A hello, a thank you and some whistle pictures.

Whistle
1

Hello Chiff and Fipplers,

the purpose of this post is primarily to thank you for the valuable information that you have shared within the forum, and by way of thanks, to offer up the few little observations I have made in the hope that they might be of some use in the collective data-pool.

I started visiting the forum about a month ago, after suddenly acquiring the desire for a high d whistle-I wanted something VERY quiet, with high-ish backpressure, easy to play and hopefully as “haunting” a sound as possible.
Buying wasn’t an option, so it meant using what was to hand, or available at zero cost - in this instance an aluminium tent pole (17mm I.D. and 1 mm wall thickness-scrounged from the recycling centre) and a piece of 15mm wooden dowel.

I don’t have access to machine tools or workshop facilities, so it also had to be achievable by hand.

For the duration, I had access to a chieftain, a susato, a generation (all high d) and a howard low d for comparison. The sound is similar to the howard but up an octave, and it plays most like the chieftain, except that it has a lower air requirement and higher backpressure. This is exactly
what I was after, and being able to compare and contrast made it a lot easier. Also I tuned the whistle (to about 30 cents flat) before doing the final voicing adjustments-this meant that I could play over its whole range to get the voicing just right, and then bring it up to tune.

The diagram hopefully shows how I got round making the bits out of one size of tubing, and how the block is 15mm dowel with 1mm of aluminium wrapped and glued round it (thus making 17mm and fitting snugly in the whistle body).

Having a composite block like this means that the windway floor is aluminium and can be polished to perfection.
The block, the windway cover and body are such a snug fit (moreso after soaking the block in almond oil) that it wasn’t necessary to glue them.

The windway slot is 6mm wide and 38mm long. The windway cover slot is 6mm wide and 16mm long. The blade is conical section at about 35 to 40 degrees.

The observations I made along the way are…

  1. The block is now 4mm from the blade edge, and the windway cover is just over 1mm further back from that-it sounds fab, is very quiet(compared to the other whistles) and is in tune. If I move both the block and cover back another 2mm or thereabouts, there is another “sweet spot” -but it’s louder and about 20 cents sharper! Could it be that there’s a series of sweet spots at different block to blade distances, each with their own qualities?

  2. Moving the windway cover back a fraction of 1mm (but leaving the block where it is) gives preference to the lower octave, but makes the upper one more difficult to get. Moving it forwards makes the upper octave very easy, but if you go too far, the lower notes of the lower octave get thin and unstable before dropping off completely.

  3. I scrounged an offcut of window sill from a local joinery factory-a piece about 12" by 2" by 1" with a groove down one face-this proved REALLY useful for resting the tube on when cutting or drilling.


    Overall, I spent about 20 hours on it, but at least the bits didn’t cost me anything. Tools used were a large coarse flat file, a large coarse half round file and a tiny very fine half round swiss file. Cutting was done
    with a junior hacksaw, holes with a hand drill, and finishing with 600 wet or dry and autosol metal polish.

As an aside, the case is a piece of 1/4" wall thickness cardboard tube that I covered in leather, and sewed leather ends onto. The tube is the stuff that rolls of fabric come on, and if you ask nicely, fabric shops let you have the old ones. Short of stamping on it, it seems pretty indestructible.

Well, I do hope that some of that is useful to someone, either now or in the future - thank you all again, and blessings upon your whistling endeavours!

cheers,

Bill Bennett

2

Hi,

I’m impressed by your whistle and I’m impressed by your great description of the process. And I’m really impressed by that graphic!

Best, John

3

I agree. :slight_smile:

4

YES!!! Thank you for sharing your whistle making experiments and for the great pictures and description. Please post some more of your handiwork - and maybe slightly bigger/ more detailed photos. :adminok:

5

Impressive. Most Impressive. (in a James Earl Jones voice)

I’m much too lazy to make my own whistles (and fortunate enough to not have to), but I truly admire those with the skill and determination to do so. Thanks for sharing!

John

6

A nice project there. Twenty hours was worth the result and the satisfaction.. I am curious as to why buying was not an option. Whistles, unlike most other musical instruments can be bought for meal money.

7

BillChin you should know that “Pennywhistles” dont come for pennies anymore. Unknown profession BillChin?? You must be earning darn well whatever you are at.

Most of the better whistles are quite a steep price, and in some cases outrageous money is being asked. The cheap ones are just that in most cases plain cheap in sound- stability - range and build quality.

I have disposed of most of my “cheap” whistles. Jerry Freeman is the only man to make something of a cheap whistle. Maybe he should just go into designing whistles for mass production - so we can all have really good sounding reasonably priced whistles - what do you think?? In the meantime cleaver guys like Bill Bennett can do something for themselves. Keep up the good work Bill Bennett.

8

Many pros will disagree with your blanket assessment of cheap whistles, but you’re right that handcrafted ones can be amazingly pricey.
I trust that BillChin has had good experiences with cheap whistles.

9

I agree with Tony, but I understand emmline’s sentiment.

10

I disagree with your comments. I complimented Mr. Bennett, but you sir, are obnoxious, going into my personal profile and launching into a personal attack. I still like my Clarke original and many enjoy their Clarke Sweetones. Syn whistles can be had at a decent price. Hoover does excellent work as well and a whitecap can be put on any number of available bodies. Used whistles can be had for even less than the cost of these excellent new models. Sure they aren’t a “penny” but they don’t cost what a decent violin or piano costs.

I asked because I am curious, and the original post said buying was out of the question. Even the cost of a high ender like a Burke, can often be scraped together by pinching the budget. Of course there are exceptions, but the builder obviously has friends with whistles and access to some decent tools. In most parts, those two are usually harder to come by than $100 USD for a high ender.

11

Wow…if Bill can do this with a tent pole, files and tinfoil, imagine what he could do with a milling machine, brass and cocobolo! Well done!!! I agree though, there is a deeeep satisfaction from making something on your own…and a bit of pocket change to be saved sometimes also. Making my own whistle was what got me into this whistlesmithing mess in the first place…beware of the dark side, Bill.

12

Thanks for the complimentary words folks-very kind.
I’d better answer BillChin’s query about why buying isn’t an option-Bill, the reason is mostly financial as I’m an artist and musician living in rural England-that in itself ought to explain why I wouldn’t be able to just go out and buy say an Alba Q1-sure I COULD save up for it, but I wanted it NOW :smiley: yes I know patience is a virtue :blush: . I said mostly financial because there are seemingly very few specifically quiet whistles on the market-the aforementioned Alba and…?
I think that modern society often overlooks “making” as an option, which is a shame-maybe the tide will turn though as there’s enough data on the www for the enthusiastic amateur to build just about anything, and people are frequently more capable than they believe-but if they don’t try, they’ll never know.
cheers to you all,
Bill

13

Aren’t we very very very touchy indeed??? I was simply making the point that money didn’t seem to be a problem for you.

If someone looking at your profile OFFENDS you so much = what do you have a profile on-line for if not for people to look up. I, unlike you though, do not hide my identity behind a facade AND I do not call people names.

I suggest you have jumped to your own and incorrect conclusions and
I suggest you have broken a fundamental rule of posting by calling names on-line.

I will here apologise if I gave any offence - I intended no offence whatsoever.

I think you should be man - or woman - enough to apologise for you name calling.

14

Typical C&F discussion. Some folks wish to share there accomplishments out of a natural sense of pride. Some ask questions out of curiosity. Some prefer to run around with sharp pointy sticks, proding and judging.

I think the original post was interesting and informative. After reading it, I too wondered some about the effort versus purchasing finished whistle. I’m not all that great with my hand/mind coordination. Now we all know because the question was asked.

I really don’t care too much about the sexual preference, profession, avocation, education, religious, or political affiliations that boardmembers list in their profile. I’ve found over the past several years that most reveal their true nature in the comments they post (some much sooner than others). Now and then I do check their profile out of curiosity of course.

Would you believe that some of us don’t even exist except at C&F?

15

Bill:

That’s a very beaufiul whistle!
I like your idea of using a wood plug inside an aluminum tube, it looks really nice.

When you move the plug or the windway cover you’re actually changing the window size, and the window size is what determines the blade-to-end lenght of the whistle. Or at least those are my observations too :slight_smile:

16

I’m going to try to get some of that thick cardboard tubing from a fabric store. I won’t be making whistles, but I would enjoy making a nice case for one. Thanks for that idea. :slight_smile:

17

Wow…if Bill can do this with a tent pole, files and tinfoil, imagine what he could do with a milling machine, brass and cocobolo!

Obviousy (not that ive looked at his profile!) Octavedoctor was in the scouts.

18

I agree… except that I’ve spent so much time doing and making other things, that I am far happier right now letting you guys do the whistle smithing. :slight_smile: I have waaaaaay too many other projects waiting for this poison ivy to disappear (seems to be done today… I’m hoping!!!)

19

… is, that’s one marvelous looking whistle. Love to hear an MP3 of it sometime. Been working on a quiet one here, using 1/2"OD stainless tubing, but still haven’t gotten the “business end” (fipple) quite right. But hey, you know now! Making them’s really a bunch of fun! :smiley:
Cheers,
Bill Whedon

20

My gosh! That is amazing! I’m so insanely jelous of all of you who actually have the ability to make whistles. It takes all my time and effort just to make the ones I buy sound good without completely killing then having to repair some fipples.