IF you use a larger bore Tubing will the whistle be shorter? IF for instance I made a Low C from 1" OD tubing would the whistle be shorter than one made from 7/8" OD tubing?? Same metal same wall thickness… or wont it make a differenc, it seams to me that a Larger Bore would produce a low note at a shorter length than a smaller bore, but I’m not sure…
Yep 
Your thinking is spot on.
yep, but you wouldn’t want to make a low C with 7/8" tubing as the bell note C will be non-existent. Make the head and body without drilling the finger holes and you will see what I mean.
Colin
Hate to disagree, but if you adjust the blade and airway, you can, indeed, get a bell note low “C” from 7/8" X 0.035" wall tubing. It will, however, not be an easy whistle to play. You will need very long fingers, indeed!
Cheers, 
Serpent (and yes, I have tried it.)
I also beg to differ, but in relation to the length vs note question. Having made whistles with both 7/8" and 1" od tubes, I can report that any difference in length required for a particular frequency the with different size tubes is indeed negligible.
That’s true. The 7/8" tubing winds up at 25.143", the 1" at 25.011" - a difference of about 1/8". The low C is still essentially unreachable for me, even using piper’s grip, unless the holes are so large in diameter as to make stopping difficult. There’s always a tradeoff…
serpent
Thanx guys for the responses. I just made my firt Experi"mental" aluminum LOW D whistle. Suprisinly though the Aluminum whistle is 1/32 of and Inch shorter than My copper Low D whistle. As I play the Aluminum one I notice some strange things. 1 that’s my fault, the finger holes are way out of line from the mouthpiece. They’re all in a strait line, just not inline with the mouthpiece (guess I’m going to turn it into a tunable whistle). 2nd theres no “lead in” breath before the tone sounds. You blow in it, and the sound comes out at the same time… I thought that very odd. 3rd the ALuminum produces a more “reedy” sound than the copper. But the Aluminum is a lot more uh whats a good word… “lively.” It’s loads more responsive.
In your comparison, are you measuring total length, or end of the fipple plug to end of the bell?
The response you describe says that you got the ratios of windway to window to blade to blade angle just right. Good job!
You say “reedy”. Have you looked at the output on a waveform analyzer? Lots of harmonics? Is it chiffy at all? The Al whistles I’ve made have all been very “sweet” with little chiff. Almost pure sine wave with almost no harmonics in the lower register. If you find it too reedy, try rounding and polishing the edge of the blade to enhance the Coanda effect there.
When you first cut your window (I’m assuming you do this initially on a drill press), lay a piece of 1/2" square stock on each side of the barrel and mark a line on the barrel along the top of each. This will give you reference points to realign for fingerhole drilling, that will place them at exactly 90 deg to the window.
Any operation that you’re happy with, that you would like to repeat from whistle to whistle, take copious notes as to the procedure(s) you just followed, and do measured drawings of everything. Where possible, build fixtures that put the next whistle in exactly the same position and orientation for machine work. Look at the ops you are doing, and if you can see where a special tool would speed things along or make them more accurate, then buy or make one. It will be money/time well spent!
The most useful tools I have made, are my fipple-milling fixture, and the blade-forming dies. All of them took significant time to make, but all of them save me much more time in the end result, and all provide me with absolute accuracy in some very critical ops. The fipple fixture also serves to hold the head tubes for milling the windows. Those items provide me with absolute assurance that I can build 1, 10 or 1000 heads, and they will be uniformly playable.
Keep on buildin’!
serpent
I don’t “punch” my “Lip” flat, it Retains the same curvature of the I.D size of the Tubing right at the sharpened edge of the blade. My Window is Exactly 1/2" Long x 1/4" wide. I take the tubing and cut a
1-9/16" long rectangular shape out of the end of the tube. Then I cut another piece of larger size tubing that has the I.D. that the same size as the now cut tube’s O.D. I cut the larger size tube to a 1-9/16" length, and then I cut a 1/4" deep x 1/2" wide rectangular piece out of that tube. When the Larger tube is slid over the top of the smaller tube the 1/4" x 1/2" window is created. I sharpen the Leading edge of the Window to create the blade, slide the fipple in… and the rest is history. I found the reedy problem by the way… a Little piece of shmutz in the airway… after I cleaned that out it was all beter…
On 2002-12-18 21:13, Cyfiawnder wrote:
I don’t “punch” my “Lip” flat, it Retains the same curvature of the I.D size of the Tubing right at the sharpened edge of the blade. My Window is Exactly 1/2" Long x 1/4" wide. I take the tubing and cut a
1-9/16" long rectangular shape out of the end of the tube. Then I cut another piece of larger size tubing that has the I.D. that the same size as the now cut tube’s O.D. I cut the larger size tube to a 1-9/16" length, and then I cut a 1/4" deep x 1/2" wide rectangular piece out of that tube. When the Larger tube is slid over the top of the smaller tube the 1/4" x 1/2" window is created. I sharpen the Leading edge of the Window to create the blade, slide the fipple in… and the rest is history. I found the reedy problem by the way… a Little piece of shmutz in the airway… after I cleaned that out it was all beter…
… where did that come from? I don’t read anything about you punching anything, flat, curved, or otherwise. Nor do I read anything where anyone surmises same. I punch the blade, but it’s curved to the ID of the tube, and is offset 9deg from horizontal at the same time - effectively eliminates several assembly steps. also, my window is 3/16" deep by 7/16" wide on the narrow bores.
Schmutz will do a lot to screw up the sound!
Cheers,
serpent
Opps my bad. I could have sworn that you made whistles that have Flat blades… So your a Curver like me then eh? Rather be round than Square eh?
On 2002-12-15 10:44, serpent wrote:
The low C is still essentially unreachable for me, even using piper’s grip, unless the holes are so large in diameter as to make stopping difficult. There’s always a tradeoff…
I thought the same after buying a Low C (big bore–1"1/8 tube) and hoping my hands will “grow up” on it after practice. No way, this whistle plays beautifully… but in others’ hands. So I was both sad and kind of ashamed not being able to play the instrument.
Now I got another big C, same bore. The holes are smaller than on the former, and their spacing is almost identical to my D’s. It’s so comfortable that I think I could manage a Bb of similar design, provided maybe some recorder-like offset to the lower (oox oox) holes. Greedy ?
This C is in perfect tune. The bell note is loud and stable ; the D and E sound just as good and loud, which I don’t see often on lows.
It seems there’s one trick (or more), the bore being not a perfect cylinder but narrower at the bottom.
No matter how it’s done–this Alba big C is my favorite whistle now.
So maybe you should contact Wizzy, Bill… 
[ This Message was edited by: Zubivka on 2002-12-19 04:25 ]
Tapered tubing isn’t an option for me. I’d have to have it made (extremely expensive, custom-tapered heavy brass tubing), or make it myself, which is too time-and-labour intensive. I would also have to do recalcs on every whistle that used it, and remanufacture holding fixtures and boring jigs. Maybe once I’ve been established a bit longer, and have some employees to help with the day-to-day, I’ll do some more experimentation along those lines.
Got your raffle tix yet?
Cheers, Happy Holidays!
serp
On 2002-12-18 23:16, Cyfiawnder wrote:
Opps my bad. I could have sworn that you made whistles that have Flat blades… So your a Curver like me then eh? Rather be round than Square eh?
The only whistle I make with a flat blade is the Village Smithy, and it’s hand-formed rather than done with punch-and-die.
Cheers,
Bill “Serpent” Whedon
Low-C long stretch?
Not really, my Medium size Low-C is 7/8" OD copper or brass and the spacing between the bottom two toneholes is 2.09 inches center to center. If you have short fingers, you could always reach it using the pinky finger instead.
Just for comparison, my Alba’s spacing is 47.8 mm i.e. for you folks, mgn-mgn-gnm dat’s it : 1.8818897638 in. (roughly).
Small difference that does a lot : the other big C of mine I cannot play measures 53.3 mm – 2,0984251969 (first approximation from Mr Spock).
My hands have big palms, short fingers.
[ This Message was edited by: Zubivka on 2002-12-21 17:34 ]
On 2002-12-19 10:06, serpent wrote:
Tapered tubing isn’t an option for me. I’d have to have it made (extremely expensive, custom-tapered heavy brass tubing), or make it myself, which is too time-and-labour intensive. I would also have to do recalcs on every whistle that used it, and remanufacture holding fixtures and boring jigs. Maybe once I’ve been established a bit longer, and have some employees to help with the day-to-day, I’ll do some more experimentation along those lines.Got your raffle tix yet? >
Cheers, Happy Holidays!
serp
Got the ticket, thanks.
On tapering, I’m disappointed : I thought you had CNC machine shoppes around every corner, that would drill you complex quadratic bores from solid billets…
CNC machines? Sure. At least ten right down the street. I mean, the USA’s like that! If you want it, somebody will build a store for you and sell it to you!
Zoob, you are just too funny!
Bill Whedon