I need a good quiet whistle

[TelegramSam]

If you want a cheap quiet whistle, Oaks are pretty quiet.

Bill "Serpent" Whedon makes a fairly quiet whistle, at least the copper one I have is.

[Byll]

Just a quick point concerning Mack Hoover's whistles, if I may. True, I agree that Mack's whistles can be very quiet - especially the narrow bore D...

But...

I also play Hoover whistles that are louder than my Burkes. If what you wish is quiet, please let Mack know of your wish. He can easily voice one to suit you...It is a fallacy to think that Mack's instruments are all quiet, by design...

A true sleeper among Mack's stable is the Whitecap. One solution would be to request he voice one for you that is particularly quiet. Even in normal form, they are sweet and not loud...

Best.
Byll

[tin tin]

Any whistle can be made quiet by forming a new ramp out of silly putty...just mess around with the thickness and angle of the putty ramp until you get the tone and volume you want. I've used this trick on Overton, Generation, Burke, Susato, and Reyburn whistles, and it works great and only takes seconds. The benefit of this method over some other muting methods discussed in the past is that the tone does not suffer and can even be controlled to some degree. If you use this method, you can use the same whistle to play in the house or at a session.
Micah

[Flyingcursor]

I agree with TelegramSam on the Serpent. Nice and quiet. Mine's the brass variety.

[FJohnSharp]

I should have specified. My brass regular bore is very quiet. The brass narrow bore is supposed to be even quieter. I think the other types are not as quiet. But in the email Mack will ask what you want and if you say sweet and quiet he'll know what to do.

[Martin Milner]

Lots of good suggestions on makes, so here's another take on it - why not get a whistle in a lower key? A mid range Dixon A or G would be quieter than the Copeland, and the lower tones are less penetrating, more soothing.

Back in my uni days, I used to have a bedroom backing onto the communal kitchen. I could sleep through any number of guys talking and laughing, but get a woman in there and it would come right through the wall and wake me up. :roll:

Just an idea!

[Isilwen]

LOL Martin!!

[Byll]

As usual, Martin is on to something, here. My school choral director has asked me to back up the chorus with a whistle, while they sing 'May It Be', from LOR. The Enya song in its original form does not use whistle. So I've played along with it during the last few days, creating a descant......Original is in the key of A, so a D whistle should be in the running...Tried it...Didn't like it. Simply sounded too high and a bit loud. Used the A whistle and all is well...

Sometimes, quiet is not what is really needed...Cut back on the upper frequencies and allow the rounder sound of a lower whistle to prevail...and subjectively, things sound quieter...

Best to all.
Byll

[Martin Milner]

As usual, Martin is on to something, here.

Byll,

my head just got so big, look what happened!



Martin

[Byll]

Ouch, Martin...

Bet that hurt...

Cheers.
Byll

[skh]

Any whistle can be made quiet by forming a new ramp out of silly putty...

I need a quiet whistle for practice in my apartment as well, and as we don't have silly putty over here (I had to ask google what silly putty is), I started experimenting with stuff I found on my desk. What I found to work quite perfect is twist ties (the plastic strips with a piece of wire in them which are used to hold cable rolled up when you buy electronic devices):

Twist the twist tie around the fipple once, crossing the window, and twist it around itself on the bottom of the fipple so that it won't fall off, but is not too tight. Then use a small blunt stick (or a finger) to bend the part of it crossing the window a little bit into the window, thus forming an additional obstacle to the air before it hits the edge. Adjust as necessary.

You'll want to be careful, of course, with wooden whistles where the edge is easily damaged. I'm doing this with an Original Clarke, which can handle that sort of treatment without problems. It is very breathy now, but still in tune. (And I can play all night ;-))

(First post. Any initiation rules to follow?)

[tin tin]

If you don't have silly putty, try clay. The reason I prefer the method I outlined above to other whistle quieting methods I've tried and read about is that the whistle's tone is not negatively affected (indeed, it is sometimes improved!).
Trying a lower pitched instrument was also suggested...even a C whistle compared to a D whistle is not nearly as strident sounding--not having to play the high B makes a difference.
Micah

[tkelly]

I've got both the regular and narrow-bore Hoovers. The narrow-bore is definitely quieter. As I think I mentioned in another thread, I was comfortable playing the NB at my father-in-law's when he was very ill, but I wasn't comfortable that the regular bore was quiet enough not to disturb him.

I'm shy, so this will make a great travel whistle -- I'll be comfortable playing it in a hotel room.

Tery

[serpent]

If you do order a Serpent narrow-bore brass, be sure to send me email specifying that you want the "D-shaped windway". The new curved-windway instruments are quite a bit louder.

serpent

[McHaffie]

You know this topic just makes me squirm don't ya?

Take care,
John