Recently I bought the Eb Silver Copeland that David O’Brien offered for sale on this list a while back. I’m beginning to wonder if I should send it back to Michael Copeland for a checkup. When playing the two highest notes in both octaves the whistle is out of tune with itself and can not be blown into tune, both of the notes are noticeably flat. I can get it to play in tune but that requires me to semi-half-hole the next note up…
I have also noticed that one of the previous owners has tried to “tweak” the whistle by filling the sides beneath the window with sticky-tack. I guess the first thing I should do is to remove the sticky-tack…
If I listen carefully I can hear the same problem with slightly flat notes in the higher register when listening to the mp3’s David sent me before I decided to go for it on eBay. I wonder if the tweak was an attempt to “fix” the problem by the person David got the whistle from…
Suggestions anyone?
UPDATE: I removed the sticky-tack and that improved the playability a lot. The whistle is still not quite in tune with itself though it is a lot better than before. At least now it responds to attempts to blow the notes in tune…
Try to partially cover the bore end hole with a finger tip on those high notes. Somtimes a large bore diameter will cause flat notes at the high end. If this helps, take that extra sticky tack and use it to reduce the bore end hole for greater backpressure. Deep toneholes also contribute to flat high notes.
There are other techniques to sharpen a flat register, like the ancient feather quill tweak (inserted up the bore) to reduce internal cubic volume. and a more modern wax fill around the circular edge of the fipple plug that also reduces internal cubic volume.
Theoretically conical bore whistles only have one slide position where the instrument is truly in tune with itself. The whistle is likely to have some tuning problems with the head all the way in.
You’ll probably have to adjust your breath pressure to bring the whistle into tune. Make sure you’re not overblowing the bottom notes.
FWIW, my Eb Copeland plays quite well, albeit loud.
I had a Copeland with the same problem. I sent it back to them, with the slide set to where the lower notes were in tune for me, and they fixed it up for me.
Then that’s probably what I’ll do. I checked how well the whistle was in tune with itself with “flutini” and there are definitely some tuning issues. With the slide in the position where the bell note is in tune, the other notes become flatter in progression. On the other hand, if I tune it so that one of the notes in the middle are in tune, the higher notes will be a bit flat and the lower a bit sharp.
It may just be that I have a ear that is too sensitive but it is really painful to hear a note that is slightly off…
I should also point out that the other Copeland I have does not have the same tuning issues.
