle Community. If you find one more ultimater, let us know.
Post Reply
User avatar
maiingan
Posts: 101
Joined: Sat May 25, 2019 8:57 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: Hi;
I have an Oak high D, Generation Bb, Dixon Alto A, Tilbury Low G, Humphrey low F and a Howard low D.
Location: Des Moines, Iowa

Is Alba low F considered a hard blower?

Post by maiingan »

Hi;
I have a beautiful Alba low F whistle. I can only play it for about 5 minutes at a time as it starts giving me a headache (or something similar to one). The closest I can come to describing it: it’s as if you have to blow up a bunch of new balloons and you didn’t stretch them first. The pressure in your head? I tried dishwater with soap, clearing whistle, making sure all hole covered. I’ve even tried leaking some air in the hope it would release some of the pressure.
I can play it. I like the key of F and hole spacing. I have a Howard low D which has no problems and I love it to pieces and can play until my fingers get tired. I love it's sound as well.
I’m not up on whistle terminology, but does this mean the Alba is a hard blower or has a lot of back pressure? Is it just the nature of Alba whistles that they are like this?
Are there any other low F manufactures that wouldn’t do this? I wish Howard did an F. He does do a C but my fingers tell me to stop at the D, please and thank you. :)
Stay safe and hopefully healthy;

Patti
et succendam sibilus (blow the whistle) :thumbsup:
Narzog
Posts: 499
Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2020 9:21 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: Can play several instruments at an unimpressive level. Currently most interested in whistling with a side of acoustic guitar.

Re: Is Alba low F considered a hard blower?

Post by Narzog »

I don't have an Alba so I'm not sure but I'll try to give some whistle science and terminology, hopefully it will help figure out what the problem is and what whistle brands you will like.

Think of back pressure like blowing through a tiny straw. No back pressure is like blowing through a fat straw. Back pressure is caused by windway height. If the windway is super short, it has less area and is harder to blow through it (like a small straw). If the windway is tall, it will be easy to blow through, because its like blowing through a fatter straw. But you can also use way more air. A tall windway with no resistance = no back pressure.

Hard vs soft blower, think of soft blower as something that you can easily hit second octave without blowing hard, and blowing hard would hit 3rd octave. Harder blower needs some push to shift octave, and especially hard to hit the top of the second octave.

The two above work together to equal your overall air use. If the windway is big and takes a lot of air, and you have to blow hard to hit the high notes, your going to be using way more air than if it had the same windway size but you didn't have to blow as hard.

To my knowledge Howard have a low air requirement. I'm not sure if its from a short windway height or if its a soft blower, or both together for lowest air requirement. But if howard have a low air requirement and alba has a moderate or high air requirement, you will be using much more air than you are used to, causing your issue.

All that being said, weather its pressure or more air than you are used to, its very possible to practice and get used to it, as long as this whistle isnt some strange outlier that's far beyond normal. Like with highland bagpipes, I'm pretty sure the air requirement is massive, and it takes new players a long time to build up to it.

You can also just get a different whistle that plays more how you like, seeing that you enjoy your Howard. I havent bought many whistles though so dont put too much stock in my recommendations. Goldie are incredibly highly praised, but costly. Should be low air requirement, even with the mid blower. MK are a bit more air than Goldie but I've never heard people complain about it being too much. The new Kerry busker are a remake of the thunderbird and are softer blowing, which would decrease overall air requirement so it shouldnt be too high, and are quite affordable compared to the others. Kerry optima F also may be worth looking into, as extra affordable.

Hopefully someone who has an Alba can reply to give information on how it compares to others. I'm hoping this info helps and isnt just a confusing wall of text.
User avatar
pancelticpiper
Posts: 5298
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:25 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: Playing Scottish and Irish music in California for 45 years.
These days many discussions are migrating to Facebook but I prefer the online chat forum format.
Location: WV to the OC

Re: Is Alba low F considered a hard blower?

Post by pancelticpiper »

I did own an Alba F, and I've owned Albas in several keys.

All of mine were somewhere in the middle between being "hard" and "soft".

For me, as a Highland piper, the overall backpressure of all whistles is negligible.

However I am very much aware of the relative pressures required for various notes on the same whistle.

I mostly play Low Whistles and it seems difficult for makers to get both a sweet easy High B and a powerful Low E.

I have heard of Alba F's that had very stiff high notes, but not personally played one.

There are two main things involved as I understand it, the windway height and the relative width of the bore.

The wider the bore of a whistle (in proportion to its length) the stronger the low octave becomes BUT the stiffer the 2nd octave becomes. Get a bore wide enough and you loose the 2nd octave altogether.

The narrower the bore and the sweeter the 2nd octave becomes BUT the weaker the low octave becomes. Get a bore narrow enough and you loose the low octave altogether.

Makers have to find the happiest compromise between the two.

My Albas have varied quite a bit in relative bore size, which of course had an impact on the stiffness of the 2nd octave. My favourite-playing Alba is a Low E which has a rather narrow bore. The 2nd octave is so very sweet!

With Low F, I ended up selling my Alba and getting a Colin Goldie. He makes a variety of specific windway heights each of which plays in a distinctive way. The higher the windway the lower the backpressure. I tend to like his Medium Blower and his Soft/Easy Blowers.
Richard Cook
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
User avatar
maiingan
Posts: 101
Joined: Sat May 25, 2019 8:57 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: Hi;
I have an Oak high D, Generation Bb, Dixon Alto A, Tilbury Low G, Humphrey low F and a Howard low D.
Location: Des Moines, Iowa

Re: Is Alba low F considered a hard blower?

Post by maiingan »

Hi Richard;

I traded my Killarny high D for your Alba low F. It's beautifully crafted and I like hole spacing. I guess it's just the back pressure that's giving me the issue. I can hit the 2nd octave OK, but does take a little more air. The brushed aluminum does make it a slippery little devil :lol: How would an MK Low F whistle compare for back pressure to Alba? Maybe I can find someone who wants to trade.
Stay safe and hopefully healthy;

Patti
et succendam sibilus (blow the whistle) :thumbsup:
User avatar
pancelticpiper
Posts: 5298
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:25 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: Playing Scottish and Irish music in California for 45 years.
These days many discussions are migrating to Facebook but I prefer the online chat forum format.
Location: WV to the OC

Re: Is Alba low F considered a hard blower?

Post by pancelticpiper »

I really couldn't know how your Alba Low F compares to other whistles because I haven't played yours.

I owned a half-dozen different MKs, all Low D, and I felt that their voicing was very nice, the high notes were very easy to hit.

Everything with whistle voicing is relative, and I think the reason why those MKs had such easy 2nd octaves was because they way they were tuned you had to blow the low octave strongly, and be careful to not overblow the 2nd octave, to play the two octaves in tune with each other.

The opposite of, say, old Generations where usually to play the two octaves in tune with each other you have to back off a bit on the low octave and blow the 2nd octave fairly strongly to get it up to pitch.

The various Albas I have/had weren't like either of those extremes, but right in the middle where I like them.
Richard Cook
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
Post Reply