I’ve just finished my low whistle #2 . It’s made from aluminium, and now I’m making the fipple plug from aluminium too. It’s much “cleaner” than wood.
It sounds pretty nice… I messed it up on the blade, didn’t want to make it that steep, but it sounds anyway. Next time will make it with more angle. It’s a bit airy on the second octave, but a lot better than the first one. The window is kind of small, I made it that way so it would be quieter… and it is. Really sweet, whispering sound, with smooth volume accros most of the notes (I mean not a lot of volume difference betwen lower and upper notes).
All the notes are right in tune except for the C and C#. I’m not sure of what to do, the thing is that c natural is sharp when using oxxooo (ok when using oxxoxx), but C# is flat. Now, if I open the first hole a bit to make C# to be in tune, I’m afraid to loose my C natural… maybe I’ve messed up with hole placement, anyway, any suggestion is welcome.
Thank you guys! Really learned a lot in this forums!
ADDED SOME MORE PICTURES
I didn’t like the first three pictures I posted so here are a few more
Still need some advice from whistle makers, about the C-C# problem…
Cynth:
Thanks for the links!
I’ll look at them tonight after work.
Keith:
Thanks for your comments.
Phil from Kerry Whistles and Stacy from Alba Whistles (if those were the people you were referring) are two persons that I greatly admire. I never had the chance to try a Kerry Songbird nor an Alba, but their looks are fantastic; truly beautiful whistles.
My whistle is just a shadow of those, it has no comparison. I made it like this because is the simplest way (for me and my very limited hand tools) to make the fipple.
Paul:
The ring at the bottom is mainly for balance… the fipple feels too heavy and I like balance
I plan maybe to engrave it someday, too…
Keith:
This is my 2nd whistle, I posted a few pictures of the first one, but it wasn’t exactly pretty, it was not even brushed… it had a huge window. A really loud whistle, but the second octave was way too airy so I never really played it.
Pete:
I bought the tubes and rod (I’m not sure if this is the correct term, since english is not my primary language) from industrial shops who aluminum for construction. I had to buy 6 meters of each tubing and 2 meters of rod as they don’t sell less quantity. The good thing is that it is not very expensive, they sell it by weight.
OK, I made a sample of the sound. Had to record it with a voice recorder and then copied to the computer since I couldn’t find a good mic (borrowed, I don’t have the money to buy a new one right now) so the quality is not very good, the whistle sounds a bit better than the sample
Anyway, here it is…
. It’s made from aluminium, and now I’m making the fipple plug from aluminium too. It’s much “cleaner” than wood.
