I bought a couple of beginner’s whistles last week, a Clarke Celtic Whistle and a Walton’s Mellow D Brass. They are both in D, but they are not in tune with one another. The Clarke’s sounded fine when I played along with the virtual session on BBC, but the Walton’s was off.
Just curious, how do you guys work to get things in tune with one another at a session? Do you tune the tuneable instruments to match the nontunable ones (ie the whistle)?
Any tips on getting the Walton’s in tune?
You’ll need to loosen the mouthpiece so it can be moved up or down on the tube.
Heat a mug of water as if for making tea.
Dip the whistlehead into the water, but don’t let the weight of it stand against the bottom of the mug. After warming the whistlehead for 15 seconds or so, remove from the water, grasp the whistlehead tightly with a cloth and twist it off.
Now you should be able to put the head back on and it will be moveable on the tube, so you should be able to adjust the pitch of the whistle.
The bottom note, or “bell note,” on Mellow D’s tends to be sharp. To correct this, you need to lengthen the tube by about 3/16 of an inch. You’ll have to figure out something you can wrap around and fasten to the end of the tube for that purpose. (When I began tweaking Mellow D tubes, I would stretch the tubes by hitching them between my pickup truck and a big stump out back, but now I’ve gone to just moving the toneholes up the tube a little ways. That’s quicker, and it saves on gasoline.)
Good luck!
Best wishes,
Jerry
The Walton’s Mellow D is famous for being a touch sharp on the bottom note. (low D) - if that’s your only problem you can lengthen the tube slightly with tape to see if this fixes things.
If ALL the notes are off, you can try adjusting the head - normally, cheap whistles are in-tune if the head’s all the way in, so it’s hard to adjust it sharper, but you can often tune it a bit lower by pulling the head out. If the whistle’s too low, the odds are that the head wasn’t pushed all the way in.
You can see suggestions on how to remove the head (and how to tweak, if needed) over on the main Chiff & Fipple site.
(Added - I see that our resident tweakmeister has already chimed in. What Jerry said.)
How does one move the toneholes up the tube?
Well …
You don’t really move them up. It’s more a matter of removing and then reinstalling them in a slightly higher position.
As another whistlesmith pointed out in an earlier thread, you have to be careful with toneholes that have been removed. If you leave them too long on the workbench, they may stick there, and then you’ll have a hole in the benchtop that you’ll have to remove before you can reinstall it on the whistle tube.
However, if done correctly, it’s the most straightforward and efficient way to adjust the tuning, and it leaves a very respectable job, hardly noticeable unless you look really close.
I hope that’s helpful.
Best wishes,
Jerry
you can’t.
that was a joke.
jerry, you’re a bad boy. 
sigh
I take time to share my trade secrets, and nobody takes me seriously. People think it’s a glamorous life, but I’ll tell you, it’s not easy being the world’s only fulltime, professional pennywhistle tweaker.
I’ve been removing the toneholes by hand, BTW, which works well enough, but I’m almost finished making a tonehole puller tool. That will allow the process to go faster. I won’t have to handle the toneholes as much, so there will be less chance of running into problems with the toneholes getting stuck where I don’t want them. I’ve spoiled several prototype tonehole pullers, incidentally, by allowing myself to get distracted and leaving one of the toneholes on the puller after removing it from the whistle. If left there too long, you end up with a hole in the tonehole puller right where the tonehole puller has to grip the whistle, and it becomes completely useless. I’ll post photos when the tonehole puller is ready.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Jerry,
Let us all know when you figure out how to keep a box of toneholes.
I tried it once but the smallest toneholes fell into the larger ones and I haven’t seen them since. 
I’ve got my best people on it.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Hmmm… I carry my whistle in my pocket. If one of the tone holes falls off in the pocket then gets in the wash, that would explain all those missing socks. Going further, was Saddam a whistler? That could explain the missing WMDs. Was the Bermuda Triangle really just be bunch of Bahama whistlers? The mind boggles…
just don’t carry the whistle in your backpocket, you might end up with a 2nd hole there…
This is why it’s important to only purchase whistles made by competent whistlesmiths. I’ve heard about things that have happened due to inexperienced or careless whistlemakers not attaching the toneholes properly. Missing socks is a real annoyance and not to be trivialized, but far worse things have happened. Please, everyone, be careful.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Oh, I forgot to mention …
If you ever do notice that a whistle has any toneholes missing, don’t delay. Stop whatever you’re doing immediately and find the missing tonehole(s)!
This is a very serious situation. I can’t overemphasize the importance of caution here. There have been some near tragedies, and I would hate to find out that something terrible has happened to one of our beloved board members because of a misplaced tonehole incident.
I apologize for posting such a somber message, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Best wishes,
Jerry
I thought the holes were not removable unless the whistle was tuneable. See, that’s the advantage of buying a tuneable whistle.
This topic has really gone downhill fast. It’s nice to see everyone has the same warped sense of humor that I do.
This removing head thing makes me wonder what key are you in if you put it back on the other end of the whistle. 
Brian
This removing head thing makes me wonder what key are you in if you put it back on the other end of the whistle.
Well, it should in theory be in the same key, however, those pesky toneholes will need to get lost and you will need to find some new one’s perhaps those socks with the holes near the big toe could help. 
Ian
Last Friday one tonehole of my GenD met a black hole near Saturn’s moon Titan !
Together now, they play Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony – says NASA …
…
I removed some Generation fhipples with the hot water method. But also found that the tube needed to be cleaned of the sealant or when the fipple was replaced it seized up again. I once worked in a ship yard that used hole movers and pipe streachers, but they are probley to large for a whistle. Zero to one inch inside micrometers are also hard to find if you leave them set at zero. If you are useing one to check your whistle bore, always put it back in the container provided.
Could you post pictures?
I realize that these are for shipyard use, and too large for whistles, but I would like to see how they’re set up. I’m getting good results with the prototype tonehole puller, but I would like to see how other tradespeople are addressing similar processes. I may be able to adapt some design elements from the shipyard tools.
Thanks!
Jerry