Low air - bad sound whistle question

Whistle
1

I have a question about different whistles. I nornally play a Burke brass session whistle.

When I pick up my 2 yr old, almost never played Oak, I often get a bad tone, sounding as though the air stream is split and I’m getting two tones on the same note. I suppose there’s a slight pitch variation, otherwise why would it sound like two tones? It’s sort of a bad reedy sound. The blade appears good, sharp and clean. I’ve rinsed out the whistle. No clogs.

So my question is - Is it me or the whistle? I realize that Oaks have a very low air requirement, but if I give any less air, I won’t get a tone. I can play a clean scale, but as soon as I start a tune I start getting this dual tone thing. I returned a narrow bore Hoover to Mack because it was just too sensitive/fussy or me to be comfortable with it. (The whistle was wonderful, it just didn’t suit me.)

I can’t get the same annoying thing out of other whistles - Susato, Freeman-tweaked Shaw, Busman etc.

Is it something to do with molded plastic mouthpieces?

I don’t need to play the Oak, but am curious about what causes this sound, especially, I guess, if it’s me, not the whistle.

Any ideas are welcome.

2

It’s only a guess but it seems that either the airstream is not laminar or does not hit the blade on the upper side.

Silvano

3

Try the standard tweaks…take the mouthpiece off and run some fine sandpaper to make sure there aren’t bits of plastic running rampant. Fill the space with blue tack…try it again.

Also, be very sure there is a good seal between mouthpiece and body.

Let us know if anything you do helps.

Good luck!
Tyg

4

I’d eliminate the first possibility… ask someone else to play it for you first before tweaking it…

5

Also, before thinking about tweaking it, try a couple of things:

First, if you haven’t already, rinse out the whistle thoroughly with warm, soapy water, rinse, and let dry. After it dries, hold it up to the light and make sure nothing is visibly occluding the windway in the fipple. Also make sure nothing is stuck to the blade.

If those don’t help, try picking up that whistle first thing in the day, before you’ve played any other instrument. Sometimes I find with my own playing that once I’m “set” to one kind of whistle (for instance, Burke), playing a very different kind of whistle (i.e. Alba) can be a real challenge.

In my own experience, I’ve found Oaks to be very consistent, and very stable, easy to play whistles, no tweaking necessary.

–James

6

My Oak is a gem, but I’ll admit I used the blu-tak tweak on it. I don’t think I could possibly find a better cheap whistle.

And let me also say, that Oak head is not the easiest in the world to remove. so I would recommend you try James’ suggestions first.

I also have another Oak D that isn’t quite as good as my favorite (although it’s close)… so I guess they do vary to a small extent.

Mary

7

Could be a number of things, but A tiny burr or sharp edge anywhere in a critical area, or moisture build-up, would be the first things I’d suspect. So, I’d do as others have suggested and do a visual inspect the headjoint, looking for tiny burrs anywhere in the area of airflow. If that turns nothing up, dip the head in a soap water solution, let dry, and play again, to see what happens. If even a tiny bit of condensation builds up in just the wrong spot, the symptoms you describe could occur, and the soap water dip should, at least temporarily, cure the problem.

Loren