Hello all. I just thought I would stop lurking and post something to say “hello” and to relate a little of my experience to date.
I am an amateur melodeon and concertina player but my concertina gave up the ghost and they’re expensive things so I decided to take up the whistle for (mainly) Irish music. (I mainly play traditional English music on the melodeon.) I recently bought a Clarke Sweetone, but I am not very impressed by it; it is in tune but is somewhat weak. I don’t think it is all down to my breath control as I can play quite steadily.
As an experiment I bought a Generation D in nickel from the local shop (I was after a brass one and it wasn’t the first time I had visited the ship for one, but there were none to be had). It had certain characteristics that were definitely stronger and better than the Clarke although it would squeak and squawk. Having looked at this forum and various websites for a while I turned my hand at tweaking it. The head was easily removed and adjusted to make it less sharp. There was no flash or extraneous plastic to be seen in the fipple apart from two small specks in the windway which I was able to get rid of. Inserting blu-tack in the fipple made things a bit steadier. However some squeaking remained. Alas and alack, this is when I tried to be clever and messed with the soundblade. I tried to blunt it and the whistle is spoiled now. I’m not really bothered because I bought it as an experiment and it only cost a little more that a pint of bitter.
What I now know is:
(i) I don’t really like the Sweetone (although it may just be a poor one);
(ii) the Generation definitely has something going for it and a good one would be nice;
(iii) I don’t really know what I’m doing when it comes to tweaking.
The Sweetone might be fairly useful as a practice instrument when the children are in bed, but I have lost patience with it I am on the hunt for a better whistle whilst I am still in that important, enthusiastic start-up period. I have ordered a Clare and a Feadog from The Big Whistle so hopefully one of them might be good. From what I have read it may be the Clare that suits me straight off and I expect that I may have to work up to the Feadog.
Welcome to C&F Xopher. You did just fine on the blu tac tweak and removimg the head. Sounds like you may have taken to much off the blade. If you want to try you can put some back with super glue. I have done this before and it helps understand the whistle. Just put a small amount on the blade and let it dry. May take a few times to bring it back. If you just want to play, do the blu tac tweak on the feadog and leave the blade alone. That will make the whistle more steady.
I tried tweaking a mellow D and something awful happened and I ended up destroying the soundblade…but at least my little black D tweak didn’t turn out so bad (I have decided against soundblade modification as I seem to be clumsy at it).
I didn’t really like the sweetone when I first got it, but now I like it a bit more, as for the Clare, if you like the Generation you’ll probably like the Clare as well, at least in my opinion.
Try a Feadog they are probably the best cheapie Whistles. Tweaking takes practice I have done enough to know that it does, in the process I have only ruined two heas a Clare and a Generation. I also tweak Little Black Ds and sell them, not many but I have sold a few I am trying to make them look better as that was a big turn off to most. Sound blade modification takes practice, it really is best to do it with sand paper.
Jerry Freeman was kind enough to help me out when I tried tweaking my Generation “D”. Here is my experience in tweaking:
First, like you, I took too much off the fipple blade while trying to get a decent sound out of the whistle and ruined it - the whistle would hardly play at all. As I have unrequited WhOA and this was the only whistle that I had, I attempted the second step - replacement of the blade (see http://www.chiffandfipple.com/tweak.html for more info). I took an AOL CD and cut out a roughly rectangular piece, somewhat larger than necessary. I then carefully filed it down until it had the same shape and size of the UNDERSIDE of the fipple blade (watch that the blade is short enough to accomodate the whistle shaft when retracted out of the fipple window). I took some school paste and positioned the (now tiny) bit of plastic on the underside of the fipple blade, put the shaft back into the fipple and carefully adjusted the new blade until I got a good tone. I then removed the school paste and epoxy-ed the new fipple blade in, blowing it again to make sure I had it in a good position. The resulting whistle sounded better than the whistle did originally, but is quieter.
Later, I purchased a MellowDog from Jerry Freeman. Jerry had reconstructed the fipple blade, but had placed the new fipple blade on TOP of the original blade. I asked him about Generations and whether or not it was OK to file off the hump on the top of the fipple blade. Jerry replied that it did not harm the sound. He felt that the whistle was quieter because the new fipple blade has been extended too far into the airway.
Currently, I have three options:
1.)Leave the whistle alone (must . . . control . . . desire . . . to . . . tweak . . .)
2.)File some material from the bottom of the new fipple blade (maybe)
3.)File the bump off the top of the fipple blade, remove the new fipple blade from the bottom of the old blade and put a new blade on the top, as Jerry did with my MellowDog (yes, doctor, yes! Good Brains!)
So don’t throw that old Generation “D” away – you may still be able to resurrect it !
Hi Xopher—Welcome to C&F. I’m not a tweaker but it certainly sounds like a good way to learn exactly how a whistle works. I agree with shadeclan–don’t throw that Generation away, fix it!
Just to have an opposing opinion here, I’ve found several Generations over the years that I didn’t really think were fixable. Now sure, you could make them in tune with some tape and some tweaking, but at the best, they often sounded like more than a few Oaks did right out of the box.
For cheap whistles, nothing is better imo than an Oak.
Of course, it’s all personal taste. As long as you have a whistle, you have happiness. Don’t let the WHOA completely take over. Sure, I have a slew of whistles, some pricey, some midrange and one lovely oak that I won’t part with.
Oh dear. Considering I ruined the soundblade with some ultra fine sandpaper, it would have really been awful had I filed off an entire finger along with it.
I agree! I’ve only had my Feadog for about a week, and I’m completely in whistle-love with it. Now when I pick up my Clarke, I get lightheaded from the amount of air I have to use in comparison! Brigadoon is coming along, by the way-- Whistler’s Mother is helping me, and the Feadog is perfectly in tune with her piano! (This is impressive and heartening-- she’s a piano technician and keeps it obsessively right on pitch. Here’s to well-tuned whistles!)
You can repair the sound blade. Cut a piece of plastic (I use the black plastic drink bottle material, like sports drinks come in) to the right size. Use a TINY piece of blu tack to stick it on. Fiddle around until you get a nice sound. This will take a while because every nanometer makes a difference. Once you have it, don’t distrub it, and put a drop of super glue on it. It should creep under the blade and hold it. Use the watery type glue, not the gel type.
My suggestion would be to save your fingers and just order a Jerry Freeman Tweeked Mellow Dog. No more rolling the dice trying to find a “good” cheepo. Still cheap, at about $35, and absolutely going to be in tune, playable and worthy of your whistling efforts.
Welcome to the world of whistling Xopher!
I am a new whistler myself. I completely understand why one would want to tweak their whistle. My first whistle I got a week ago, it’s a little black D. LOL, yet it has already earned the nickname little black bee…BUZZ BUZZ heh heh. I am not going to disect mine yet though tempting that it is. I will wait until my Feadog arrives. Then twill be time to operate LOL!
This morning my Clare and Feadog whistles arrived from The Big Whistle. They’re both very good whistles. I am pleased with both of them but must say that the Feadog is superb! It sounds great, it’s in tune, has power and can be played quietly. Superb! Just what I need to learn to play properly.
I don’t even need to tweak or fiddle with putty or tack stuff.
When I get better I may find the Clare more to my liking but as of now I can spend my time actually playing and learning, which of course is what it is all about.
!
