I have a high end whistle that plays in tune through the bottom 1 1/2 octaves but goes sharp from the high A up. I tried the obvious move of sending it back to the original maker for fixing, but it came back unfixed. My question then to those of you who know about whistle making is this: can this problem be fixed? Why is it doing this to begin with?
Thanks for all answers,
Jon Michaels
My first question would be, why did it come back unfixed? Did the maker give you any explanation? If not, have you contacted him or her again to ask? If he or she says it’s not fixable, was a different whistle or a refund offered?
It may or may not be fixable (I don’t know enough about whistle conformation to say), but if it were me, I’d be expecting the maker to do more than simply send it back unrepaired and without an explanation.
Redwolf
I believe it may be fixable.
Others more experienced and knowledgeable than I will have to give you the details, but either adding a bump or spike to or drilling a small hole in the fipple block under the voicing window may adjust the upper notes sharper or flatter. I searched for the post where I read about this, but couldn’t find it. Maybe someone remembers that post, or Thomas-Hastay, Daniel Bingamon, Ridseard or some such acoustical physics genius can chime in and set us straight.
Best wishes,
Jerry
I think Jerry is right, it may be fixable. Can you give us more details?
1)is it a conical whistle or cylindrical?
2)Can you move the fipple plug or is it fixed?
3)Dose it have a C natural thumbhole?
(Jerry alludes to a little known mod called an “Echo hole” located near the plugface, originally invented by Arnold Dolmetsch, to sharpen the notes in the upper register{see mod site below}. An air leak around the fipple plug at high pressure would sharpen your 2nd register’s high notes.)
http://www.saers.com/recorder/Craig-TuningDevice/
The upper notes of the 2nd register can be “tuned” with a small movement of the fipple plug AWAY from the voicing window too. Upper register sharpness is a common problem of Recorders if the angle of the conical bore is too sharp. Opening up the diameter of the bottom of the bore with sanding is one correction method.
Another less drastic choice would be to reduce the size of the bore end hole with “Blu-Tack” for a little internal backpressure that will slow down the aircolumn in the upper register and flatten its scale with little influence on the 1st register. These are imperfect “fixes” but they may do the trick. Again, more details on the design would help to determin your problem’s origin.
TuningDevice
This is a good device that realy works, athough I’m not ready to put in on a whistle right now.
Keep them simple and foolproof is my motto 
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Thanks for your responses. The whistle is conical, tuneable, and does not have a C natural hole. As far as the moveability of the fipple plug is concerned, I’m ashamed to admit that I’m not sure what the fipple plug is. My guess is that you’re referring to the piece of what I’m assuming to be Delrin that makes up part of the mouthpiece? As far as I can tell, it doesn’t seem to be moveable.
Thanks again,
Jon Michaels
Yes.
Jon. If this were my whistle and I wasn’t satisfied, I would return it for a refund. If it is made of wood, you are out of luck for health reasons though.(they can’t be cleaned well enough for resale.)
Before you do any “tweaking”, use a “tuner”,as Jerry suggests, but tune your whistle to the middle note of the 2nd register(g" in a d’ whistle). By tuning the notes of the more sensitive upper register instead of the lower, you may solve your problem. The lower register is much easier to “pitch bend”.
If you must “tweak”, try reducing the size of the open bore end hole with some Blue Tack putty first(it’s reversable). Let us know how it goes.