Hello everyone. Please forgive my recent wave of newbie questions. Is there a benefit, one over the other, between delrin / cpvc and brass or nickel heads (not to mention those made with wooden heads)? All my inexpensive whistles obviously have more generic, lower quality plastic heads and I see that there are high end whistles with both alloy and delrin heads. Is there a tonal difference? Playing difference? One preferred over the other? Thanks.
I’d say the design and precision of the manufacture are more important factors than material when it comes to whistle heads.
Mr. Gumby is right on.
The design and construction is far more important than the materials. Each material you mention can in itself be made into a good whistle or a not so good whistles. You might find that all metal heads will tend to condense moisture more readily than plastic heads in cooler conditions. Plastic heads may not be as bomb proof as some metal heads. You find quite a few models made in combinations of metal, plastic and wood to offer the best possible characteristics. But in the end it comes down to the design and how well the design is carried out by the maker.
Personally, I wouldn’t ponder the materials. I’d look for a whistle that sounds and plays the way you want a whistle and go with that. If you take care of it, the whistle can last forever no matter what material. Having said that, I am sure someone is as we write this working on a corn starch based biodegradable whistle that might not last forever.
Feadoggie
Generally whistle craftsmen largely tool pieces of metal or Delrin to their specification, while inexpensive whistles use plastic mass production injection-molding for mouthpieces.
Generally whistle craftsmen largely tool pieces of metal or Delrin to their specification, while inexpensive whistles use plastic mass production injection-molding for mouthpieces.
Yes, but that statement contains nothing about the quality of the product. As Feadoggie said above, very good and very poorly made whistles can be made from any material and both will occur on either side of the price gap.
Yes, very true.
EDIT2: Simply - you’re correct Mr. Gumby
As I understand it, the material makes more of a difference in the tube, not so much in the windway to labium area. This is because the standing resonating wave is formed in the tube and it’s the surface texture of the material forming the tube that gives rise to perturbations in the waveform, whereas the windway/labium section (the nominal headjoint) is more concerned with creating the oscillation that in turn originates the resonant waveform. They are two different mechanisms with different acoustic requirements.
Gumby is of course right. Expensive/craftsman made versus cheap/mass produced says nothing about quality at all. Nothing.
Thanks for the replies everyone - much appreciated and understood.
Have you read any whistle reviews?
http://www.chiffandfipple.com/inexp.html
http://www.chiffandfipple.com/Expens.html
http://www.tinwhistler.com/reviews.aspx
There is one thing that I do consider when making a whistle head, and that is choice of materials -vs.- weight. A whistle that is too top heavy can be somewhat less than desirable to play at times.
Much of the waveform characteristic are base on the physical dimensions.
The material itself doesn’t affect the tone as much as what the material affords. What I mean, brass or copper can make very thin toneholes which are bright sounding. Sure you could make the wall out paper but then moisture would be a problem.
There are certain areas where you want the labium to be a certain thickness, you want the wall around the toneholes to have a certain thickness (chimney height) and these things will give you a characteristic sound. Can’t really say good or bad, it’s in the “ear” of the beholder. (not the eye)