Generations: Brass vs Nickel

[Wanderer]

Hi, Mason.

Not a big difference, and sometimes not a noticeable difference at all. And there are typically bigger differences between two individual Generation whistles due to the variability of the whistleheads themselves.

However, what difference there may be tends towards the nickel ones being a little brighter and the brass ones being a little warmer sounding, if that makes sense.

Also, some people find the nickel surface to be slippery to hold compared to the lacquered brass, though this doesn't come up a lot.

Best wishes,
Jerry

I'm one of those folks that find the nickel slippery to hold...it's really distracting to me, because i always feel like I'm going to drop the whistle.

[Jerry Freeman]

A length of cellophane tape down the back of the whistle solves this for many people.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[Tommy]

I have tried the same head on a brass tube, and the same head on a nickel plated brass tube and could not hear any difference. It would be interesting to set up a blind fold panel of listeners (or just with backs turned so they could not see the tone tubes) then with one Generation head and the two tone tubes. The player would play the same tune with the one head, and only changing the tone tubes. Might be best if the player was unbiased as to the tubes sounding different.

[crookedtune]

Might be best if the player was unbiased as to the tubes sounding different.

Slim chance of finding anyone like that 'round these parts.

Jerry, I like the tape idea for chrome tubes. I used two spots of clear nail polish (where the thumbs go). It works well, and doesn't show much.

[Jerry Freeman]

It's also worth mentioning that a whistle sounds very different to the person playing than the person listening to it played. The difference may be one of those things that the player hears more clearly but doesn't show up as much to anyone else. Some amounts/kinds of breathiness are like that.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[walrii]

I used cement to glue a small strip of cloth to the back of a Feadog Pro a while back. It was ugly, so I peeled the cloth off. Just enough cement stayed on the tube to leave an unobtrusive and slightly rough strip down the back, a perfect thumb pad. That said, I prefer the brass tubes. I also like Fords over Chevys.

[squidgirl]

A board member (fancypiper?) suggested to me that I rub a little beeswax on the thumb areas of nickel tubes to make them less slippery. Works great!

What I found was that it gradually wore away, yet by that time I seemed to have gotten over my issues with nickel plated tubes. Which is nice, because I seem to prefer the brightness of their tone.

[m31]

I have tried the same head on a brass tube, and the same head on a nickel plated brass tube and could not hear any difference. It would be interesting to set up a blind fold panel of listeners (or just with backs turned so they could not see the tone tubes) then with one Generation head and the two tone tubes. The player would play the same tune with the one head, and only changing the tone tubes. Might be best if the player was unbiased as to the tubes sounding different.

Blindfold the player too. But then,
1) What if the player tries to sound the same (or different) with each configuration, thus skewing the results?
2) the audience cannot judge an instrument's playability.

And even if timbral or playability differences were detectable by either the player or the audience,
1) can we confidently attribute them to the nickel plating alone? Or could it be the brass tube has an acoustically-advantageous lacquer?
2) or the minute dimensional and mass changes as a result of the nickel plating process? (contrary to what you might expect, my nickel tube has a slightly larger inner diameter than my brass tube!)
3) or any differences in surface roughness?
4) or any non-visible differences in physical properties (thermal conductivity, tensile strength, hardness, density, electrical conductivity, tap note)

[hoopy mike]

I'm about to record some modified r*c*rd*rs played using compressed air, which will at least avoid the need for a blindfold. However, I suspect that there's more to tooting than just blowing.

My money is on surface roughness having the largest effect.

[whistle1000]

Hello everyone, I agree that the nickel is brighter and slippery. Not only on the back but also the fingerboard. My fingers tend to slide off the hole leading to squeaks. I find that there is quite a bit of moisture around the holes as well. I have taken fine steel wool to such whistles.

[tucson_whistler]

hi, i'm not nearly as expert as the people posting here, but i have a brass generation tube, a feadog brass tube, and a generation nickel tube that i all play with a mack hoover blacktop. so the top is the same in all 3 cases, and they all sound different to me. i'll also say that the nickel tube sounds brighter, but i would describe the feadog tube as more complex/chiffy. i love them both, but i would trade the nickel body before the feadog.

btw, i also have an thin-walled aluminum walton's little black whistle that i play with the same blacktop head and the contrast there is even more noticeable: even brighter, less complex, more pure--especially in the high octave.

happy whistling!
eric

[swizzlestick]

they all sound different to me.
eric

I have done similar experiments and also thought I could tell a difference between material. But you are also changing thickness, hole locations and -- sometimes -- tube length as well. Frustrating how hard it is to pin something this simple down.

The next obvious step would be for you to record the same tune from 10 or 15 feet away and see if the differences remain. Like Jerry, I think it's likely to disappear.

[hoopy mike]

The next obvious step would be for you to record the same tune from 10 or 15 feet away and see if the differences remain. Like Jerry, I think it's likely to disappear.

I remember a Chiffy Christmas quiz which was to identify the whistle from the recording. Perhaps someone with a better memory could summarise what the outcome was; could some people identify different whistles with any degree of certainty just from the clips?

[GordonH]

As I have mentioned before, the Willis organ company swear that thier pipes give a purer note because the insides are smoothed and polished. It may be that the internal texture of a whistle has an effect on the sound.

[Makar]

I remember a Chiffy Christmas quiz which was to identify the whistle from the recording. Perhaps someone with a better memory could summarise what the outcome was; could some people identify different whistles with any degree of certainty just from the clips?

That was a Mr Laban generated quiz - absence makes the heart grow fonder... He used a variety of whistles and played some excellent tunes but nobody really nailed it to any degree re ID'ing brands.

The other detail is in how different auditory systems (eh, folks ears) receive these sound waves. I got my wife to listen to me playing a mellow dog and a blackbird and she couldn't tell the difference... Mind you, she has probably started to filter me out to a great extent - I certainly only pick up things she says if they may have some relevance to me. Doesn't happen often