Yet another Groovewhistle... Soprano D

chattiekathy · Post by **chattiekathy** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 9:50 am

Groove,
I liked the DE1601 (Ford Tractor Blue) better than the Massey Ferguson red.

But, I like the shape of the new mouthpiece better and it really sounds great.

I am wondering the same thing as Jerry about the fumes. I wonder if anyone has ever tried to powder coat a whistle instead of painting them.

Kathy

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 10:17 am

On the other hand ...

The painting/powdercoating option may be an important marketing consideration. Look at how excited people get about the different color choices on the Elfsong whistles.

My inclination would be to see how beautiful they could be without having to invest the time/effort/money/dead brain and liver cells it would take to add a finish to the whistles. If the demand is already for more whistles than you can make, there's no need to worry about paint/powdercoating. However, if you find that you need to boost demand, and offering colors actually does boost demand, then you would want to look for the least toxic, most cost/time efficient way to get it done.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Groovehead · Post by **Groovehead** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 10:34 am

Jerry,

I've seen how they look unpainted after a couple of days. The pvc tends to collect dirt very quickly and in only a couple of days of playing they look horrible...

I'm painting with a laquer paint that is supposedly safe for use on childrens toys and I do all the painting outdoors and they dry in the shed...

Yeah, I liked the blue better too, but my boy is nuts for the color red. I really liked the blue after I oversprayed it with black giving it a mist effect... I think my next one will be the same.

Groovehead · Post by **Groovehead** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 10:37 am

Oh, and I already have a lead on acetal rods for the fipple plug. I've put in an inquiry to see if the cost will be greatly different if they are already the size I need or I should just get the next size up and turn them down myself... I will eventually be using the stuff though. The wood is just too unstable.

chattiekathy · Post by **chattiekathy** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 12:51 pm

On 2003-02-15 11:34, Groovehead wrote:
Jerry,

I've seen how they look unpainted after a couple of days. The pvc tends to collect dirt very quickly and in only a couple of days of playing they look horrible...

I'm painting with a laquer paint that is supposedly safe for use on childrens toys and I do all the painting outdoors and they dry in the shed...

Yeah, I liked the blue better too, but my boy is nuts for the color red. I really liked the blue after I oversprayed it with black giving it a mist effect... I think my next one will be the same.

Oh, now that I realize that the whistle is PVC and not all copper, I guess you wouldn't be able to powdercoat it anyway. I think that you can only powdercoat metal because it is put on the metal by way of magnetization (is that a word?) and then the item has to be baked at in an oven. The PVC would probably melt! What a mess that would be.
It sounds like you are being careful with the process you are using so, We will allow you to keep doing it. Ha Ha

The over spray of black sounds really neat. If you do one please post a pic.

Member of the Safety Police

Kathy

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 4:44 pm

Serp,

I've got the tuning software you recommended in your post further up this string, installed and running now.

Wow. It adds another, very powerful, dimension to what one can understand and do with a whistle. I would recommend it highly to everyone.

And you can't beat the price. The fact that the creators of this great software are giving it away free is another example of the unselfish devotion musicians and instrument makers have to their art.

Thanks again,
Jerry

P.S. Michael, I'm curious to know this. Have you noticed whether a coating of paint changes the sound of a PVC whistle?

Groovehead · Post by **Groovehead** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 6:26 pm

Paint doesn't change the sound that I've noticed and I put 4 coats of base and 2 clear so it's pretty thick. I'm sure that it does change, but it's so slight that my ear can't pick it up...

serpent · Post by **serpent** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 6:52 pm

Jerry, Michael, I'm really happy that something I found has added to the Big Wonderful World of Whistles out there!

This is what being good to each other is all about! Life has slapped me around rather soundly, of late, and getting a smile back on my face has been difficult, at best. Your words of thanks, and your success in your endeavors, have done that for me. You are the ones deserving of thanks!

Keep on making whistles. Email me if you have any questions that don't get answered here, and I'll do my best to help. My best wishes for your continued success!!
Cheers,

serpent

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 8:35 pm

Michael,

Here's a thought.

By the time you've developed an acetyl fipple, I believe you'll have a mouthpiece assembly that could be rather elegant looking without paint.

You might see if you can buff it to a high polish, which may help it stay clean or at least make it easy to clean. Then you could mask off the mouthpiece and paint the rest of the whistle. There's something about the idea of a painted mouthpiece that I'm not quite comfortable with, 'though it may be unfounded on my part.

Anyway, it's something to consider. Might look great, might look terrible. On the other hand, it may be that the acrylic lacquer is less toxic than the PVC itself. Just throwing out ideas.

Best wishes,
Jerry

P.S. Now that I think of it, it might be possible to buff the whole whistle. That's definitely something to think about. If a shiny surface makes it easy to keep clean, that might be the way to go. No air pollution, no health risks to the maker (assuming you wear a particle mask), virtually no cost, no drying time, etc.

Groovehead · Post by **Groovehead** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 9:43 pm

Serpent,

The tuning proggie works like a charm. I made another soprano D today that is absolutely in tune.

Sound Clip

I drilled all the holes 1/16th too small and brought them in tune by hand with a file. It was pretty easy to do (even though it drove my family nuts

).

Thanks again for the link to the proggie. I'm glad that it put a smile on your face because it certainly put one on mine!

Jerry,

I'm not sure which would be least toxic of the two. I do know that I would certainly not paint a whistle if someone didn't want it painted.

Here is a pic of the whistle that I made today. It's still needs some sanding (and yes, I use a particle mask!!!), but you can see how it looks naturally at this point.

As you can see, the body is CPVC and the fipple is PVC so they're different colors. I guess that this would be appealing to some, but I don't care for the combination of the two. I use the PVC for two reasons. One, it's almost the perfect size so I only have to turn the CPVC down very slightly. Two, because the thickness of the PVC gives me something to play with when it comes to shaping the fipple...

Best wishes,
Mike

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 9:59 pm

Michael!

That's a good looking whistle! It looks like ivory or bone. Has an ancient look about it. Very appropriate for traditional music.

I would really encourage you to see what you get if you work it over on a buffing wheel. Do you have access to one? Most plastics buff very easily, though I don't have experience buffing PVC.

I wouldn't worry about the color variation between the mouthpiece and the rest of the whistle. Tell 'em you did it that way on purpose because you like it better. It's a feature.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 10:08 pm

By the way,

Have you thought about/experimented with just intonation?

I've been thinking that one might do well with three whistles for each "key." For whistles with D as the bell note:

1. An even-tempered "normal" D whistle
2. A just intonation whistle tuned to the primary key of the whistle (in the key of just intonation D)
3. A just intonation whistle tuned to the secondary key of the whistle (bell note D, just intonation based on G as the starting note, for playing in G).

I don't understand enough theory to know how/if those three settings would work with other modes.

Best wishes,
Jerry

jim_mc · Post by **jim_mc** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 11:14 pm

I think the naked whistle is beautiful! I also like Jerry's suggestion about a whistle tuned to just intonation. Please keep us posted on your progress.

Jerry: where in the sticks are you?

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 11:30 pm

Hi, Jim.

I'm about 40 miles north of Syracuse, about 65 miles from Canada. It's really cold here right now, and they got four feet of snow in a single snowfall only a few miles away a few days ago. I think it's time to sacrifice another chicken to the weather gods.

Where are you?

Best wishes,
Jerry

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 11:34 pm

Michael,

If the buffing idea works, you (or someone) could scrimshaw designs onto those whistles.

Best wishes,
Jerry

P.S. Scrimshaw can be done in any color. If you use a muted, old-timey red, green, sepia, etc. you'll have a whistle that looks authentically old and still have some colorful decoration.

[edited to add color scrimshaw idea]

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Jerry Freeman on 2003-02-16 09:41 ]</font>