Dr. Robert Anderson

Like most of the Chiff & Fipple readership, I consider the Clarke

Sweet Tone as one of the finest inexpensive whistles available.

Whether its train trips, camping or business meetings, I carry my plain

tin version everywhere. You can imagine my concern when recently, I

noticed a bit of rust around the metal at the end of the mouthpiece. A

bit of hot water soon had the mouthpiece off and revealed the damage that

had taken place. The rust covered most of the metal normally hidden by

the black plastic. I'm not sure how it got there and while I'm a bit

concerned about the corrosion, what I want to share with you is what

(left: Healthy Pre-Operative Sweetone in Yellow. Photo by Thom Larsen)

Necessity is the mother of invention, and it wasn't long until I was at

the hobby shop buying a piece 21/32 inch diameter brass tubing. With a

little cutting and drilling, I soon had a replacement barrel for what

remained of the Sweet Tone i.e. the black Copeland-designed mouthpiece.

The brass barrel and the mouthpiece easily fit together and the result is

one of the most interesting "cheap" whistles in my collection.

The addition of a fat cylindrical barrel has turned the Sweet Tone into

what I have to call a "Full Tone". The new instrument is almost as

playable as the Sweet Tone and I'd rank it ahead of my Feadog, Walton, Oak

(an under-rated whistle) and Generation D's. But the area where it really

beats the Sweet Tone, and the others, is in the first octave. It really

has a presence. Before doing the conversion I was expecting some

improvements but some tuning problems and a requirement for much more air

would offset these advantages. The bad things just haven't happened. The

result is a pleasant fully-toned instrument that moves easily from octave

to octave. Go figure.

A few further notes on the "Sweet Tone Barrelectomy with Reconstructive

Surgery":

1 The new whistle is slightly shorter than the Sweet Tone. It looks like

a fat brass cigar with a black tip. The large barrel creates a virtual

acoustic barrel that extends beyond its apparent length. 2 The finger

holes are positioned the same as on the Sweet Tone, relative to the window

lip. 3 Except for the first hole, all the finger holes are much larger

that on the Sweet Tone. The result is more volume for not too much more

air. I tuned each hole individually.

Bye for now. Thanks for keeping me up-to-date with the Chiff & Fipple.

Rob Anderson