How do you tune an Overton tunable Low D?

Whistle
1

I just got an Overton tunable Low D from Song of the Sea, and just opened it last night. Beautiful whistle! Truly a work of art.

One question I had was how do I tune the whistle? From the photos of the Overtons in The Low Whistle book, it looked like there was an outer sleeve on the whistle, but the one I got was somewhat sleeker looking. Doesn’t have an outer slide, but it looks like the two parts of the whistle slide up and down an inner portion. On the whistle I have, the top and bottom parts of the whistle are slightly apart, with a gap about 1/4" between them. I can see a inner piece of metal, what I imagine is the inner slide. It looked like there was teflon tape (I imagine) between the inner slide and the two sections. Would this need replacing from time to time?

At any rate, I tried to gently pull the top and bottom sections apart, and then to slide them together–but nothing moved, and I didn’t want to use too much force.

Other than the tuning, are there any suggestions for care of the Overton? Would the aluminum get corroded over the years? Should I soap the inside of the windway to prevent clogging? Also, is there a certain type of cleaner I should use to dry out the inside of the whistle?


many thanks,
baen

2

Just grab the upper and lower ends in your two hands and twist back and forth. It’s aluminum and you can crank on the thing without worrying about breaking it. Teflon tape works fine but you’ll probably not need to replace it for quite awhile unless you are constantly futzing with the tuning. I’d keep the head assembled and leave it alone for the most part. Clean the bore? Maybe swab it out with piece of fabric on the end of a dowel rod but i can’t imagine you’d have to do more than that.

Shameless plug–I still have a overton tuneable low D for sale, $200 gets it to your home in time for thanksgiving.