Bass Whistles

[hans]

For those who like low whistles: I just finished my first bass G whistle (G below low D). I got some 28mm bore alu tubing suitable for Bb, A, G# and G whistles and made the first bass G whistle with a straight head. But this proofed quite hard to play because of the arm stretch required. So I found a 45° aluminium bend from an automotive supplier, and incorporated it into the tuning barrel design. You can see the result in the pics below. The difference in comfort was drastic! then I made bodies for low A and Bb, and was really surprised how much better I could play these. The stretch for the Bb with the bend tuning barrel design is as much as the stretch on the low C with a straight barrel. The bore is 2mm wider than the low C, and it suits these low keys from Bb to G. The G could be called narrow-bore, but it works. I can make single or combo-sets, if anyone is interested, and has large hands (large hands are still required!). The funny thing is: once you have played these large whistles, picking up a low D feels so small suddenly! But it will take time to get really good with them, to get used to the finger distances, just as it did when starting with a low D. - I am also interested to hear from anyone with experience in Bass G whistles.

Bass G whistle http://music.bracker.co/Whistles/Bass_G_Whistles


Head with bend tuning barrel (45° bend)


Side by side, for comparison: Bass G, low C and low D whistles (OD 30mm, 28mm, 25mm respectively)

[susa]

Fantastic impressive nice giant.

[hans]

Thanks, Susa, and for your continuous support!
Nice is probably too nice a word for such a big beast
It is demanding, but a lot better with that bend!
Next will come that giant bass G overtone flute, some six foot long!

[stanton135]

Good job Hans! They sound and look very nice.

I've been in an iterative process of designing myself a PVC bass A for some time now. I wanted a whistle that could play some of the great fiddle/banjo/box tunes without folding the low notes. This means that I'm regularly taking my bass A up to the third octave. The thumbhole is indispensable for the high Gnat.

I determined, pretty quickly, that if I was going to be able to finger it comfortably, I'd need to make some drastic design changes, respective to a low D. My bass A uses a PVC elbow coupling for a joint at the tuning slide, and has tone holes designed to be covered by the index, middle, and pinky fingers of each hand. Using the pinkies eases up the strain quite a bit, and also allows me to place the tone holes farther apart. My stretch between T2 and T3 is 53mm, and between B2 and B3 is 67mm, which is comfortable for me using the pinkies.

I tuned the top hole so that OXX OOO made a good Gnat, and made it very large, so that it wasn't uncomfortably far from T2. I need to vent the thumbhole to get an ET G#, but that's easy enough to do, when it matters.

Here's a sound clip (towards the middle of the list): https://app.box.com/s/h0mga65i0tebv9fswch6

[pancelticpiper]

That G is beautiful, so elegant with that bend.

You're bang-on of course about the huge ergonomic difference having a bend makes! For years I had a keyless Susato angled-neck Low C and a similar Low D. That Low C was as easy to play as any Low D, and the Low D felt almost like playing a High Whistle.

Hans do you have sound files of the Low G and/or any of your other bass whistles?

Richard

[Feadoggie]

Hans do you have sound files of the Low G and/or any of your other bass whistles?

Not to answer for Hans, but with the time difference he may not see your question for a few hours, so ... follow the link Hans provided to his website for the bass G whistles. There is a sound file there. Oh heck, just click here. The low G will rattle your windows and shake your soul. And there are sound files for each of the other keys on their own dedicated pages.

Nice work Hans.

Feadoggie

[hans]

Here is a link to a folder with sound samples from various bass whistles, please mind I am not a profi player!

Sound samples from bass whistles on box net

Thank you, Richard, yes, the neck-bend is not a new idea. Knick-Bass recorders have been made for a very long time! It would be nice to make low whistles in the keys of D and C with neck bends, for those with smaller reach, or just want a more ergonomic instrument. Working with aluminium tubes, for me it comes down to what sizes of tubes and bends I can find commercially. I have not tried to do any aluminium tube bending. Maybe I need to. The bend will also add to costs quite a bit.

Stanton: nice sound! What size of PVC tubing do you use? I've got 45mm T2-T3 and 63mm B2-B3 finger spacing, and can finger it with ring fingers. Not keen on using pinkies!

[stanton135]

Thanks, Hans. I enjoyed listening to those clips! Relaxing sound.

I'm using a thin-wall PVC pipe that I buy from my local home improvement store. I believe it's called SDR 21. I'm using the nominal 1" pipe, which has an internal diameter of approximately 30mm. So, it's a little bit wider bore than your models--but, if I had easy access to thin-wall PVC with a 28mm ID, and the 45 degree elbow coupling to match it, I'd probably switch.

Learning to play using both pinkies was definitely a big adjustment! I am happy with the result, though.

[krystlepye]

Wow. That thing sounds great! I am contemplating a low whistle, and I wish I knew I had the reach for something like this... I will probably have to stick with a low D though

I'm a short person with smallish but not quite tiny hands.

[hans]

I'm using a thin-wall PVC pipe that I buy from my local home improvement store. I believe it's called SDR 21. I'm using the nominal 1" pipe, which has an internal diameter of approximately 30mm. So, it's a little bit wider bore than your models--but, if I had easy access to thin-wall PVC with a 28mm ID, and the 45 degree elbow coupling to match it, I'd probably switch.

Why? 30mm bore should be good for bass G. I would use it if I find suitable tubing. My bore chart says 32mm bore would be ideal for bass G:
http://music.bracker.co/Music/Searching ... istle_Bore

[stanton135]

Nice bore chart! I'll have to refer back to that later.

I've tried making a bass G tube for the same whistle head, out of the 30mm tubing. I liked that bore ratio on the bass G, but eventually I decided that, for that key, there wasn't going to be a solution to the ergonomics-versus-acoustics problem that I would be happy with. I simply wanted to place the tone holes farther apart than I could reach--even with pinkies--without my hands cramping.

For the key of bass A, the 30mm tubing works fine too; however, I wish that my current model were a little bit easier to play smoothly and nimbly in the upper second octave and lower third octave. I think a narrower bore might help with that. (Like I said, I'm designing this bass A in order to play fiddle tunes without folding. Fiddle tunes can use a lot of range!)