I’m looking for nickel silver tubing (approx 0.75 inch OD with approx 0.02 inch wall thickness) to make a low G whistle barrel (excluding fipple). Is the sound quality likely to be worth the effort? thanks
addendum: I’m combining a susato plastic fipple-head with a metal six-hole section. i’ve already done this with an aluminum six-hole section. The modified (plastic-metal) combination sounded identical to the original all plastic susato, which supports your thinking that the fipple-head dominates the sound.
I guess I should first ask for a clarification of what you mean by “whistle barrel”. Are you referring to a tuning slide or a coupler between the head and body of the whistle? Can I assume by “fipple” you mean the entire head or noise making apparatus not just the plug? At any rate, I’ve been making whistles for a bit more than ten years now in a variety of materials. And I’ve owned lots of whistles made by other makers and a number of those have been the same design and same key in different materials. My experience says that the sound quality has more to do with the design of the whistle overall, especially the head, than it has to do with the material used for the parts. Different materials do lend themselves (for better or worse) to executing different design objectives though. That’s just my opinion though.
I am not aware of a source of nickel silver tubing in small quantities at that size. Check with jewelry supply companies like Rio Grande or Santa Fe Jewelry Supply. The size you describe is in the ball park of the tubes used for tuning slides on wooden flutes. Still that’s not an off-the-shelf item either. Many flute makers have their tubing custom drawn. You could always roll flat stock and solder it. How about brass? K&S make a brass tube in .75x.028".
Feadoggie
I’m interested in what “sounded identical” means. Did you record the whistles? It’d be interesting for other ears to compare them (not that I’m casting any aspersions on your hearing, you understand).
It’d be even more interesting to do some frequency analysis of the sounds, but that might depend on having a really decent mic.
You might try the Yahoogroups “Flutemakers” Forum. The only place you’re going to find Nickel-Silver anywhere close to that size is from a Flutemaker that has had it custom made.
I used to buy it from Dave Copley - but he doesn’t sell it anymore since his reserves are lower. He had to have it custom made by a company that makes tubing.
The other options are like the others posts, get some from flat stock from Indian Jewelers Supply or Alpha Supply (to name a few more) and make your own tubes. One advantage to this is that you could roll conical tubes as well.
Now you might ask why I’m not doing this, here is my plain honest answer. I’ve tried it and had problems soldering it. It would work better with brazing equipment (note: Americans differentiate solder as low temperature under 500 Deg. F from brazing - Europeans use the term ‘solder’ or equivalent in their language for both operations). Then you have to find the right braze that work with NS, try Woodwind Quarterley http://www.musictrader.com/wwqindex.html for info. There are expenses if this process - it would be so much easier if the tubing were easily available.
Also as mentioned in the previous posts, it’s not the material that affects sound it is the dimensions structurally afforded by the material. Metal whistles have a certain sound because of they are thin. Aluminum whistles are a transitional material because it’s thickness can reasonably represent wood’s thickness or other metals. You can’t make a wood whistle as thin as brass without it getting crush too easily. This is because the tonehole wall thickness.
If you made a copper whistle the same thickness as wood, it would have the sound of wood but the playing experience would be horrible because it would be heavy and take for ever to stabilize tuning.
So metals have a sound that is based on their practical use. Wood has a sound based on practical use. Plastical whistles usually sound closer to wood because of the thickness - but even note the difference in plastic whistles made from ABS, Schedule 40 PVC and SDR21 PVC, these all have different thicknesses.
Another fact, since the fipple open and the wall thickness are the “main” parameters, you can make a whistle out of something thick and then shave of the top and replace the finger area with something thin and it would sound for the most part like a metal instrument. Likewise, make a metal whistle and replace the top with wood and give type wood dimension to the toneholes and it would sound for the most part like a wood instrument.
And if you need brass, check out http://www.specialshapes.com, that is the direct to consumer sales for K&S brass on the Internet and they have it in 36" lengths.
I draw my slide tubes to size for flutes using brass and copper tubing simply because those are readily available in sizes which can be drawn down in one go - I couldn’t find nickel tubing in the right size range here.
Then, since I have the benefit of a plater on my way in to town, I get a heavy nickel plate put on the outside of the outer tube - I also get rings done there too.
If you can get the tubes in the exact size you want, in brass or copper, and also live near a plater you could do the same. Drawing tubing to size is a fair bit of work and preparation - I wouldn’t like to have to make up sets of slugs and dies for whistle slide tubing, especially with the range of different keys and tube diameters and “wide bore” and “narrow bore” variations…At the moment I use a delrin coupler for whistle slides.
Garry
Well said Daniel! I have tried to explain this a few times with mixed success.
Also try onlinemetals.com. They have the best selection of aluminum and brass that I have found, unless you are looking for really thin material. In that case use specialshapes.com like Daniel said.