I really love the unbelievable ease of playing two plus octaves on my Silkstone (green) PVC but sometimes I want to play even lower.
I truly love the booming low tones of my (brown) Overton low D, but gasping for air every half measure or so can be distracting.
I sure love being able to play my Hoover narrow bore D forever on a single breath, but boy do I hate those notes that break upward because I can’t always seem to throttle back enough on air to avoid oerblowing.
So, what I want is a whistle with the tone of an Overton low D, multi-octave playability of a Silkstone, and air demands of a Hoover narrow bore D.
Lemme mess around with some PVC and see what I can come up with. Or check with Cyfiawnder (Justin) and see what he has to say. I been kind of wanting to do plastic, and this looks like an opportunity to play, once I get caught up (end of this week, I hope!)
Cheers,
serpent
Ever tried a Thin Weasel C? It’s the closest I can think of to what you’re looking for – moderate air requirements, a big sound, and really easy to play.
They do vary quite a bit, and I’m sure Glenn could voice one for a little extra growl if that’s what you want.
I’ve never seen low whistles less demanding on air than Colin Goldie’s (*) True, I never played any other Overton.
My big bore C demands less air than all my D !
To Colin, it appears that low air demand is one of his first concerns, and indirectly part of the unmistakeable “voice” of his whistles.
Unless you as him specifically for a free-blowing one, which he seems reluctant to advise, but will do if asked.
I really believe you should contact Colin (or Brigitte here). Talk to him, and I’m sure he’ll have a solution. Which may even include some “tweaking” on your existing D, but this is for him to say.
Thanks for the sober replies to what was actually meant as a whimsical thread.
I’m just not a C whistle person. Not that I don’t have a couple (Generation, Sweetone, and Overton and a C tube in my Water Weasel set), but I jut don’t find much use for them.
My Overton low D is a tube I got from Colin about 18 months ago. It’s pretty much the standard low D with the closer fingerhole spacing (small hands) but with a brown woodgrain cover/finish. I suspect it’s air demands are reasonable enough for it’s type - just not for my aging lungs. Being significantly overweight doesn’t help with that latter part, no doubt, but the solution to that is very-long-term and I’m not a patient person.
G Let’s see what Bill can come up with, though if he meets the requirements spelled out in my first messsage, he may have to change is job description from whistlesmith to alchemist.
On 2003-02-18 15:32, Chuck_Clark wrote:
Charlie and Zubivka
Thanks for the sober replies to what was actually meant as a whimsical thread.
I’m just not a C whistle person. Not that I don’t have a couple (Generation, Sweetone, and Overton and a C tube in my Water Weasel set), but I jut don’t find much use for them.
My Overton low D is a tube I got from Colin about 18 months ago. It’s pretty much the standard low D with the closer fingerhole spacing (small hands) but with a brown woodgrain cover/finish. I suspect it’s air demands are reasonable enough for it’s type - just not for my aging lungs. Being significantly overweight doesn’t help with that latter part, no doubt, but the solution to that is very-long-term and I’m not a patient person.
G Let’s see what Bill can come up with, though if he meets the requirements spelled out in my first messsage, he may have to change is job description from whistlesmith to alchemist.
(Putting on conical hat… oops! Not that one! The one with stars and moons! )
ABRACADABRA!!! (fzzzzzz ** POP! **) AAAAAAAAACHOOOOO!!! Hey! I said “Whistle!” not “Thistle!!”… (durn stupid affrete!)
… (this could take some time…)
Hey, I’ll give 'er a shot. Oh, BTW…
SANDY JASPER, YOUR WHISTLE IS READY! shipping with Friday’s bunch… (WHEEEEE!!)
hmm… impossible dream whistles. Well, you all might think I am absolutely crazy, but one day I was sitting around thinking about exotic whistle making materials and Corundum (sapphire) came to mind. It is supposed to be the 2nd hardest material in the world with a nice crystalline structure. Industrial sapphire is labratory grown so I thought it might make a good and beautiful whistle.
From the site:
Physical Properties: Crystalline Structure
Rhomboedral Hexagonal Single Crystal
Composition
Al2O3
Purity
99.99%
Main Impurities
Na2O, Si, Ca, Fe, Ga, Mg, Ti, Mn, Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni
Cleavage
Conchoidal
Density
3.99 - 3.98
Dislocation Density
109 - 108/m2
I did some research and found a company in india that says they can pretty much engineer anything you want out of the stuff. http://www.industrialjewels.com Well, I sent them an email a few weeks ago but I havent heard back from them. I gave them basic measurements based on my Copeland D for the project and whatnot. Who knows, maybe I’ll hear from them one day.
Well, I am sure it would be much to expensive to do but still, I want to know if it can be done.
(edited to say that I am not one of the Crystal People.///re///ally//)
[ This Message was edited by: paul on 2003-02-18 22:15 ]
Cutting something like that would require a diamond drill and entail a fair degree of fracture risk, one would think. Was your inquiry to buy a finished whistle, or just the tube, in which casehow would you go about cutting, drilling and polishing?
Chuck, My inquiry was for me to provide specifications, or an example, and for them to machine it. They say on their site that they can fabricate whatever you ask for. I am not sure if they could make a long and thin tube like for a whistle or if they could grow a sapphire that long. Those things aren’t specifically addressed there. BTW, that was the only company that I could find that said they could fabricate sapphire tubes at all. There may be others, but I wasn’t able to find 'em.
Well if you make a whistle of a crystalline material, I guess you would grow the whistle rather than drill it.
I think my dream whistle would be a Platinumn Chromatic 8 key whistle with C and C# keys and silver for the key material (of course this is way out of my budget). Oh yes, a fipple made of that absorbent ceramic stuff that never clogs.
For the trekkies, a cast neutronium 6 hole whistle with a duranium fipple (don’t bite too hard on this stuff).
I assumed it would have to be machined because I don’t know if you could culture a crystal to grow to such exact specifications. But, I’m just a car guy. I don’t know nothin about growing no crystals.
Daniel, wow. that would have to be called “The Mack” …Seriously though, it would be magnificent. Why silver for the keys? Why not platinum all the way? I wonder what the material would cost. I priced 20 gauge 18k gold sheet recently and it was something like $88.00 per square inch for green or rose gold. I bet platinum would be a lot more.
BTW, I sent you an email about the flute mouthpiece.
Slan
-Paul
[ This Message was edited by: paul on 2003-02-18 22:52 ]
True, I never played any other Overton.
