I just got the Celtic Tinwhistle in the mail and I really like the sound. I have played a traditional Clarke for the last 8 years and I like the breathy tone. The Sweetone, is not nearly so breathy, has clean definition between the notes and slightly more “fuzzy” but pleasing tone. Although it’s different than my traditional I really, really like it.
However, I need to adjust the tuning a bit. The fipple is adjustable. However, I have it all the way in and it’s still slightly flat all the way up both octaves. Fortunately it seems pretty consistently flat, except for the second octave A. My electronic tuner says A+ is just as flat as everything else, but my ear says it sharper than everything else and I trust my ear way more than a tuner. I can fix the overall flatness by filing a little off the end of the body, right? Which end should I file, the mouthpiece end or the end end? And what sort of file do I use (I’ve never attempted this before)? And what do I do about that sharp A+? Will it correct itself if I get the rest of it lined out?
Whitey,being one of the more radical tweakers on this forum I’ll share with you the secret to unlocking the hidden potential of your sweetone.I assume you’ve made it tunable?good,this is important but no need for blue tac on this fipple.You need to file about 1mm off the end of the whistle to raise the pitch of the bell note and try to do this evenly.You dont need a tuner,listen to the relationship to the E note instead.Next and final step is to open the 5th hole slightly to raise the F# and you’ll need a small oval shaped jewellers file to do this.The whole procedure is a lot less complicated than it sounds and you’ll be rewarded with improved intonation over both octaves.Good luck and have fun! Mike
I have a two Sweet tones, and tuned them both. All you have to do is pull or push on the plastic maouth peice. Mine were just a bit sharp, but maybe I was just blowing a little hard. It didn’t take much pulling.
Mike, thanks for the suggestion. I will try that. What sort of file do I use to take off the 1mm from the end?
I didn’t realize that it came “untunable”. I just pulled firmly on the mouthpiece, and it freed up and popped right off. Jeff, problem is, it’s flat and I’ve got the mouthpiece shoved all the way in to sharpen it up, but the mouthpiece won’t go in any further.
Avanutria, thanks for the suggestion, but “nothing ventured, nothing gained!”
Whitey
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[ This Message was edited by: mgwhitehead on 2001-09-20 13:16 ]
File the END of the whistle? Really? Won’t that hurt the internal tuning (especially if the whole thing is consistently flat)? I would think you should file off the mouthpiece end of the tube.
Whitey,a mill file will do the trick and leave it reasonably smooth and you can also de-bur the outer edge with it.A set of cheap needle files will provide a file for the 5th hole.Jessie,raising the bell note on a perfectly tuned whistle such as a Burke would definately throw the internal tuning out but most cheap whistles are terribly out of tune and fipple adjustment mostly raises or lowers the bell note leaving everything above it slightly compromised with the higher notes becoming flat or sharp depending on which direction the fipple is moved.Effective whistle tweaking sometimes involves far more than blue tack in the fipple and hey, its only a Sweetone and as Whitey said, nothing ventured nothing gained. Mike
[ This Message was edited by: mike.r on 2001-09-21 05:58 ]
Mike