I’ve been playing the Walton D whistle for the past two years and I’m looking to take a stab at building the one described by Robert McElroy @ geocites.com/dwise/bloodyhand.htm. When I tried the email at this site it got kicked back …
If anyone has any experience with this effort (or has Roberts email address) I would love to share some ideas.
I’ve posted my questions below …
I was on the whistleshop.com site and noted that they sell just a mouth piece. Is this equal to the Clark Sweetone “C” that is described in the Bloody Hand procedure? Like the Clark Sweetone mouth piece, it does have a 1/2" ID.
It looks like the plastic mouth piece is not glued onto the coupling (its just a pressure fit)? Why isnt an adhesive specifed? I was pondering a small uniform film of 5 minute epoxy. What do you think?
How do you connect the coupling to the 1/2" Type M copper pipe?
Being that it attaches to the coupling after the mouth piece is connected to the other end, heat/solder is out of the question. More 5 minute expoxy?
I’ve tried this. Not worth the effort. Just takes away from practice time and fills your lungs with copper dust. Tweak yes, but leave building to the experts. IMHO.
I made one last weekend, see post “roll your own”. Two layers of pipe with a plug in the middle, the middle layer of pipe with a missing slice to form the windway. I looked at a lot of pictures of whistles, examined the syn whistle I have, and took a good look at the whistle building book from Jubilee. Then I just sorta put it all together. I plan on making more in the near future using the same or similar design. It really supprized me how well it turned out. Especially since pretty much all of it was done just by eye and guesstimation. About all you really need to do it with is a dremel tool and lots of bits. A hacksaw and a cheap grinder helps too. The tool I got, including bits, was 100% generic. Not including tools, I might have five bucks worth of materials, if you count the fact I have enough stuff to make a couple more.
Warning. I’ve found this to be every bit as addictive as buying and playing whistles. I had planned on making more tonight, but I had to take the kid to scouts.
Cennedie:
I started the bloody hands, but found my drill does ugly things to copper pipes. May try my dremmel next time, as vomit bunny says.
I could not find the right mouthpiece on thewhistleshop.com… Note that the coupling McElroy wants you to use is not actually 1/2" in diameter. It is larger so that it can fit over a 1/2" pipe. So you need to use a Sweetone C mouthpiece if you want to use these plans. You can find a Sweetone C at elderly.com for $5, only slightly more than the cheapest mouthpiece at thewhistleshop, and you still have a C whistle if you never succeed in making your own.
NOTE: Do NOT use a mouthpiece from a Clarke Meg C whistle. These are cheaper than the Sweetones, and have the same design, but are made from substandard materials (they sound good, but are not meant for anything physically strenuous). Both my Meg mouthpieces split at the seam when I tried to fit them over the coupling.
You could probably use a mouthpiece that fits on a regular 1/2" barrel, without the coupling at all. Just slide the mouthpiece over the pipe. But note that pipes are not always the exact width that they are rated. You may need to sand, or add teflon tape to get that to work.
Also, there should be no need for epoxy or soldering on either the mouthpiece or the coupling. The idea is that the mouthpiece will be incredibly snug by itself (I had to sand the coupling just to get it to fit in the mouthpiece, and it was still tight), and to use the coupling as a tuning slide.
I put the copper head I made on an oak body just for giggles. Actually very nice. I had to use half a roll of teflon tape though…
I need to find some unique material to make whistles out of though. I was thinking about hard cheese. Or cane. It’s a toss up.
I think I used Kate Bennet or something like that… it used to be linked on Dale’s, and another site → David Havenna, or something, who was the guy whose plans I used for a Low D
Trying my hand at building a whistle from 1/2" copper tubing (sched. M) and must have used a piece that was too short. Would appreciate the “starting” length if you have made a whistle from this size pipe … want to make it in the key of D.
I have made loads of these copper whistles and they all sound great. In fact I have built a nice little cottage industry on it. Check out my website www.westonwhistles.co.uk and see for yourself.
If you contact me through the site, I can pass on a few tips if it would help. Ignore the Mongoose, if it keeps you out of trouble and it pleases you, go for it.