making a copper low whistle

Whistle
1

I’ve been bashing various bits of copper tube on and off for months now trying to make a low whistle. There are some useful guides online, such as this one:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/6611/makewhis.htm

but I’ve always been thwarted when trying to make the mouthpiece, particularly getting the blade right (I’m not very good at practical stuff). Instructions like “bend the copper in about 1-2 mm” leave me wondering if I’ve bent the blade in too far or not far enough, and when inevitably it doesn’t work, I don’t know which way to go. (Ok, I know that the bottom of the blade should be level with the fipple block, but that’s hard to measure!)

I find that Guido’s PVC whistles are much easier to make, but I really wanted to make a copper one (and maybe an aluminium one later).

Then I came across the how to guide on the ethnic wind website:
http://www.ethnicwind.com/process.html

To me, this looks like Guido’s method, but with equivalent metal parts, crucially using a metal coupler/sleeve eliminates the need for bending the blade. So, I bought some couplers at my local DIY store and got cracking.

For the fipple block, I used polyester casting resin, which I poured into 2" lengths of copper pipe (this eliminates the need for a lathe). Getting the fipple plugs out wasn’t too difficult. Once they had set, I squeezed the tubes with a pair of pliers, taking care not to crack the polyester.

Next, I followed Guido’s instructions to make the mouthpiece, and now have two playable copper low whistles! (Actually, I still have to shape the beaks and drill the holes, but it’s amazing the number of tunes that you can play using an octave jump).

So, I’m a happy bunny and wanted to spread the joy.

2

I’m going to go and have a beer to celebrate Mike!

I know, the counsellor said to try not to look for excuses but…

Congrats :pint:

3

4

Welcome to the flock of the whistle makers, happy (hoopy?) bunny. :smiley:

Please, post some pictures and clips when you finish your preciousssss.

Btw, that second guide is awesome. Picture worth a thousand words, indeed.

Belt sander…i must get one. I use plain file to do that grinding. It’s exhausting.

5

The mouthpiece construction as outlined by the ethic winds site is very similar in design to what I have done with plastic pipe - my first couple of whistles used brass tube which fit over the plastic tube, it works but the windway is a little tall I think - I moved on and have not tried this in a couple years. I was making high d whistles but it is similar

Anyway having made whistles like this (in plastic and wood but not copper) a couple tips:

don’t fix the fipple block until you have drilled the holes - you might find that the exact window height opening is critical and the optimum is different for different notes so you have to try it out (move the block and the outer sleeve and find a compromise - some whistles seem forgiving this way, others are very critical. Generally a tall opening is good for low notes and a short one for the second octave

and second a bevel on the edge of the fipple some times helps (I think this is on Guido’s site) and may make the window height a little less critical

Have fun and realize it is a slippery slope

Bill

6

Welcome to the magnificent obsession, Mike! At least it’s cheaper than buying them ready made… Sounds like you’re on the right track, adapting the Gonzato design to copper pipe. BTW, either TWCalc or the calculator on Chuck Tilbury’s site will work well for calculating the hole positions & sizes.

7

Good advise. :slight_smile: Also, pay careful attention to the tuning of the upper register when you set the block. Sometimes it seems to change a lot and other times not so much.

8

I have a low F now, based on Guido’s measurements. The flutomat spacings were very very different. The whistle plays well up to a G in the second octave (ok, it’s not a G, but whatever the note is with T1 T2 T3 covered - Bb I guess) but it’s a bit flat from there upwards. I fixed the fipple block, because it was tough to tune it while it was slipping around, so I wonder how moving it affects the second octave tuning (but not the first I guess, or maybe less so?) Anyway, I’m learning by my mistakes…

9

The fipple window is a hole. Making it larger or smaller seems to change the upper register tuning. Especially the top 3 notes. Larger hole = sharper pitch. Changing it seems to have no effect on the lower octave. If things slide around too much, try a slip of paper to temporarily tighten it up.

10

Interesting.

How heavy are they?

11

Are you sure it’s not other way around. Whenever i make a whistle, i have to balance between bigger fipple window which gives stronger and more stable low register bottom notes, but breathier and weaker upper octave notes. But the smaller window gives unstable bottom notes. The most of my job is finding that sweet spot so it would sound nice.

12

Put it this way; it’d be useful in a bar-room brawl.

13

Yes the balance of the intonation between upper and lower octaves (in my opinion) is best controlled by changing the distance that the airstream has to travel before encountering the fipple blade. A longer distance means a stronger lower octave.

What I was talking about above was the idea that changing the total area of the fipple opening changes the tuning in the upper octave. I recently got a Carey Parks Every Whistle. This very nice instrument has a ring that can cover part of the fipple opening so that you can change the volume of sound that the instrument is producing. (very useful!) A side effect of that is that as you cover the hole more, the pitch of the instrument is made lower. The upper octave seems to be effected more than the lower octave.

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one change always seems to change several things

15

Absolutely! Making a whistle is all about balance.

16

Ok folks, here’s a sound clip:
http://www.box.net/shared/8dlu5p7mix
comments welcome!

I now have a low G and a low A body to go with the low F, all out of 22mm OD copper pipe. The low A takes a bit of pushing to get it into the second octave, probably because the bore is a bit on the large side for that pitch. Next step is an aluminium body, then an aluminium head, then…

What’s the whistle maker’s equivalent to that whistle obsessive aquisition (no idea of how to spell after a glass of wine) disorder?

17

I always called it WMAD, but that didn’t catch on… :slight_smile: Whistle Making/Acquisition Disorder.