Help! A couple of weeks ago I ran across a website for high end whistles made by a US flutemaker who is fairly new in the whistle market. I cannot for the life of me remember the guy’s name (so I can’t find the site again) and like a dope (my apologies to all actual dopes out there) I failed to bookmark it. What I do remember, and what intriged me, is that these were based on the Clarke (conical bore), but with high-end craftsmanship and materials (brass, nickel-silver). Does this ring a bell with anyone? I’d really like to get back to that website again. Thanks.
Just two-bits worth…
We assume these mistery whistles are conical, and not distorted by a photo perspective ? For instance the pix of Parkhurst whistles, here or on http://www.geocities.com/parkhurstwhistles/whistles.htm
may look conical.
Next options are : was the whistle keyed ? Was it held transversely ? Did it have one reed, or two ? Did Stan Getz play it ?
No, these were definitely conical and he discussed how he based his design on the Clarke. In fact, when he started he took a Clarke original apart and basically copied the hole placement/size.
On 2002-11-12 03:42, Jens_Hoppe wrote:
If it weren’t for the “who is fairly new in the whistle market” thing, I’d say your description sounds a lot like Michael Copeland.
Copeland is who I was thinking of alright. This is what had stuck in my memory, from the C&F interview of Michael Copeland.
“So, thought, I should make one of these. I had a sheet of brass that was thicker than the Clarke. I unsoldered the Clarke C and laid it flat out. I still have it! I’m glad I kept some of these early experiments. On the lathe (a wood lathe) and a file, I filed a taper from a steel rod. I then annealed the piece of brass, wrapped it around a mandrel with a rawhide mallet, and soldered it together. I’d press it through a lead doughnut to smooth it down on the mandrel. I put a wooden plug in it, cut the window and drilled the finger holes where I thought they should be. It was all very crude. But, when I blew into it and notes came out… I was flying.”
