I have been disapointed at many a session, by the absence of Bass and Contrabass woodwinds to “ground out” the music and fill in the backgound with their wonderful harmonics. Here are a few examples…
These examples are for fun, but would any of you consider playing bass whistles if they were inexpensive and easy to play? I believe they could be made to be so.
Beginers would love these instruments because they play slow paced background notes with rest intervals between sets. In this way,beginers could play with the pro’s all night without being “pushed out” when things speed up. Any opinions?
In that vein, there’s a cello player who shows up to our sessions occasionally. I wish she would come more often, it’s really nice to have some bass added to the mix.
I think an instrument like that would be way cool, I’d definitly want to try one out! (It would also be more effective for the use of smacking family members who call it a “flute”.)
I’ve looked at these so called “recorder” thingies before! They don’t have a play or record button anywhere, but what they do have is far too many holes.
Obviously, a tool of the devil trying to lure you down the dark path.
You had to post a question like that for an old tuba player to see. Shame!
Put me at the top of the list to test and evaluate. I’ll dwell on this idea all day and probably have some interesting dreams this week.
Thank you all for your answers. I belive that an efficient contrabass whistle is not a “pipedream”, if you will excuse the pun. An expanding conical headjoint, like a Boehm flute, coupled with a voicing like this one…
…would reduce wind usage to a minimum and result in a powerful tone. A simple keyworks and a bocal mouth tube would complete the package for easy fingering. I’ll keep you posted with any future prototypes. Thanks again for your responses.
Nice illustration link. Did you notice that the cross section depicted is very similar to how the voicing works on a Native American flute? I wonder if there would be any octave problems as a result? The reason I ask is that on NA flutes you really only have about 9 notes on a six hole flute and overblowing doesn’t work as in a whistle voicing. Organ pipes are also voiced for a single octave. Is that just inherent in this type of “upside down” arrangement? I’ve always wondered about that.
In both cases you stated, the answer is excessive bore diameter,not voicing design. Most N/A flutes and organ pipes have oversized internal bores that prohibit or restrict harmonic overblowing.
A rough minimum ratio of borelength to diameter between 1/26 to 1/40 is needed to overblow harmonic registers. If the bore diameter is larger, the instrument will not have enough acoustic energy to produce harmonic overtones
Thomas,
Have you ever heard of Colcannon? They’re a band from Denver/Laramie, fairly well-known around here. They have a bass player, really good (he plays with the Cheyenne Symphony, too). While not exactly “traditional,” it really does ground the sound. He plays a pretty mean slip jig, too!
Of course, I’m another old low brass player (euph and tuba) and I think most bands sound top heavy, so I freely admit I’m biassed. I always try to tune my bodhran to a low d for sessions just to add a small bit of bottom end.
p.s. I’ve also done some experimenting with adding tuba and euphonium to some Scottish tunes on recordings (it would probably never work live–too loud), mostly playing chords and occasionally joining in on the melody. You might be surprised how well the sound blends with whistle/guitar. Stay tuned.
Thomas,
I know someone who has a Paetzold contrabass, those mouthpieces tend to clog and he has had troble with wood rippling and shrinking.
I hope to make one out of Delrin. Have you seen my first basswhistle? It’s a 6 hole all keyed whistle an octave below middle-C (Low-C). It uses 1 1/2" PVC pipe.
I’m still in the design phase on the chromatic bass whistle - I hope to use a product like “hollowood” to make the tonebody and use brass keys.
Daniel, aren’t the Paetzold basses made of planks mostly to ease the construction of a conical bore (I guess a 3 feet long reamer might be hard to find )? And doesn’t this help to get to and through a second register?
Now there’s another manufacturer of “square” basses–Dolmetsch, a brand not to neglect in, er, vertical fippled flutes…
Just thought, some–especially Daniel, I guess–might like a close look to the keywork.
I like this simple straightforward approach, especially obvious for the left hand.
Note also the end is stoppered and vented, so it can rest on the ground.
Serpent has no intention of participating in such travesties of whistlemaking!! However, one thing I thought might be of use to you travestites, would be the strange device invented, I think, by one Daniel Bingamon, the “Bagwhistle”. Seems to me that you could use a ported bag to augment your windpower when blowing your perverted (oops! that be “inverted!” ) UltraKontraBass modified origamipipe monstrosities!
O. M. G. I just re-read that, and discovered that my daily dose of Zoobster-isms have taken their toll on my ability to clearly express myself.
serpent
I hope you don’t mind some “clarification” on the origin of the Bag-powered flue pipes. The Credit for this device goes to Ctesibius (pronounced ste-SEE-bee-oos) of 250 BC. His original design for a bag/wind chamber attached to flue pipes was housed in the Library of Alexandria that was burned in the Arab invasion of 646 AD. Copies were safely installed in Contantinople,Damascus and Bagdad though.
Older evidence for this Public-Domain Instrument are the tera-cotta figurines of Ptolomy the VIII(300 BC) depicting a panpiper with a bag-powered flue pipe(NOT reed pipe)drone and the Hittite bas-relief in the ancient city of Eyuk of 1300 BC depicting a bag and flue pipe chanter.
These instruments were documented by many Authors like Francis Collinson in"The History of Bagpipes", WM Gratton Flood “Story of the Bagpipe” and Anthony Baines “Bagpipes” and are the origin of the Organ.
I wouldn’t want my friend Daniel Bingamon publicly humiliated by any claims that He invented this instrument 2,250 years after its origin. I’m sure he invented his version of it, but any other claim would be like Al Gore’s “Invention of the Internet”.
Daniel has been my friend and collegue for a decade and i’m just looking out for him. He has a good reputation as a woodwind designer and instrument maker and this is a Fragile thing. I hope you understand and take no offence.
They don’t have a play or record button anywhere, but what they do have is far too many holes. 
)? And doesn’t this help to get to and through a second register?
However, one thing I thought might be of use to you travestites, would be the strange device invented, I think, by one Daniel Bingamon, the “Bagwhistle”. Seems to me that you could use a ported bag to augment your windpower when blowing your perverted (oops! that be “inverted!” 