New member here. Been playing for a while and decided to buy a new cocobolo whistle from a known maker.
My question is that the new untunable whistle goes to the high D without much breath. In order to get to the 1st octave D I need to reduce my breath before hitting it even when going down the scale in the first octave making it a bit unpredictable. My other flutes play fine with balanced breath within the octave.
Is this an issue or just the way this whistle is?
I would rather not name the maker since the issue could very well be me.
Impossible to diagnose the cause without trying it or at least some kind of demo.
I would rather not name the maker since the issue could very well be me.
Could be you though your experiences with your other whistles suggest perhaps not. But sounds like an issue if it’s the whistle, so you might want to discuss directly with your maker.
My first step would be to see if another whistle player has the same experience, and my second would be to contact the maker. He’ll know the idiosyncracies of his design and should be able to tell you if you need to change your technique to make it sing.
If it’s a flaw in the whistle (and its not the result of someone else trying out a tweak) I’d expect him to offer to adjust it for you.
The maker suggested that I oil it. He is a reputable maker so I will get some oil and give it a try. The Fipple is a bit different that I am used to. I tried not put my mouth over it so much and it seemed to give me better breath control. I suspect that it is more sensitive, i.e. Back pressure. So I will try the oil and and a different type of blowing.
I bought a Moeck recorder about a year ago, and part of the care regimen is to occasionally oil the bore. They recommend almond oil. I can say that they play differently when they are oiled. Here’s a link to their site so you can see the brushes they use as well, just for information. MOECK : Oiling wooden recorders. The only problem with getting one of these brushes for a whistle is they might not be long enough to reach the entire bore from one end, but if the head/fipple can be removed, they might be ideal.
Do not, under any circumstancws put any sort of oil on the fipple/head that will come into contact with your mouth or lips. For that matt, don’t put any oil on the outside of the whistle that will come into contact with your fingers. I would use rubber gloves if I were so bold as to oil anything made of cocobolo.
I wonder what the rationale behind oiling it is. Being a highly resinous and oily wood already, in terms of maintenance cocobolo shouldn’t really require oiling, but humidification according to the weather is important. Perhaps the oil is to slickify (well, it’s a word now) the tube interior?
That’s good. As a fluteplayer I developed contact dermatitis from African blackwood, which by extension means I’m now and forever sensitised to pretty much any of the Dalbergia species, of which the visually stunning cocobolo is one. My fingers never seemed to react, but the skin under my lower lip would erupt in a burning poison ivy-like rash. Not fun. So, the idea of putting cocobolo in one’s lips is of course going to give me the willies.
The genus Dalbergia provides what are among the best flutewoods. This is in part due to their being resinous, and therein lies the risk: those resins and oils are toxic and protect the tree from insects. Most players don’t develop the so-called “allergy”, but neither is it rare. I don’t wish to be an alarmist. I just think it’s a good idea to be informed and aware in case you haven’t heard this before. But with a brass head, you should be good to go.
And an seanduine is right to caution you about oiling the exterior; oils absorb the resins and become an even quicker vector for their toxins, so even a brass head could be at least temporarily contaminated. As he said, if you’re going to oil it, do so only to the interior.
I wouldn’t expect oiling to make a huge difference with regard to a difficult to play first octave. Finding the balance between the high and low notes is a delicate thing. It seems to be mostly a matter of the bevel or rounding of the window edge of the fipple plug. Too much makes a nice solid low register but makes the high notes hard to hit and harsh sounding. Too little makes really easy high notes but low notes that are prone to break into the upper register. When voicing I usually start with a very little rounding. I test play the whistle for a few minutes and if the low notes are shaky I tap out the plug, round the plug a TINY bit more. Re-test and repeat until it plays the way I like it.
Cocobolo is indeed oily and really doesn’t need a lot of oil. Wood can only absorb just so much, and it doesn’t evaporate. I hate to tell you how rarely I oil my own personal wooden whistles. For oiling I use a bamboo chopstick from the local Chinese restaurant. I split about one inch of the end with a sheet rock knife and insert a small piece of a white t-shirt into the slit.
A couple of coats of polyurethane on the mouth end of a cocobolo whistle might eliminate the sensitivity to the oils. I made one whistle for a highly sensitive player on which I drum sanded the wood that would normally contact the lips about 1/8" and filled the resulting void with epoxy. It wasn’t as pretty but took care of the allergy problem.
I have given this whistle a workout all week. Swabbing the bore after use, etc. It struggles to return to the 1st octave D without chaffing and wants to go to the 2nd octave even with the slightest of breath. 2nd octave sounds lovely but most of my music needs that first octave D.
Spoke to the maker who suggested bore oil, etc.
All of my other whistles including my PVC, wood and metal do not have this issue.
Could it be that the whistle just needs a tweak?
I plan on returning it through the makers generous return policy.
I feel badly since I just an intermediate player but it is just not working for me.
Yes. Oiling is so unlikely to miraculously fix the problem you describe, especially if the whistle has a brass head! Ergo, it’s got to be you or the whistle and, if you can’t get anyone else to try it, it has to go back.
(Edit: but does it really have a brass head, or just external brass trimmings?)
We’re sliding into language difficulties, here. I’d seriously doubt that the head would be constructed of brass only, but rather of brass-clad wood instead, which we see plenty of in various approaches, and would be far more likely. Whether this is what Peter meant as opposed to more ring-like ferrules, he will have to clarify.
Your usual head cladding only covers the exterior, leaving the underside of the nib and its accompanying plug exposed. While this should have nothing to do with playing issues, it might have repercussions for the future regarding skin sensitivity. Sorry to keep going on about this, but to me it IS a concern. An informed and conscientious maker will have thought of this and account for it in the construction, using Delrin or the like for contact surfaces.
If you were to provide us with a photo or two, tcaron20, it could be a big help.
Yes, I was thinking of ferrules/decoration/covered beak… that kind of thing. But you never know, because there are metal head/wood body whistles, e.g. the Chieftain/McManus high D.
Seems to me that that whistle isn’t voiced correctly.
I once paid over $500 for a new Low D whistle from a maker of the highest reputation, and when it came it was absolute sh!te. It played as you describe, with the low octave feeble, and Low E and Bottom D so feeble that it was scarcely possible to make them speak, and when they did, it wasn’t worth the effort, being barely audible.
I likewise returned the whistle for a refund.
It was one of several instances I’ve experienced over the years of hearing a load of people talk up a certain maker, then myself trying one (or more) of their instruments and finding them wonderful, then ordering one and when it comes it’s horrid. It’s happened to friends of mine too.
The moral of the story is to not do that, but only buy instruments you have a chance to try yourself.
Yes, thank you for the last post. This maker has a great reputation for lower cost handmade wooden whistles. He us concerned about my experience and wanted to make it right either with refund or fix.
I opted for refund. As I mentioned some of the issue could be me but I do not thnk so.
I recently got a tweaked Clarke only to find that it was tuned to Db not D. A spot on Db does me no good. They thought it was me but replaced the whistle. I received a replacement that was dead on D like it should have been. If you play with a band like I do, I need it in tune!
