Rudimentary attempts at whistle making!

[S.B.O'Gill]

These are my first two rudimentary attempts at whistle making. Hah hah hah! Do all whistle noobies have to try their hand at whistle making?! Anyway, the first one pictured is version 1.0 and the second picture is version 1.0 and version 1.0b side-by-side to show my new improved wind way and lip design. Yes, that is black electrical tape covering the wind way on v1.0. I was trying recess my wind way up into the pipe wall with a dremel and I accidentally dremeled all the way through! Hah hah hah!! The funny thing is that the silly-looking thing plays and is fairly in tune. It cramps my fingers though because I left myself quit a stretch between the last two holes--something else I’m working on improving in v1.0b. The new one blows a lot easier and sweeter. I just had the holes roughed in and was working on tuning it when my battery ran down in my cordless dremel. More on this project later...

[brewerpaul]

Looks good for a first effort! Keep at it. Even if you never make a terrific whistle, you'll have a much greater understanding of the instrument from your tinkering.

If you decide you like making whistles, invest in a corded Dremel. They're a LOT more powerful-- faster and more torque. Just be careful, the Dremel can be dangerous. Wear eye protection! You'll also find a lot of uses for it around the house. Just last week, I used mine to repair a sliding door out to our back deck.

[talimirr743]

My first whistle making attempts came out kind of rough too. But keep at it, the more you do it the better you become, and the better the whistle looks, and sounds. Do invest in a dremel if you do decide you would like to keep making whistles, you have no idea how much faster, and easier it is.

[S.B.O'Gill]

Even if you never make a terrific whistle,

Yeah, I'm under no illusions of becomming a master whistlesmith or anything--I'm just doing this for fun! Me and my 15-year-old son have been working on this together as a project. I've had jolly fun spending the time with him!

Also, a lot of the fun to me is building upon what you've already done to continue and make improvements. We are already brainstorming on our version 1.0c and ultimatly, when we are ready, version 2.0! YEAH!!!

[S.B.O'Gill]

On my second one (pictured) I modeled the wind way and flipple and lip after one of those wooden flutes like you get at carnivals and souvenir shops. You know the kind that are cheep as heck but sound really pretty? I think they are imported from India or something. The wind way is just strait-through (not recessed into the tubing wall whatsoever) and formed by the top of the flipple (dowel rod) being flattened down. You know what I mean? Anyway, this whistle blows very easy and makes a lot of sound. The way I cut the wind way out was to take a dremel tool and drive it strait down into the plastic and then start dragging toward the tip (mouth-end) of the whistle to elongate the hole. Then I took a little tiny jewelers file and squared it all up and put some bevel (about 45 degrees) on the lip. I would like to know what some of you guys’ preferred method is. Doing it the way that I do is extremely tedious. There has got to be a better way! LOL!!

[OBrien]

This has been mentioned before, but you need to be very careful that you don't inhale PVC dust.

[talimirr743]

My brother inhaled PVC dust before(not making a whistle though). He was in the hospital for a few days .

[S.B.O'Gill]

Well, gosh! I don't cut pvc dust into neat little lines and snort it through a straw or anything, but I'm sure I do breathe some of it. How harmful is this stuff? Would it be any more harmful than breathing spray paint fumes for instance?

[mikey_r]

On my second one (pictured) I modeled the wind way and flipple and lip after one of those wooden flutes like you get at carnivals and souvenir shops. You know the kind that are cheep as heck but sound really pretty? I think they are imported from India or something. The wind way is just strait-through (not recessed into the tubing wall whatsoever) and formed by the top of the flipple (dowel rod) being flattened down. You know what I mean? Anyway, this whistle blows very easy and makes a lot of sound. The way I cut the wind way out was to take a dremel tool and drive it strait down into the plastic and then start dragging toward the tip (mouth-end) of the whistle to elongate the hole. Then I took a little tiny jewelers file and squared it all up and put some bevel (about 45 degrees) on the lip. I would like to know what some of you guys’ preferred method is. Doing it the way that I do is extremely tedious. There has got to be a better way! LOL!!

I made a saw to do this kind of thing. One way to do it is to start with one of those multi-purpose handles (like on the X-acto sets or on some of the interchangeable blade saws they sell at Home Depot), and make a blade by cutting down a piece of hacksaw blade to the shape you want. You can also make a handle by leaving the piece of hacksaw longer and riveting scales on the side (or just wrapping it with tape). Then what you'd do is drill a hole whose diameter is about the width of the window you want, then square it with your homemade saw. I cut the initial bevel with a chisel, but you can use a file.

A question: I have one of those cheap wooden whistles, and they take a lot of air to blow. I think that may be because the windway isn't positioned very well for the blade - the flattened fipple makes the bottom of the windway too much lower than the blade edge. Would it help to build the blade downward, i.e. to glue another piece of plastic (maybe part of the same tubing) under the blade area?

I'm going to try one like the second one you built, though. I like that look better than the built up mouthpiece you get with the "low-tech whistle".

[IDAwHOa]

A question: I have one of those cheap wooden whistles, and they take a lot of air to blow. I think that may be because the windway isn't positioned very well for the blade - the flattened fipple makes the bottom of the windway too much lower than the blade edge. Would it help to build the blade downward, i.e. to glue another piece of plastic (maybe part of the same tubing) under the blade area?

Changing how the air attacks the blade will change some of the playing characteristics, but the only way to reduce the amount of air the whistle take is to change the dimentions of the windway.

[S.B.O'Gill]

Mikey,

Thanks for your interest in my project. I ruined the second whistle due to the fact that my hole placements were so far off that I had to make the diameters so large it bordered on ridiculous. Hah hah hah! I cut off the first 6" or so as a mouthpiece. I'm going to get some pvc barrel connectors and make another body (or more) for it. Anyway, since you had some questions and comments about my little wooden flute that I’m using as a model, I figured I would post you some pics of it too. I am a big believer in the KISS System (keep it simple stupid). I figured that some little peasant in India who feeds his family by making these (to be sold to importers and dumped on the American market) isn't going to spend a lot of unnecessary time and energy on doing unnecessary things. This whistle is a testament to the KISS method of design and engineering! Heh heh heh! Oh yeah, the close-ups looking from the end are out of focus because my camera autofocused on my patio railing instead of the whistle--but I think you can still get an idea of how the flipple is designed.

[mikey_r]

A question: I have one of those cheap wooden whistles, and they take a lot of air to blow. I think that may be because the windway isn't positioned very well for the blade - the flattened fipple makes the bottom of the windway too much lower than the blade edge. Would it help to build the blade downward, i.e. to glue another piece of plastic (maybe part of the same tubing) under the blade area?

Changing how the air attacks the blade will change some of the playing characteristics, but the only way to reduce the amount of air the whistle take is to change the dimentions of the windway.

Yes, that's clear. But is the windway typically oversized in this type of whistle because the geometry is inherently bad? Ideally, the bottom of the windway should be just a little below the bottom of the blade edge. In this whistle, the top of the windway is even with the bottom of the blade, and the bottom is considerably below the bottom of the blade. Could I get away with a smaller windway if the blade were placed better?

[mikey_r]

I am a big believer in the KISS System (keep it simple stupid). I figured that some little peasant in India who feeds his family by making these (to be sold to importers and dumped on the American market) isn't going to spend a lot of unnecessary time and energy on doing unnecessary things.

That's not the problem. Your peasant isn't going to waste time doing unnecessary things. But his definition of what's necessary may be smaller than mine, and probably ends at "It makes a sound when you blow into this end, and makes different sounds when you blow into it and cover some holes". My own experience with these whistles is that they require a lot of air, have a lot of problems with the second octave, particularly the notes above the high fourth (mine needs to be driven by an air compressor to hit the high b). They do have a sweet, breathy sound in the lower octave, but they're hardly the ideal whistle (IMHO). I mean, whaddaya want for three bucks? I don't think it would be a bad thing to introduce just a little complexity to make it sound and play better, do you?

I really like the look of these straight-tube, no bumps on the outside whistles, and there are some very expensive whistles that have that that outer geometry (e.g. the Rose, which I will allow myself to seriously covet when I learn to play better). But I'll bet those more expensive whistles do something better with the mouthpiece. It would be fun to play around and see what could be done.

[S.B.O'Gill]

My own experience with these whistles is that they require a lot of air, have a lot of problems with the second octave,

Mine are not like that. I have 2 of them that I got at the same time from the same souvenir shop and both of them are very easy to play in both registers. They do not take an excessive amount of air. Of course I'm speaking in relative terms. For instance, they take a lot more air than my Feadog. I hope I'm making sense.

I don't think it would be a bad thing to introduce just a little complexity to make it sound and play better, do you?

Well, yeah, I guess so. My expectations are pretty low though. I just look at this as a fun project to do with my kid. If we keep making these things though it stands to reason that we would like to continue improving them every successive generation. If those problems come up I guess I'll at least try to address them.

[John S]

The High-end Indian and Pakistani "Bansuri" have much longer and less angled wind-ways and as a result are a lot less demanding of breath.
I have some really nice ones that I've tweaked into tune.

John S