Well, I FINALLY got my walton little black D from HMT, but when I play much above high E or F it starts sounding really flat. Is this just the way it is, and always will be, now and forever, etc etc, or is that “tweaking” you guys are always talking about something that could take care of this? I’m getting nervous playing too high; the cat starts going berserk…
Rosemary
Hey Rosie,
You really have to push to keep the second octave of most whistle in tune. Some more than others of course. Try blowing a little harder, and see if that tends to solve your problem. It’s also helpful to play outside if you can, and so not go deaf in a small room.
Remember, with just about every whistle made, you’re going to have SOME difference in volume between the octaves, and with most, this difference can be substantial!
Good luck!
Bri~
Rosemary,it sounds to me like the fipple has been fitted to far back on the whistle body.Try loosening the head by immersing it in a cup of near boiling water and see if it will move further onto the body.Hope this helps..keep moving the head until the 2nd octave is pleasing to the ear.
Mike
Back in my “tweak 'em all” days, the LBW was the ONLY whistle whose mouthpiece I was totally unable to loosen. I don’t think I tried explosives, but nothing else worked.
You may need to practicly boil it off. They DO in fact come off, but not before you break a sweat!
OK, so you mean that if I move the fipple in and get the upper octave more in tune, that isn’t going to put the lower octave out of tune? Hmmm, explosives, huh? Well, I’ll try the boiling water first, though I think I’ll go easy at first and just raise the water T as I go! Thanks for all the suggestions!
Little Black D mouthpieces are actually among the easiest to get off (you just have to know the trick). They aren’t glued on, but I think that the mouthpiece is probably put on before the paint’s fully dried.
Just push the mouthpiece gently to the side (push sideways at the very top of the mouthpiece - right where you’d blow into it), this will break the seal (don’t push too hard or you could crack the mouthpiece). If it doesn’t give right away, push the other direction. Then just give it a twist, it should come right off.
Rosie,do not use boiling water as the rapid expansion of the brass can split your fipple,just use hot water and let it sit for a few minutes and it will comme off easily.
Mike
Inaccurate pitches in the upper scales of cylindrical whistles is a design flaw. This is why Recorders have a decreasing conical bore(to align the harmonic modes)and also come with a thumbhole,for “pinching” notes in the upper scale into tune.Even with these modifications,the Recorder can’t play perfect pitches over its entire scale range.
The best “tweak” to correct flatness in the upper modes? Drill a thumbhole at the C-natural node and use the same “pinching” techniques as a Recorder. You can’t make your bore conical and breath control or cross-fingering is inaccurate.
Thomas Hastay.
Cant say I agree with you on this Thomas as my tweaked cylindrical Su-gen whistles play perfectly in tune over both octaves.Converting a whistle into a recorder is not the solution here.Mike