Greetings; Howard D condensation issues.

Whistle
1

All right, everybody say hello to the new guy…

I’ve been playing whistle for some years now. I have a few friends who play whistle as an extra instrument-- guitar players, mostly-- but none who are experts. Over time I became the most serious whistler among us, and I often wondered if anyone was as crazy about the instrument as myself.

And now I stumble over this web site, and I find there actually are people like me. Excellent. Greetings, all! :sunglasses:

My experience is mostly with traditional (all-metal) Clarkes and Shaws. (Conical bore forever!) A few months ago I was given, much to my delight, a low D Howard. The Howard is a great instrument, once you get the breath control down, but it has a single grand misfeature that makes it frustrating to use: condensation. Over a single tune the tone gets gradually quieter, then sputters and dies miserably.

I’m thinking I will try the soap residue trick given in various places on this site. But before I do, I thought I’d ask if anyone has particular experience with this problem on this whistle. Does soap solve it?

(The only OTHER problem with the Howard is that the breath volume requirements are miniscule. Playing it has made me lazy about breathing. When I go back to the Clarkes I wind up gasping for air…)

2

Welcome to the board of Chief & Fipple. I also have a Howard Low D and a low c tube for it. Condensation is something that a whistler learns to deal with. The soap thing works and there is a product called duponal that is good also. I have also turned the fipple upside down and that lets the moisture run out on the roof of the windway. It has less effect of clogging than building up on the floor. The thing I use most is a handkerchief that I put over the fipple and blow inbetween tunes. This keeps the whistle quiet when the mosture comes out, and also from spraying someone. :slight_smile: