I finally broke down and followed C&F instructions on tweaking. Amazing!! I little strip of sandpaper, some swapping of fipples back and forth, and suddenly my Generation monstrosity sounds like something Joannie Madden would choose. But what about this beeswax that you put on the underside…OUTSIDE!!! How could that help? What physical difference could it make?
Whitmores-
Do you mean beeswax on the body?If so, it goes where your right hand thumb will sit, to help keep your thumb from slipping.You can also use a band-aid, placed vertically. This elicits interesting responses from kids-“does your whistle have a boo boo?”,etc…
Not outside. . .inside the mouthpiece, under the lower lip of the fipple there is a wedge-shaped cavity. Fill it in with the wax. Actually, blue tack (available in most office supply stores in the dept where you’d find tacks and corkboard items) works very well is cheap and has other uses. I highly recommend it.
No Janice, I’m talking about the tweaking instructions that tell us to melt the beeswax and put a glob of it on the underside of the wind passage…outside. There’s even a drawing of a fipple showing where it goes.
Tom
Ok-I feel behind the times..!!!(but it also does work nicely as a thumb rest.That’s my story and I’m sticking to it…no pun intended of course.)
Whitmore, I reiterate. . .inside the mouthpiece, not outside. Stick a finger down there and you’ll feel the gap inside
here is the mouthpiece…
…||
…||<-----right there INSIDE
hole…|
…| |
@#$%^ this is NOT allowing me to draw!
Tyghress
…And I go on, pursuing through the hours,
Another tiger, the one not found in verse.
Jorge Luis Borges
[ This Message was edited by: tyghress too many times to count or keep track of.
[ This Message was edited by: tyghress on 2002-07-21 11:32 ]
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[ This Message was edited by: tyghress on 2002-07-21 11:34 ]
On 2002-07-21 11:11, Whitmores75087 wrote:
No Janice, I’m talking about the tweaking instructions that tell us to melt the beeswax and put a glob of it on the underside of the wind passage…outside. There’s even a drawing of a fipple showing where it goes.Tom
- Another optional step is the filling of the sub-airway cavity with wax. The subairway cavity is the space that most whistles have that is UNDER the airway channel. (see figure below) . You can fill this up by lighting a candle, holding the mouthpiece vertically and dripping wax into the cavity. Avoid getting wax into the airway. It can be a bit tough to clear out. When it fills up, hold the mouthpiece until the wax hardens some. You can put in the freezer if you want.
Under the windway- Yes
Outside- No
Into the cavity-Yes
Outside-No
I can see how you might think the wax goes on the outside if you were looking at the drawing.Reread the instructions but think inside.
- Another optional step is the filling of the sub-airway cavity with wax. The subairway cavity is the space that most whistles have that is UNDER the airway channel. (see figure below) . You can fill this up by lighting a candle, holding the mouthpiece vertically and dripping wax into the cavity.
If left in a car on a warm/hot day, won’t the wax just melt? And exactly what is blue tack or sticky tack? What am I looking for when I go to a store? Does it come in a jar, a can, what?
[ This Message was edited by: blackhawk on 2002-07-21 12:14 ]
The wax WILL melt on even a modestly warm day, and so I don’t use/recommend it. The Plasti-tac stuff is available all over, and it comes in a little packet like a blister card thing…at least as I’ve seen it.
It’s kind of like those old kneadable erasers. Roughly the same texture, perhaps a bit softer. Bit it doesn’t melt, and it is completely removeable if desired.
Y.P.
I stuffed that cavity with chewing gum on my Soodlum. The difference was subtle, but definitely an improvement.
On 2002-07-21 12:13, blackhawk wrote:
And exactly what is blue tack or sticky tack? What am I looking for when I go to a store? Does it come in a jar, a can, what?
The actual name of the stuff is Blue Tack, or Sticky Tack. It comes in little bars about a dozen to the pack, and one bar will do half a dozen whistles, I imagine. Its used as a non-glue stickum for holding paper notes or such to smooth surfaces…very removable. Go to Office Max…go to the aisle with tacks, corkboards, magnets and such, and just look for it. Its really easy to find.
Thanks, Tyghress, this is exactly what I needed to know. There’s an Office Max nearby.
Whitmores75087 (Tom)…
I think the instruction drawing can be confusing. But the wax definitely goes on the inside, in the “bowl” directly under the airway.
I agree with others that wax may not be the best choice if you’re planning to use this whistle as your “vehicle whistle” or are prone to leaving it in the hot sun. If you want to keep a whistle in your car, use one that’s not tweaked. The main thing when filling the mouthpiece cavity is maintaining a smooth exposed surface since the tonal quality is partially determined by the smoothness of all internal surfaces. Smooth air flow can be affected by the smallest imperfections. Even when using wax, you face the possibility of an air bubble messing up the smooth exposed surface after it dries. If you use the sticky-tack, try to get the exposed side as smooth as possible using a dampened pencil eraser, etc. Also, make sure you don’t get anything in the actual airway, and don’t let the wax or sticky-tack extend out past the end of the airway into the windway (opening at the top of the mouthpiece). Also, depending on the whistle and mouthpiece design, you sometimes don’t have to fill the bowl completely to achieve the sound and playability you want. Just experiment with a small amount of sticky-tack first and keep adding as needed.
Another trick that works wonders with some plastic mouthpieces is narrowing the airway by carefully heating the airway portion of the mouthpiece over a stove and slightly squeezing it together (with the mouthpiece still attached to the tube). I like to turn the whistle upside down and carefully & gently press the top of the airway against a hard surface like a counter top. If you get the airway too tight, it’s easy to reopen by heating it again and using a round, tapered toothpick in the airway, going from side to side. Practice on an old fipple first if you can. But once you get the hang of it, this one “tweak” can resurrect an unplayable whistle that doesn’t respond to other tweaks. I recently had 2 Oak Ds replaced by Oak due to strange tasting mouthpieces that left my mouth tingling, and both arrived basically unplayable. They were terrible. Breathy, temperamental, scratchy, etc. Oak mouthpieces have a very tall airway and it causes lots of problems. So I did the airway narrowing on one of them, filled the bowl about 1/2 way with sticky-tack, and this is now a fantastic whistle and I play it evey day. I really like the sound of Oaks. Narrowing the airway reduces the overall volume somewhat, but it’s still plenty loud enough for sessions. More importantly, it now has a pure, clean, strong sound with excellent balance through both octaves and is a pleasure to play.
Sorry about the long post, but thought it may help.
Denny
[ This Message was edited by: DRC on 2002-07-21 14:39 ]
Thanks Denny…great info. I know an Oak that needs tweaking.
Sorry Tigress. I didn’t see your message on the board when I posted mine, and I ended up appearing not to listen to you. I now understand. Didn’t make sense the other way.
It’s trickier, but you can use epoxy to fill the fipple cavity for a very durable tweak. Mix up a batch, scoop up a gob on a thin dowel, paint brush handle, etc, and let it drip into the cavity. Repeat the dripping thing until the cavity is full. Prop up the fipple in a vertical orientation until the epoxy dries, and gravity will give you a perfect, smooth surface. Use regular epoxy, not quick dry and you will have more time to work.
Drawing Copyright Dale “Joey Heatherton” Wisely & Industrial Light and Magic, Inc.
All rights reserved.
brewerpaul…
Good suggestion and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. I didn’t want to mention it in my previous post because it’s a one-time thing and if not done correctly the first time, it’s goodbye mouthpiece! Because the cavity sometimes doesn’t need to be filled completely (depending on the whistle/fipple, completely filling it can make it worse), what I do is first use sticky-tack until I get the playability I want, make a mental note of the amount in the cavity, then remove it and refill the cavity with epoxy to the same height as the sticky-tack. I recently did this to my Gen Eb that was having some transitional problems and it’s now one sweet, clear, easy-playing whistle.
Denny
Hey Dale…what CAD program did you use for that drawing?
[ This Message was edited by: DRC on 2002-07-22 11:46 ]
On 2002-07-22 11:41, DRC wrote:
Hey Dale…what CAD program did you use for that drawing?
[ This Message was edited by: DRC on 2002-07-22 11:46 ]
How about my beloved Paint Shop Pro, about five versions back. Everytime I try updating to a new version I keep going back to the old version.
Hey Dale! Where did you get the pic of the Lesser Black Mandibled Duck!