Once upon a time, there was a bare aluminium pipe that served, as far as I know, as a stick to a mop or something like that. It had a rubber coating, so that after removing it I found a nice shiny surface. By cutting, drilling and filing the pipe became a Low-D Whistle. I finished it yesterday.
The tube has 20 mm inner diameter, its wall is 2 mm thick (which is quite much, isn’t it?)
The windway is curved, 2 mm high and 40 mm long. Its floor is formed by a block of wood, impregnated by soaking in melted candle-wax. The block wall is slanted. The blade lies in the lower half of the windway height.
The toneholes were calculated by D. Bingamon’s TWCalc. I punched their centers at calculated positions, then drilled them 1-2 mm smaller than they should be; and increased their diameter and undercut by a file until they were in tune.
I am contented with the result of my work, except for two “bugs”. The first is, that the timbre is not very beautiful, esp. in the upper register - but I don’t mind this much, 'tis obvious that a nice tone color cannot be achieved by a prototype I think, when I’ll have more time, I will cut the fipple offf and experiment with making another fipples.
The second thing is worse. The lower octave is exactly in tune, second D is OK and the overblown E is, er, not exact but still usable; but F# and higher tones are completely wrong. So now I see that the correct frequency of tones in the lower register does not automatically imply correct frequencies in the upper register - I didn’t know this… Thus I am asking more experienced whistle-makers… when I make toneholes: what must be done to a hole to change its overblown frequency AND not change its base frequency, or vice versa? I’d like my next whistle to be in tune!
, what a beauty. It looks a bit like the Impempe whistles. If it sounds as good as it looks, you should definitely make more!!! Any soundclips with it?
To start, nice work. Cleaner workmanship than some commercial hand-made tooters, and slicker than what I make for my own use.
Sounds like your 2nd octave pitch problem is block-position vs. window dimensions: tricky stuff that the experienced makers will likely chime in on. I’ve had luck doing corrections by undercutting toneholes (less effective on thinner materials) and doing a wall around the windway (like Copelands, but messier - I use Fimo).
Actually, 'twas these pictures that gave me the idea how to make the fipple
I’m afraid it does not sound as good as it looks… I think I am going to disassemble the fipple and do something with it. It seems to me that the tone is made up of two sounds: a clean (not very sharp) tone and a silent, but ever-present buzz, and there is one place at the fipple I suspect to be the source of this noise…
I’ll try to record something when I’ll learn to play the wistle I’ve never played the low-whistle before.
It was a separate piece of pipe – of the same pipe. I cut off a part of the wall, then expanded it so as to be able to force it on the pipe (by a hammer). It holds on its place very well
I ran into the same thing using TWCalc when I started making my prototypes..the second octave would be sharp. I found a lot of possible “corrective” information on the internet (such as an internal fipple spike, for instance) that wasn’t really helpful to me.
Ultimately, I ended up trying different tone hole sizes and distances and using other makers works for inspiration until I found the formula that works for me.
If you made a tunable whistle, would it be easier to experiment with different bodies? That way you would not have to build a fipple to try new tone hole placement. You could even reuse the same tube (saving materials) several times by plugging the holes and drilling holes in a different position.
I finished it yesterday.
Thus I am asking more experienced whistle-makers… when I make toneholes: what must be done to a hole to change its overblown frequency AND not change its base frequency, or vice versa? 
I’d like my next whistle to be in tune! 
I’ve never played the low-whistle before.