A couple of years back, someone found a company website selling prefabricated wood tubes. There was some discussion of this use for whistles but I don’t think anyone ever came of it.
Does anyone still have that web address and did anyone ever try to use these things for building a whistle?
hmm… Must’ve been before I came on the board… or during my ‘hiatus’…
Honestly, I have never heard of wood tubing…
I would like to know this too… Since you can make a whistle out of PVC tubing, wood should work just fine too. I’ve seen wood whistles but they’re hand turned and hollowed out… wood tubing would make it easier… A wood low D would be very warm an mellow, but perhapse a metal lip would add some volume… this place sells wood tubing but it’s like plywood, and not a solide piece that has been turned on a lathe and drilled out… which bty would be hard to do with a 1/8" wall thickness:
Yeah, I found that site. And it may be the one I recall from before but I’m not sure. The smallest diameter available is an inch - about the same as an Overton low D, but at 1/8" the walls are considerably thicker.
I wonder if it’d work? Admittedly it’s plywood or something like it, but would that matter?
Well if you go to the ordering and Pricing page it says 1/4 sizes are available as custom sizes but they probably cost more… but I would love to have a beautiful whistle that looks like it’s made out of stained wood…
Anyone recall a source of wood tubing?
Um, trees?
Sorry, really, i am.
With tubing diameters this large, I could build a wooden basswhistle.
1" wood tube with 1/8" wall thickness makes 0.750" ID, a little narrow for a Low-D. It could always by turned a little thinner and save a lot of time.
Another option is to use 3/4" brass tubing with the wood tube for beak and couplers. It would make a great Low-G.
Does this wood tubing have to be round? Some wooden organ pipes are square, and there has been a fair about of discussion over the past couple of years on the use of square tubing for whistle making, with reasonable success as I recall.
If square tubing would be acceptable, then there are a number of hobby shops that supply wood piecies of various dimensions that could be glued together to fabricate about what ever size you need. Probably the best selection of sizes (and it is cosiderable) that I have seen is the Basswood selection at Micro-Mark
It wouldn’t cost too much to try, and should be very easy to work with. Hummmm?
Edited to say do a product search on ‘basswood’… And you really should order their printed catalog while you are at their site.
“It takes a long time to sound like yourself” --Miles Davis
[ This Message was edited by: CDon on 2002-11-12 00:03 ]
Daniel - I’m so glad you did that math correctly for the internal diameter! I just ran those figures through the flutomat and it would make a nice D flute so I’m pretty sure it would make a fine low D whistle, too.
The ID will be larger than CPVC pipe which is used by some whistle makers for low D whistles, but it’s smaller than Schedule 80 PVC.
I’m thinking of picking up two 2 foot sections to try making a wooden flute (I believe strongly in my ability to screw up the first attempt!).
That hollowood stuff looks very cool. I had considered using sections of it for whistle cases ( they sell machined end caps too) but they would come out very expensive.
Wooden tubing does NOT have to be square. There is an outfit which makes truly excellent recorders out of high grade plywood, and they play terrifically. Really funky looking in a techno sort of way. I think the smallest they make is a Tenor ( corresponds roughly to a low D whistle), and they go all the way down to a truly huge contrabass.
A built up whistle from sheet stock sounds fascinating, since I lack most of the tools required to bore and turn a round whistle. I am assuming, though, that optimal bore dimensions would be different between a square bore and round bore whistle. Does anybody know how to calculate this?
Also, I remember reading a while back of the optimal bore/length ratio envelope. Could someone refresh my memory on this?
I’ve got some beautiful 1/8" avacado that’s been looking for something to do with itself. I’ll grab some basswood at the hobby shop to practice on first 
Thanks,
Eric
Wouldn’t the flat sides of a square whistle make it difficult to get a good seal? I have a junk square-sided whistle I bought somewhere - heavily carved wood suggesting touristy stuff. Since it refueses to make a reasonable sound, I’ve not played it, but it ded seem pretty odd to hold and finger.
On 2002-11-12 19:19, Chuck_Clark wrote:
Wouldn’t the flat sides of a square whistle make it difficult to get a good seal?
Seems to me that it should be easier… The hole edges won’t curve away from the finger pads. Course I’ve never tried one.
Well, drat. I wish I hadn’t seen this because I know it’s going to end up costing me money. Thus far, I have been able to resist any urge to build a whistle because (a) I know diddley-squat about working with metal and have no tools fit for this purpose, and (b) Although I can do some woodworking (clocks and custom potty chairs for the kids when they were young), I don’t have a lathe or space for a lathe or money for a lathe or any desire to have a lathe. But here’s a possibility for something that’s probably within the grasp of my rudimentary skills and small collection of tools. So – some questions for those who know this craft to help me decide if this is indeed doable.
Could one get a length of this Hollowood stuff in 1 inch diameter and put on a Howard low D mouthpiece, which fits a 1 inch o.d. tube, and get a decent sounding low whistle out of it? Any speculation about what the air requirements would be? And would it be appropriate to set the hole spacing and sizes for smaller hands? Or am I, because I haven’t had a chance to do any research on whistle construction, oversimplifying the whole thing? (I also though about finding some 3/4 inch Delrin rod stock to use for a fipple, but that seemed to require more advanced whistle craftsmanship.) It seems like one could get a pretty spectacular looking low D for about 50 to 60 dollars, depending on the wood.
Any thoughts? And as I await responses, I’ll dig around here and start reading serpent’s WTT posts and anything else I can dig out on the search engine. This could end up being an obsession.
Square organ pipes are rather large. Do they come in the sizes of which we are speaking? And just how narrow would the sides of a square pipe have to be to match one with rounded sides? And as for 1/8th thicknesses, aren’t recorder thicknesses pretty thick? JP
Gonzo, if you have the interest… start off with some PVC tube. You could probably make a few prototypes from one length of the stuff used in sprinkler systems and do it all for less than $10
A link from our friends at Susato on those plywood square recorders. I was wrong: smallest is a Bass, and they go down to a Subcontrabass!! Holes are sealed with plywood keys, so finger sealing is not a problem.
http://www.susato.com/recorders.htm#Paetzold%20Square%20Bass%20Recorders
On 2002-11-13 07:02, brewerpaul wrote:
A link from our friends at Susato on those plywood square recorders.
Just to thank you!
… how come nobody’s mentioned using Australian termites to hollow out little trees?
Oops! Guess I just did!
Serp
On 2002-11-14 10:42, serpent wrote:
… how come nobody’s mentioned using Australian termites to hollow out little trees?
Offhand I can think of three problems: