Please excuse the poor quality of these digital photos… the camera is a cheapie, and the photographer is a complete amateur!
In spite of the poor quality, I think these pics turned out well enough to give you a decent preview of what I’m currently making… and they are my third attempt, so I really can’t get them to come out any clearer.
I suppose I should just stick to whistle making and leave photography to those more talented at it than me… which would be just about anybody else!
And for the curious, here are a couple more fuzzy photos taken in my workshop.
I recognize the construction as the Sindt/Earle Bartlet Synwhistle configuration, but done with all polymer materials. I already know it sounds terrific, just from seeing it and knowing you, but please post clips asap.
Looks at pictures, realizes that the subject is a lot nicer than appears, jumps up, raises hand and waves it frantically trying to get attention so he can be Gary’s photographer!!!
Gary,
Beautiful work. To me, this kind of workmanship is like magic! Are you planning to sell these to stick on the buyer’s own Gen, Feadog, etc. tube? I’m looking forward to hearing a clip.
Mike
Dang, 'dog, dem’s purty! I especially like the look of the window – very nice! As I recall, you do have plans to make tubes to go along with these, right? How’s that work progressing? When will we all be able to start placing orders?
The main body is cream colored CPVC, the outer sleeve is black PVC, the plug is white Delrin (but I will soon be switching to black), and the pin is aluminum (but I will soon be switching to brass).
I gave the option to include a brass Feadog D tube with orders for my discontinued ‘Copperhead’ retrofit heads, but I didn’t sell enough to justify buying Feadogs in bulk quantities, which would allow me to pass on a little savings to the customer… I’ll look into that option if sales do better with the new polymer retrofit heads.
I can make PVC tubes, but they are quite loud, and tend to be shrill in the 2nd octave… a common problem with PVC whistles.
I could make metal tubes, but I couldn’t make them any better than a standard cheapie (especially the newer Feadogs, which are great)… and since I couldn’t make them any cheaper either, I’ve decided to just retrofit cheapies in all available keys before moving on to low whistles with my own tubes.
The R&D on the Eb/D retrofit head is finished, so I can begin production on them any time now… but all the overtime hours at my regular job are killing me at the moment.
I have the first week in September off though, so I’ll definitely make some during that time.
The main body is cream colored CPVC,
the outer sleeve is black PVC, the plug is white Delrin
(but I will soon be switching to black),
and the pin is aluminum (but I will soon be switching to brass).
Nothing really “fascinating” about it… black Delrin only costs a few cents more per foot, and it looks better with the black PVC outer sleeves that I machine from common 1/2" X 24" schedule 80 PVC risers.
These PVC risers look dark grey until a smooth finish is turned onto them, then they become black… and their wall thickness is greater than the regular light grey schedule 80 water pipe, which is necessary for me to be able to smoothly bore the inside of the outer sleeve and still have enough wall thickness internally for a tight fit on the Eb/D heads.
I’m switching to brass pins because I can get 3/32" brass rod from the same supplier I get my Delrin rod from, but they don’t stock aluminum rod that small… I got my curent supply of 3/32" aluminum rod from Hobby Lobby.
The retrofit C and Bb heads I will soon be making will almost certainly not be black and cream colored, they will in all probability be solid black… but I won’t rule out cream colored, white, grey, or whatever color combination might result from the necessity of using different types/grades of PVC.
