The Mysterious Tipple Dimples

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 5:45 pm

I had the opportunity of trying one of the flutes that Doug Tipple did with his batch of deffective "dimpled" PVC pipe. I don't understand why (and this bothers me a little), but i have to say, it's even better than the PVC pipe with the wedge. The sound is darker, it's easier for me to get a satisfying tone out of it, and it seems to be just as much in tune as the wedged flute, at least up to the high C-nat (C# a little flat but manageable).

I haven't had a chance to session-test this one yet, but i find myself reaching for it instead of my conical Irish flutes.

MarkB · Post by **MarkB** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 6:03 pm

But how does it track through the air with all those dimples?

MarkB

Post by **Nanohedron** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 6:07 pm

My flute has a dimpled bore: ME.

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 6:07 pm

MarkB wrote:But how does it track through the air with all those dimples?

I find that the conical flutes fly straighter, especially when fitted with tail feathers.

Whistlin'Dixie · Post by **Whistlin'Dixie** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 7:09 pm

Nanohedron wrote:My flute has a dimpled bore: ME.

treeshark · Post by **treeshark** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 4:10 am

I've just sawn my new flute in half lengthwise to get at the bore, how do I start putting the dimples in?

MarkB · Post by **MarkB** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 7:46 am

You might want to carefully peel a bunch of golf balls, then super clue the skins into the bore

MarkB

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 8:36 am

I thought the normal procedure was to place a golf ball in the bore and hit it with (and this is important) a rubber mallet so as not to harm the dimpling on the golf ball. You have to repeat this along the length of the bore to repeat the pattern. Then, slap on some duct tape to seal the flute back up and Bob's your uncle!

Eric

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 11:26 am

Have you thrown a wedge into it to see if the second octive goes too sharp?

I know it is over kill and will probally make it sound worse, but who knows.

esharp · Post by **esharp** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 12:21 pm

Whistlin'Dixie wrote:
Nanohedron wrote:My flute has a dimpled bore: ME.

Oh my!

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 2:26 pm

megasheesh!

treeshark · Post by **treeshark** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 3:11 pm

The roughness of the plastic surface should act a a turbulator, causing the boundary layer to transition from laminar to turbulent. Laminar boundary layers have lower drag than turbulent ones. They also tend to separate much easier than a turbulent boundary layer, and once separated, their drag is much higher than a turbulent boundary layer.
Did I make that up? No, it appears that a rough surface causes a turbulent layer that allows laminar flows to pass over the top and be more stable. Butterflies, it would seem, have known about it for years; the underside of their wings is rougher than the top. Is this the dimple mystery solved? I doubt it!

Daryl · Post by **Daryl** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 3:59 pm

I've got a Tipple turbu-lator
and it makes my playing greater
I'll see you some time later
when I'm through with my turbulator....

(Apologies to Hawkwind!)

So, Doug, now I need to replace my 3-piece white D with Tipple wedge with a 3-piece dimpled model...!

-- Daryl

(Sorry.... Silliness induced by spending 3-1/2 hours in a 2-hour meeting overflowing with engineers.)

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The Mysterious Tipple Dimples

The Mysterious Tipple Dimples

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