Quick & easy fipple design for PVC whistles...

[S.B.O'Gill]

I started out with a piece of PVC pipe cut to the approximate length I needed for my whistle. For this project I used a leftover piece of 1/2" Sch. 40 about 12" long. It turned out being an almost perfect C with no trimming.


Then I filed a flat at approximately 45 degrees on the end of the pipe.


I took a standard PVC coupler and drilled two side-by-side holes an equal distance from the center--leaving just a little bit of a "web" between them.


I used a sharp knife to cut out the web and a small file to square up all the corners and debur the whole thing.


It was at this point that I made the fipple. I started with a piece of 7/8" hardwood dowel that I cut to appropriate length--so that the end of the fipple would roughly align with the top of the window. I just guessed at this but it turned out pretty close. Then I used a trick I saw somebody else post here (sorry I can't remember who) to sand down the circumference of the fipple. I cut the head off of a drywall screw and chucked it up in my drill. Next, I drilled the tip of the screw up into the dowel a little bit. Afterward, I spun the dowel against a sanding block, taking all of about 30 seconds to get the dowel down to the right size to be a nice snug fit in the end of the coupler. For the wind way, I took my pocket knife and a small hammer and used it like a splitting wedge to split off about 1/8” of the dowel—because I was too lazy to sand it down flat! It worked out just fine. I inserted the fipple and got "first sound" right away with no trouble at all. Sweet! Last of all I put some cosmetic bevel on it and debured everything once again.


Here is what it looks like looking down into the window from above. It made a nice whistle after it was all said and done. This design was just a prototype. I already see where I could have made some improvements.

[susnfx]

Um, slight correction: they're "fipples" not "flipples."

[S.B.O'Gill]

Here is the whole thing. It's a little too breathy sounding and I can't adjust it out by moving the fipple. I think I may need to make a new fipple with a smaller wind channel. Also, I could fill in some of the excess space with sticky-tack. More on this later. I am open to suggestions.

[mikey_r]

Here is the whole thing. It's a little too breathy sounding and I can't adjust it out by moving the fipple. I think I may need to make a new fipple with a smaller wind channel. Also, I could fill in some of the excess space with sticky-tack. More on this later. I am open to suggestions.

This is just a theory, but I think part of the problem is that the windway is shaped incorrectly in this design. Is this method really much easier than a slotted windway? The slotted method is very easy, and it has the advantage of being easily adjustable.

[Tommy]

Here is the whole thing. It's a little too breathy sounding and I can't adjust it out by moving the fipple. I think I may need to make a new fipple with a smaller wind channel. Also, I could fill in some of the excess space with sticky-tack. More on this later. I am open to suggestions.

Why can't you push the plug closer to the blade making the window smaller. It looks like that is part of why it sounds airy. The flat part of the plug should be glass smooth. If a plug is made of wood it should be sanded smooth and then wet it. Wetting will raise the grain and then it needs to be sanded again. Look down the end of the windway. Can you see under the blade just a little. To much and that will sound airy. Not enough and it may not go to the second octave.

Also it looks like the hole in the coupling still has a squared edge next to the window bevel. This will cause turbulence and make tuning a nightmare.