I had posted a question about alto whistles the other day, and the general response was encouraging. I wanted to try one but didn’t want more stuff showing up on the credit card given that I had just made an order from the Whistle Shop this past week. So I decided to try to make one.
I used the method for the “low-tech whistle” described by Guido “Goccia” Gonzato at http://profs.sci.univr.it/~gonzato/whistle/index.html.
What fantastic instructions! I more or less followed them as written, and after a couple of hours and less than a dollar in materials I had a tunable low G whistle that actually works, with a detachable mouthpiece that I’m also going to use with an A whistle barrel that I’ll probably make tomorrow. I used 3/4" CPVC from Home Depot, all of about a foot and a half of it, and a couple of inches of 3/4" dowel I had lying around and a 3/4" CPVC straight coupling. Thats it. How absolutely cool - a decent sounding low G whistle for less than a buck!
This particular whistle has a breathy tone, kind of like what you would expect a Clarke Original to have if they made a G, but it takes a lot less wind than my Clarke Original C, and the second octave is a lot more accessible and better behaved. It took a bit of sneaking up on the hole diameters to get the high octave to play in proper intonation up to the high F# (that’s one area where I deviated from the directions a little), but the hole placements specified were right on. I’m going to keep experimenting with mouthpieces to see if I can make one that’s less breathy sounding. I will also order some Delrin rod for future fipples.
I don’t know if Goccia reads this forum, but I’d like to publically thank him for providing this excellent resource.
- Mike
Anywho, those are the same instructions I “followed” to make my whistles. I use both 1/2" and 3/4" CPVC. Let’s see…I’ve made whistles in keys…D…C…Lows: A…G…D…C. I’ve also made flutes out of the same materials (D, C, Eb so far), along with some made out of bamboo from time to time. I like the nontunable versions of my whistles moreso than the tunable ones…don’t know why. It’s just my preference, but I can make both. To me, whistlemaking is quite relaxing. Which gets me to thinking…I need to make another trip to Lowes…running out of materials. 