I have some blackwood and some delrin Abells, and while I love them all, I slightly prefer the particular delrins I have. Some have opined that wood lives and resonates in varying ways with great character and that delrin is just dead old plastic.
Can anyone explain then why the recent Abell delrins I got come alive when played and resonate and pop in as fine a way as any of the great Copelands I have? In a way very unlike some of the other delrin whistles I’ve had as well.
Did Chris fool me and send blackwood instead? Or is it really just more about the making of the whistle, including the various ratios among tone holes, blades, etc.? Or just an accident?
It’s not a question of just being re-inspired at the moment either, because I’ve played these side by side with others and there’s a tremendous difference.
I think it has a LOT more to do with design than the particular material. Delrin has many of the characteristics of wood and really works well for whistles.
I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that Chris’s delrins can differ from one to another, because Copelands made of the same materials (e.g., brass and delrin) can also differ greatly whistle to whistle. Ok, mystery solved, back to sleep or playing.
I have only one wooden whistle–it’s an Abell C. It’s a lovely thing, and has a nice mellow tone. I can’t speak for all wooden whistles, obviously, but I think sometimes a thinner-walled material, such as delrin, composite, or metal allows for a quicker, zippier (more alive?) character than wood. The wood has a more Ent-like, not-so-hasty, but rich nature.
Chris’s whistles vary in two main areas: block and blade. In some the block comes down to the top of the window, and in others it stops a millimeter or so above the start of the window. The edge of the block is sometimes beveled and is sometimes left at 90 degrees. The blade varies from very sharp to unsharp. My favorite Abell has an unsharp blade and an unbeveled block that goes down to the top of the window. I once had a Delrin Abell with a very sharp blade and I thought it was too harsh, without real personality. I have owned Abells with beveled blocks that ended a bit above the window, and I thought they lacked focus. I think the actual tone of a whistle is almost entirely dependent on the dimensions, but the way a person feels about a certain material can have a profound effect on you play. I feel more inspired by beautiful-looking instruments than by industrial-looking ones, and I feel more inspired by wood and precious metals than Delrin or base metals. But, of course, there are exceptions.
I have played a Busman delrin whistle for one week. I would rate it up there with a fine wood whistle made of blackwood. Experiments I have done tweaking, and making whistles of cpvc, and wood. Lead me to think that most of any whistle is in the way the fipple is made, and the player.
Of course there needs to be a tone tube. But changing the fipple on a tube has the most change effect.
Interestingly enough in some email corrospondence with Mr. Reyburn of Reyburn whistles he was telling me he now prefers delrin for high whistles and says he finds Delrin actually sounds very much like Blackwood.
A LOT of the difference in otherwise identical whistles sneaks in during the voicing, regardless of the material. I don’t know how Chris Abell does his, but mine are voiced individually, by hand: I cut the windway with a cutoff wheel in a Dremel and file the ramp with hand files and sandpaper. As much as I try to keep this constant, tiny differences do occur and in that region of the whistle a difference of a couple of thousandths of an inch can make a BIG difference in sound. As I’ve said before, I can sometimes make two supposedly identical whistles and have them end up with very different “personalities”.
Glenn Schultz once told me that although he liked woods, the purest sound could be obtained from plastics, because of the lack of pores and variations caused by wood swelling.
Dave
“Pure” what does that mean with regards to tone Dave? Most people would think of “Pure” sounding as being less chiffy/breathy - the way most whistle players think of a recorder’s tone, but this really has nearly everything to do with voicing and little to do with materials. Help me out here Dave, what does “Pure” sound like with regards to materials, as opposed to voicing?