This one is quite a lot better, although it looks almost the same as the last one, so I won’t bore you (or stress me) with another pic. The only difference in looks is that I’ve shaped the plastic top rather better, so that I don’t feel as though I’m eating it! I’ve gone for the long beak again, as I liked that on the last one, and I’ve tapered the windway as Plastiman suggested - thanks, Plastiman! I also bashed the top of the windway walls a bit to make them flatter, as well as using 1mm walled pipe instead of 1.5. The difference in back pressure is amazing! I can play for hours on one breath - eventually I start hallucinating, of course, but then my playing sounds better too.
My next problem is how to make the Cnat so I know in advance what the fingering will be! Is this always a surprise, or is there a trick that I’ve missed? I have at last decided to look things up rather than try to figure it all out, so have ordered Daniel Bingamon’s books etc, which will probably tell me all the answers (including the meaning of life, I hope). But I would be interested to know if there is a method to this?
I have also bought a Dremel and my hands are still fairly whole, and my Delrin plug gleams!
Thanks for all the encouragement from this board. Next project is now an A, then perhaps a low D.
Edited: Forgot to say, it sounds pretty good, too - I’m pleased with the tone. It “pops” like my Jerry-tweaked C gen, which is nice!
Seems to me the C natural fingering is largely determined by the size of hole #1. Let’s say (hypothetically) that the top hole is 5mm and you’ve got a good C nat with 0XX 000. Make the hole larger (and lower), that fingering will now be too sharp, so you’ll have to add fingers to lower holes. That’s my beginning whistle maker understanding. I think the other hole sizes play a role too, but not as much as hole #1. My latest tube gives equal C naturals with 0XX 000 and 0X0 XXX, But the second fingering is cleaner sounding. Not sure why.
Seems to me the C natural fingering is largely determined by the size of hole #1. Let’s say (hypothetically) that the top hole is 5mm and you’ve got a good C nat with 0XX 000. Make the hole larger (and lower), that fingering will now be too sharp, so you’ll have to add fingers to lower holes. That’s my beginning whistle maker understanding. I think the other hole sizes play a role too, but not as much as hole #1. My latest tube gives equal C naturals with 0XX 000 and 0X0 XXX, But the second fingering is cleaner sounding. Not sure why.
Yep, but hole 1 is also the octave vent for the octave D, so you have to adjust with caution, or one D will be out from the other, which is worse then having a sharp C-natural.
Hole 4 also has its say on that C-natural–even a small adjustment can help without throwing the G’s out too badly.
Disclaimer: I’ve not yet made a whistle, but I’ve made a few PVC flutes through the years.
–James
Thanks for the tips - had fiddled a bit with the top hole but did not want to mess up the in-tune-ness of the high d, as James mentioned. I just wondered whether it really was luck, or if the judgement is still to come!