I just got my feadog in the mail today and I cant believe how crummy it sounds..I also got a sweetone for my son and this it sounds great..The Feadog has a kind of a double sound to it if that makes sense..Ive tried blowing softer and harder but keep coming up with this strange sound like blowing two notes at once. Could I have just gotten a bum one or is there something I should be doing different?
Yeah, it’s a quality control issue. It needs to be tweaked.
As Jessie said it just needs to be tweaked, which is not a difficult process. Look at the main Chiff and Fipple website for the Whistle Surgery section. Good luck.
Mike
Don’t despair. It could be merely a minor irregularity in the airway or blade. Wish you lived near me, because I could probably fix it for you. There are some recommendations on how to do this at http://www.chiffandfipple.com/tweak.html
I disagree somewhat on the idea of “dulling” the blade with sandpaper (Step 10, I think). The blade may very well need attention, but it seems more likely that smoothing out irregularities is all that is needed. For this purpose I use a very dull file on an old pair of fingernail clippers. Easy does it! If you “overtweak”, the damage is irreversible.
Okay I read the instructions on tweaking I think I can do this..One question I dont have any beeswax will regular candle wax work?
I will try the filing thing first and see if this works..Thanks
Sticky tack is probably better than wax, because was can melt in the summer and it’s unpleasant. Sticky tack is easier and will be stable enough.
I know what I’m fixin’ to say might sound silly, and I’m sure you’ve already checked, but this exact same thing was happening to a friend of mine. She found a piece of plastic flap jammed in the mouthpiece! The flap came from the box and was originally part of the top part of the box and apparently it is inserted in the mouthpiece to hold the whistle straight in the box…just a little tab that inserted in there and was part of the top lid flap of the box. Hers broke off and was jammed down in the mouthpiece. It’s very thin and clear and hard to see. She managed to get it out and her whistle worked fine after that.
Just thought I’d mention it…
Kim
Well I think I pretty well messed this feadog up.. I tried filing it and a few little scraps of plastic came out but I think it sounds worse now..I cant get a decent note out of it at all:-(
I will try pulling the end off and see what that does I can hardly ruin it anymore than it is…
Nah, it isn’t ruined. You can cut a piece of a guitar pick to fit over the blade and sand it to have a blowing edge. Attach it with sticky tack and the whistle will be better than new.
Well by the time I spend all that gas to go to town and buy a guitar pick I think I could just buy a new whistle;-) plus I need to get a finer file that would fit inside that little space..This is really too bad because I do like the way this whistle looks and feels, its so long and thin compared to the sweetone or the Dixon.
You could pick up some spare mouthpieces from the whistle shop to play around with:
http://www.thewhistleshop.com/catalog/whistles/heads/mouthpieces.html
I had a cruddy sounding Generation Eb but I replaced the head on it last night and I really like it now.
I hope you try another Feadóg! I have 3. A Mach I McCullough Pigott (has a delightful soft and pure sound), a Mach II (a sounds a bit metallic) and my regular Mach III Feadóg that ranked up there as one of my favorite “every day” whistles until the mouthpiece split, either from weather extremes in my car or from having a kid accidently step on it on the floorboard.
My Mach I I keep in the kitchen because the person that gave it to me said that was where it was used to being kept. My Mach II has been stuck in the car, and I still have the split Mach III because I can’t bear to get rid of it.
Kim
Ive only heard of the one Feadog and this one I bought at the Whistle Stop…I took the mouthpiece off and messed about some more and now I might as well either throw it to the dog or buy a new mouthpiece…Thanks for all the advice,surgury did not go well, the patient died:-(
C4…do not bury it yet! Send the patient to me (or one of the accomplished tweakers) and we’ll fiddle with it happily. I may even have a tested Feadog laying around to swap with.
Yeah. If you’re interested, drop me a private message or email.
Isn’t C4 a plastic explosive? Seems like a much better approach than blue-tac or candle wax.
A quick Irish Gaelic lesson:
Dog: a slobbery flea-bitten canine
Fea: Sounds like a…
Doc
Maybe I should explode and take this Feadog with me…I really should change my username one of these days.. BTW, Tyghress I left you a private about getting this thing fixed..