Forgive me if I am about to tell you something you’ve read about before, because in all honesty, I have not read EVERY thread about tweaking. I just happened upon a tweak that it easier than the usual ones and might interest people.
I’m in Nashville and, following tradition, I went to the store, Cotten Music, where I bought my first whistle 4 years ago, and bought a Gen d (I had $40 burning a hole in my pocket from singing a couple of songs Friday night at a friend’s gig, and the Gen took up about 20% of that. Yay!). They don’t let you play the whistles before buying them. The first octave was fine, but the second was a real screamer. So I got some sticky-tac and set about with the usual tweak (sticky-tac to fill the cavity). There was a very slight improvement. So I sanded off the round bump on the blade and cut a piece of a guitar pick (and sanded a blow edge) to cover the blade. Now is where the tweak becomes different from what I have read before.
I found that if I use just sticky-tac in varying quantities to temporarily tack the guitar pick blade to the original blade, it provides a strong-enough hold to keep it in place when I find a pleasing sound, and yet I can change it whenever I want in favor of a louder or a more pure sound. Because its temporary, I don’t have to deal with superglue at all AND I don’t have to make sure it sets perfectly, because, well, it doesn’t set at all. I find it works best with a glob of sticky-tack toward the bottom side (holes side) of the ramp, increasing the angle of the blade, with the guitar pick blow edge just closer to the fipple than the original blow edge. The increased angle makes a lovely pure and sweet tone with relatively even and acceptable volume.
Fun stuff, these whistles.
[ This Message was edited by: JessieK on 2002-12-22 13:36 ]
Edit: By the way there is no reverb and the set was recorded straight through (no punching in of the whistle) and YES, I know I am rhythmically challenged.
[ This Message was edited by: JessieK on 2002-12-22 13:42 ]
Since the title of the thread is “come judge me”, I’d like to “criticize” a little. I think your tunes would sound more “traditionnal” with some rolls, cuts and triplets. Tunes that don’t have those, or at least some good variations, tend to become “boring” very fast. But I guess it’s all a matter of personnal taste.
Edited: actually, my reply should have been in the “come judge me” thread, sorry!
[ This Message was edited by: Azalin on 2002-12-22 15:21 ]
Thanks for the clip Jessie,very enjoyable set.That whistle sounds really good!It just goes to show that, with a little bit of tweaking,the Generation Bb is a fantastic whistle bargain!
Yes, Az, I know. Ornamentation, when used just enough and not too much, adds wonderful character to a tune. I tend to use tons of ornamentation on slow airs and very little on fast tunes. I am , self-admittedly, a mediocre whistle player at this point. My strong point is tone, I’ve got good breath, and I am good at judging whistles’ characteristics. Singing is another thing entirely, and I feel more than adequate at that. But anyway, I recorded this to illustrate the sound of the tweaked Gen.
Your playing is way better then mine, Jessie, and I’ve been practicing like a madman.
I should add that I have a semi-permanent tweak that I now use. Instead of a guitar pick I use a piece of transparent plastic from a water drink bottle. I glue it with silicone glue. The glue takes a long time to firm up, so I have lots of time to adjust the piece. The finished work doesn’t look too obvious because the plastic if transparent and the glue almost so. And the whole thing can be easily peeled off and re-done.
[ This Message was edited by: whitmores75087 on 2002-12-22 18:52 ]
