I’m missing half of my right thumb, along with the ends of the right fore and middle fingers. The missing half a thumb is a problem with the pennywhistle. Without adding something to the instrument, I can’t get a reliable hold on it, and end up getting annoying chirps when I hit some notes. The only solution I’ve found is temporarily attaching a clarinet thumb cushion using that sticky poster tack stuff. Thank goodness my daughter plays a charinet. Problem is, the cushion starts sliding when I play fast or for a long time, and I’m back to the unreliable hold and annoying chirps.
I really don’t want to glue a clarinet thumb cushion to my instrument.
Anyone know of any semi-permanent thing I can use to get a half-inch advantage to make up for the missing thumb that won’t easily slide or leave glue marks on my pennywhistle?
If by thumb cushion you mean thumb rest, then Susato makes snap-on thumb rests in several sizes. I was in a music shop two days ago and saw a big basket of these for $2 each.
(Oops, I see Brigitte had the idea first.)
On a couple of my larger whistles, I have used an oversize O ring to give me an improvised thumb rest. You might want to try this if an Susato rest will not work. (Susato whistles tend to be larger diameters than most whistles.) You need to use undersize O rings to keep them from moving around.
here’s my two cents. what about a glove? the thumb could have something in it to fill up the space where the missing part of your thumb would be. you might even attach velcro to the glove thumb and the other part of the velcro to the whistle so your hand doesn’t slip. for the fingers, cut the tips off the gloves, so the gloves won’t interfere with the holes.
you didn’t mention how you came to be missing these parts of your hand. you should have voc-rehab services in your state that may offer services. those folks are pretty creative sometimes. you may also pose this question with your local disabled vets, something tells me they would know way more about this than we do.
when (not if) you work out a solution could you please share your solution with us? could you also tell us what didn’t work?
or what about those rubber fingertips that secretaries/bank tellers use to ease turning pages and counting money? they sell these in different sizes at office supply stores. the larger sizes might be big enough to give you the 1/2 inch and fit snugly on your thumb.
i tried using these once when i was trying to improve upon my guitar finger picking. i tore them to shreds in one try.
here’s one more suggestion. hardware stores sell different types and sizes of tubing. one of these tubes should fit your thumb. in one part of the tube, cut a slit. put an O ring clamp through the slit, then tighten the O ring clamp to the whistle.
i recently solved a problem with a clare 2 piece whistle. my 2 pieces don’t fit snugly together and i was getting way too much wind loss through the gap. teflon tape solved the problem for a one shot deal but didn’t work well when i wanted to keep putting it together and taking it apart. our local hardware store sells latex tubing. it costs $2.50 a foot. they begrudgingly sold me 4 inches. a 1 inch piece works well. the tubing they had was 1/2 inch in diameter. it fits snugly and it’s a little bit of a battle to put the tubing over the joint but this is effective. 3/4 inch tubing would work better but they don’t sell that size.
Another possibility is to change your rt hand position
so that the thumb is securely in place, the fingers
are well over the holes. R3 may stick out over
the whistle and your hand may need to be angled
over the holes
somewhat. This would be a variation of
piper’s grip (you can use the search function),
which is widely used anyway, mostly on lower
whistles, but sometimes on soprano D.
Your position doesn’t need to be elegant, it just
needs to work.
If all else fails, you can consider switching to a tabor pipe. That beast is essentially a whistle with only the lower 3 holes on, the 3rd being on the back. You grip it between the lower two fingers, and figer it by the upper two plus thumb. Left hand is the better one (unless you are a lefty). You play it by overblowing, starting from the first overblown octave. Bonus: you also supply your own percussion, by beating a tabor drum with your right hand.
Not quite a whistle, but the nearest thing.
Hi Reporter, and welcome. You don’t say what kind of whistle you play, but I second the Susato thumb rest solution. You can find them here, and order directly from Susato.
They come in 7 sizes from #0 to #6. The smallest #0 is just a hair too big for a standard 1/2" D whistle tube, such as a Generation or Feadóg. But just a tiny blob of sticky tack or rolled up masking tape (sticky side out) inside the ring of the thumb rest is enough to take up the slack and secure it firmly and non-permanently without slipping. You can also rotate the angle slightly.
The #0 rest fits snugly as-is on a Generation or Feadóg 9/16" C whistle tube without tack or tape. And the #1 and above certainly fit larger tubes.
When fitted, the thumb platform extends ~13 mm from the tube. If you need more length, a small piece of vinyl tubing ~8 mm inside diameter inserted over the platform could easily give you an extra 1 inch or more of comfortable extension for your thumb.
Back in the days before fancy commercial clarinet thumb cushions, I used to use fruit! Namely, an artifical plastic grape inserted over the thumb platform to cushion and extend it. It worked great, and before long all the clarinetists in school were using grapes. You could try that, too.
BTW, you are in good whistling company. Well-known Scottish whistle player Alex Green from Aberdeen is also missing the tips of his first two right hand fingers, as you can see in this cover photo. And he manages just fine.
Whistlesmith makes thumbrings. It’s actually a ring that fits over your thumb, and it swivels. It seems like it would be more comfortable and more stable the a thumb rest.
Wow, you guys are great. There’s a lot of good suggestions here. I’m following up on the Susato thumb-rest and Whistlesmith thumb-ring suggestions first, and have others in mind if they don’t work out. The Susato rest looks a little thin where I’d be using it (on instead of against). The Whistlesmith thumb ring doesn’t look like it gives much elevation, which is important here. Both, though, are good ideas and worth tries.
To answer a couple questions, and points, people made:
What whistle I play depends on which ones my children have stolen at the time. My 17-year-old daughter is a disgustingly accomplished clarinetist. My 15-year-old son is a quickly up-and-coming trumpeter. The two leap on any musical instrument that has the misfortune of wandering within earshot of them. I have an Oak, a Feadog, a Clark, and a Clark Meg. All D. Since my daughter has a nickel allergy, the Oak is safe from her, so that’s the pennywhistle I like best.
I already use the piper’s grip, if we’re talking about the same thing, Jim, because I play chanter. I still need a half -inch advantage to make it work, because of the missing fore and middle fingertips. Although, it, too, was a good suggestion.
I had a few ideas but all you good folks have already expressed them, probably better than I could. I just want to say that it moves me to see people coming forward to help. Sounds like you’ve got a couple of excellent solutions… so happy whistling to you!
Oh yes indeedy! After way overdoing it on the guitar, I got to spend one solid year where my left thumb was frozen at the top joint. Couldn’t bend it, very painful. And thank goodness I could still manage to play the whistle. One of things I love about it (I think of it as the electric typewriter of instruments) is that it takes so little force to play it. As an ex-harpist I can tell you that this is a really nice perk. You don’t have to tize out your fingers playing it. In fact, I keep asking myself: how can I back off even more and play even more lightly? It certainly makes the tunes prettier too.
inserted over the thumb platform to cushion and extend it. It worked great, and before long all the clarinetists in school were using grapes. You could try that, too.