Isn’t Fred Rose some kind of a neighbour to you lucky bee ?
I don’t know him personnally, but from what I heard, he’d be willing to share some experience. And I also heard he’s been working on a tenor whistle…
I guess he’d be at Celtic Connections right now, so it’s what ? a couple hours drive to Glasgow with your gentleman-farmer’s R&R…
Hi Zubivka,
had forgot about celtic conections, saw Cappercaille last year,
anyway rang up and got tickets to see Danu (trad. Irish group) on sunday - very good, whistles,flute,mandolin and octopus sort of group!
oh yes it takes 3 hrs in a Def 90 tdi
Richard.
Fred may well be able to help (he’s been prototyping). What you could do is take an Overton low D (or any other come to that), and take exact measurements, then make a copy out of any old hardwood (maple, sycamore, oak, etc). This appears to be what people like Fred and Mike Grinter are doing, and with excellent results (as Zubivka will confirm).
The alternative is to get scientific and experiment between cylindrical/conical, narrow bore/wide bore, big holes/small holes, flat windway/curved windway, etc. Someone on this site left a link last week detailing the exact measurements needed for six-hole flutes - I think this is it: http://www.cwo.com/~ph_kosel/flutomat.html
It is my thought on the matter that a wooden low D ought, probably, to be made in three or four sections, like other tenor woodwinds, so that it may easily be disassembled for cleaning, oiling, and to go into a fitted case.
I was thinking along the lines of 3 parts so it would be easier to transport as I guess it’ll be more fragile than my homemade copper ones.(also the purpleheart blocks I’ve got are in 9" lenghts)
The thing that worries me is the wall thickness/strength but we’ll see.
Richard
3 pieces would be super, but will raise the labor and costs on ferrules : on these thin-walled wood whistles, you need every open end protected by a sleeve of metal both inside and outside. It’s either this or the “recorder” look where the walls are thicker at the ends.
Now, three parts probably have a side advantage of easier drilling.
My Grinter is great, but that long pipe part is a problem to haul. Had to make a custom case from 2 in. (!) plumbing PVC tube. I carry it fully assembled, the original velvet pouch serving as a liner. This case does the job but is huge and heavy.
With three pieces, I would have considered a flat case, like for flutes.
Now for head design, it seems obvious to me that Grinter followed exactly the same as Sindt’s : the blade is cut in the thickness of the tube, like recorders, except the blade is rounded. The same slot in the tube also forms the side walls of the windway. The roof of the windway is a tube sleeved around the main pipe, while a plug forms the “floor”. All this Russian puppets assembly is held together by a single brass pin across the head. I like the idea of pin instead of glue, so you can easily disassemble the whole thing while experimenting with the window length.
It seems a very nice design for ease, consistency of manufacturing. And it sounds great, few people complaining about either Sindt’s or Grinter’s heads, do they ?
[ This Message was edited by: Zubivka on 2003-02-11 09:00 ]
I definitely concur with the three-part design for another reason: the lower section can be twisted around a tad to accommodate a right- or left-handed player (not to mention the ease of transporting).
Zub - did you see my post last week regarding a cheap low whistle case? Ideal for the Grinter and £12 + p&p from London (the thread title was “The best low whistle case there is - and CHEAP”)
Now for head design, it seems obvious to me that Grinter followed exactly the same as Sindt’s : the blade is cut in the thickness of the tube, like recorders, except the blade is rounded. The same slot in the tube also forms the side walls of the windway. The roof of the windway is a tube sleeved around the main pipe, while a plug forms the “floor”. All this Russian puppets assembly is held together by a single brass pin across the head. I like the idea of pin instead of glue, so you can easily disassemble the whole thing while experimenting with the window length.
It seems a very nice design for ease, consistency of manufacturing. And it sounds great, few people complaining about either Sindt’s or Grinter’s heads, do they ?
[ This Message was edited by: Zubivka on 2003-02-11 09:00 ]
So you’d make the head from wood rather than going downt the brass head street like the Busman or Thin Weaselie.
Richard.
Richard, I don’t know: I’m not a maker, and I never machined wood. But it does seem like a good idea, beside the fact that another yet silver-tipped whistle could be one too many.
For instance, with this mild but extremely damp winter we’ve had–still have–in Brittany, only my all-wood Grinter didn’t bother me with condensation problems, and clogging. I’ll correct : for some reason my Copeland nickel high D didn’t react much either. Others needed a long boring warmup, and I’m not all that patient to hatch them…
But there may be other convenient materials for the head. Delrin seems to work well for plugs, could do for the outer “sleeve” of the head; funny I end up here describing a Sindt head, where only the brass tube is changed to wood…
Maybe too the Delrin choice for both plug and sleeve would limit the risks of allergy to some woods ? in this case only the cutout tip of the wooden full-length tube would get in contact with the lips, and this can be easily sealed with varnish.
Back to the three parts low D whistle design, It strikes me that only Copeland offers this obvious convenience, and this as an option…
Oops–edited to add that Bleazey’s wooden Low D also appears to split, between 3rd and 4th holes
[ This Message was edited by: Zubivka on 2003-02-11 10:20 ]
On 2003-02-11 09:56, rbm wrote:
So you’d make the head from wood rather than going downt the brass head street like the Busman or Thin Weaselie.
Richard.
I’d make the head from wood and/or delrin, perhaps with a metal sleeve intead of a wooden sleeve - this will prevent condensation as Zub testifies and as do I with regard to my Rose blackwood.
BTW Zub, Bleazey and Merbeth make three-part lows - I don’t know of any others.
I dunno if this will help you out or not, but you might want to experiment on a cheaper wood first. The only wooden whistle I ever made I liked very well.It ended up with more of a native american sound to it though.
I took two pieces of wood, and routered a semicircle into both pieces lengthwise, then glued them together, thus creating the cylindrical bore rather than trying to drill straight down a round dowel of sorts. I don’t have the equipment to make such a presicion bore, so I improvised!
Then I fashined a fipple and mouthpiece with the same basic construction making the “bore” ever so slightly smaller, so I could sand it down and insert it into the body and have it all line up. It worked out well, but it’s not something I would ever try to mass produce that’s for sure!!! It was a curiosity to me is all.
I sure hope you get yours all worked out, can’t wait to hear it when you’re finished!!
you can try two whistlemakers in france, i know they make wooden whistles, but i’m not so certain if they make low D’s. i can’t speak any french,but find someone who can,but they might speak english.myself i only like burke composite & brass whistles have a listen at http://www.tinwhistletunes.com an also ring these guys
hervieux&glet
le val
56350
france
phone:0033299919068
jacky proux
ringere
86190 quincay
france
phone:0033549507009
or peter merbeth
ty meur
29130 guilligomarc’h
france
phone:0033298717628
please try them all, and ask them to play a sample through the phone
