Hello all: I received my new Howard Low D in the mail yesterday. Now this is the first Low whistle I have had in my hands, and I can now see
its going to be a quite a challenge. Apparently my fingers are narrow, I
hadn’t really noticed before, but I have to be dead on with my fingering on
this thing (zero room for error). I love the sound when I hit it right, but
unfortunately, about the time I get it right it starts clogging. Its a bit
difficult to figure out the breath control with constant clogging problems.
sometimes it blows real easy, and sometimes it just seems to stick in the
upper octave. I also noticed a nasty little burr on the F hole that I had
to file down to avoid cutting my finger. One other thing that struck me
odd was the inside of the whistle. During the coating process, quite a bit
of overspray seems to have made its way inside the whistle giving it
a rough layer on the bottom of the whistle. I don’t know how this
affects the sound, but it does make cleaning more difficult. It seems to
me it would be better to do the powdercoating before the holes are
drilled to avoid the overspray on the inside. Anyhow, I’ll keep plugging
along, and hopefully have a lot of fun learning how to play this testy
beast, I love a good challenge.
My Howard low d seemed to clog a lot when I first tried it. I think all whistles are going to get some moisture in them but I will try to explaine some things that helped me. Warm the head before playing. With your hands but blowing through it with your finger over the fipple hole is faster and gets the head temp closer to yours. Master the covering of the tone holes with your fingers and breath control for a good sound before you get to concerned with clogging. Just keep blowing it out. Then try taking breaths through the corners of your mouth. This will make small air streams that help dry the inside of the mouth and keep that moisture out.
It will take some pratice. As time passes and you get better you will be able to tell when it is about to clog and some of this you can force out by timeing a high note with a little extra push. This moisture will go down the tube. You can try turning the head up side down and moisture will then collect on the roof of the fipple and fall out the hole. Moisture has less clogging effect on the roof than it does on the floor. Matain the warm temp of the head by blowing through it lightly inbetween tunes.
Found this http://www.chiffandfipple.com/moist.htm on the main website and it has been a great help for me, my Chieftain Low D almost doesn’t clog anymore.
Maybe it will work for you too.
Don’t get too discouraged after only one day. Low whistles definitely have a longer learning curve than high ones. Your fingers will eventually find their place more naturally. It just takes time & practice, practice, practice…