More seriously, I have a Clarke C whistle that is sharp, really sharp. You can change the note by varying the airflow, but unlike my Clarke D and my Chieftain Low D, it is almost impossible to get it anywhere near the green light on the electronic tuner thing and sustain it. And it’s not mildly out of tune, either. It sounded noticablu off, so I tested it on the tuner thing and yup, it had almost reached a whole new key.
Is there anything that can be done to fix it?
BTW, this is my first post here, though I’ve been lurking for a bit. Hi all.
Yes you can. But since it changes the length of the bore (measured blade to bottom), you are also changing the internal tuning, and really would have to go and file/tape the holes to bring it into tune with itself.
As for a flute, I wouldn’t. Have you been long enough at it to know that it’s not the way you are blowing it, rather than the flute? And in that case you should probably be able to blow it a bit sharp to be in tune with the piano.
I had the opposite problem with an Oak. The whistle was clearly marked as a D but couldn’t be brought up to pitch. Then, in comparing the size of mine with those of others (whistles) we discovered it was not a D but a D wannabe- really a mismarked C.
The best and easiest way to correct your high pitched Clarke is to extend the edge of the labium lip closer to the windway and reduce the voicing window. This can be done several ways, but try using a used clarinet or sax reed placed on top of the ramp. Adjust it to correct your keynote pitch, but remember that breath pressure on a whistle is variable and controls pitch as well, so use “medium” breath pressure to test pitch.
It seems like it would work, but like Bloomfield said, it thows off the intonation. If you pull a tunable whistle out to the extreme, you get a clear demonstration of how badly the intonation is affected by only changing the tube length and not the hole positions.
Sometimes changing the shape of the windway or changing the amount of backpressure can tend to make a whistle blow somewhat sharper or flatter.
I’d say tighten up on the windway a bit and hope for the best. I’ve got a clarke type whistle that I managed to tweak up very nicely but it has wound up somewhat sharper than it started. It could have easily wound up flatter depending on what I did to it. Changing the pressure is gonna have some kind of affect on the pitch. Maybe or maybe not enough to help.