The ramp, the labium edge, the fipple (that's just the plug) face/edge and surface as well as the windway roof exit and size of the window all conspire to create the tone of the whistle. I am not sure just what you may mean by "finishing" your labium. The angle of the ramp can be short and steep, long and shallow or somewhere in between. Common wisdom says shallow means more complex tone and shallow contributes to less comples/more pure tone. Your experience may vary depending on lots of other contributing factors. The edge also helps determine the tone. The edge can be blunt. rounded smooth or even a razor sharp edge. Again the common wisdom says blunt is more complex sharp is cleaner (all other factors aside). Undercutting the edge is another topic. You should experiment with a variety of shapes and shoot for your own signaturer tone. That's why I always say "Betch can't make just one!"Corgicrazed wrote:1: Exactly how should I finish the labium? What shape should it be?
Latticino is spot on again. You can blow harder or you can ask your sister to use a mute. Again conventional lore says that a larger window and bigger holes gives you a greater volume but the law of diminishing returns enters into things quickly. Make sure you hold to conventions for length-to-bore ratio between say 23:1 to maybe 30:1. The lower value will favor the first register, the higher value will favor the upper register but if you go much beyond those values you will not be able to get strong notes at either end, at least not easily. If you want a louder low D make a flute. As an aside, I've spent a lot of time in the shop trying to match the volume of a flute with a low whistle design and it hasn't resulted in a huge success on my part yet.Corgicrazed wrote:2:How do I make it louder? I want to be able to compete with my sister's violin.
Soap and water is the standard method of care for PVC. But... PVC has an interesting property, it seems to absorb dirt and color from other contact if enough time passes without cleaning it off. It can be nasty. It has to do with how the surface breaks down (probably from UV exposure but I am not a chemist or materials engineer). I've made a couple hundred PVC whistles and flutes. To get them clean and shiny is a time eater. I've come to hate white PVC. The best advice I can give you is similar to what has already been said by Latticino. Keep the pipe smooth and clean as you are making the whistle. Cover the areas around where you are going to be working on with masking tape to keep it from getting scratched. After I have completed a whistle I first clean off all the lettering from the pipe manufacturer. I have used acetone to do that but with some pipe that only exacerbates the problem and the color runs and then really gets into the plastic. So now I sand it smooth with fine sand paper. I then go into a long, laborious process of re-polishing the surface to a smooth glassy sheen. That involves using various polishing compounds and buffing wheels. But it goes a long way towards keeping the dirt from turning the whistle to a grungy looking mess.Corgicrazed wrote:3: How do I clean it? In the process of making the whistle, the pipe has gotten dirty in some areas. I tried cleaning it with ordinary soap and water, but it doesn't seem to be coming out.
unless you have made several heads and know you can improve it - and don't mind starting over if you mess it up.DON'T MESS WITH IT
This is not such a long process, assuming the whistle is spinning quickly on a lathe(!) and if one starts with good sand paper (I prefer wet & dry) that produces 'scratches' a little finer than those to be removed and quickly runs through various progressively finer grades.I then go into a long, laborious process of re-polishing the surface to a smooth glassy sheen.
you should NOT touch the labium.... REALLY pleased with the tone...
... not necessarily. The external couplers I use have a little ridge in them the same size as the tube (from the same manufacturer). From the electrician's or plumber's point of view, the join is exactly in the middle of the coupler (with the pipe pushed firmly in) ... from the whistle/flute maker's point of view, there's no practical discontinuity if the coupler is used as a coupler, with the pipe cut exactly square and fully inserted, not used as a tuning slidea coupler whether external or an internal slide will change the bore
yes - the ones I am familiar with do too. Often you do have to push them very hard to completely close the gap - it has been my experience that even when glueing them together (the glue makes it easier to push them together) there is often a small gap.The external couplers I use have a little ridge
I would say especially in PVC.It can become quite delicate and can deform easily, even in PVC.
One of the magical things about making an instrument!the first few notes out of a new whistle are still a surprise to me
That works very well for some pipe but not all pipe in my experience.. As I said earlier:Thomas-Hastay wrote:The best way to clean PVC pipe to remove lettering,dirt etc. is a cotton cloth well soaked with Fingernail Polish Remover (Acetone). .... I gaurantee you will never have to sand off lettering or wear your fingers raw polishing PVC again. It's a Whistlesmith secret I've used for decades now. Try it and you'll agree!!!
So let me clarify my experiences just to save whistle-smiths some potential grief. Acetone works well on pipe with black lettering especially on CPVC. Lowes and other US plumbing supply outlets sell pipe from Charlotte Pipe which has a habit of marking their white PVC pipe with red lettering for their company name. The red ink/paint will run with the acetone treatment and turn your pipe pink. And once it does that, no amount of sanding will get it white again. That's not always what you are looking for in a final whistle. (I had a bunch of pink flutes in the shop for quite a few years seving as a reminder.) Sanding is a useful alternative. I usually avoid pipe with colored lettering these days. That's the best solution. I still use acetone on CPVC. I sand most of the PVC I work with though.Feadoggie wrote:After I have completed a whistle I first clean off all the lettering from the pipe manufacturer. I have used acetone to do that but with some pipe that only exacerbates the problem and the color runs and then really gets into the plastic.
... thanks for that tip, I'd thought about it, but never got around to trying it ... always searching for that "perfect sound"You can also make ears around the window opening inside the whistle.
