My whistle a cute little blue Sweetone, if that makes any difference. It isn’t noticably off-tune until I get to the note “C”. “C” sounds horribly flat. (don’t ask me why it’s just “C” that sounds really flat and not so much the rest, I do not know. Maybe there are gnomes living in my whistle that do not like “C” or something. Go figure) I looked at the making-non-tunable-whistles-tunable page, and it says you can only tune the whistle to be flatter, not sharper, short of chopping off some of the whistle itself, which I am too chicken to do, because I KNOW I’d screw it up.
Are there ANY tricks I could use to make the poor note “C” at least less flat?
Sam, is it a “C” whistle you’re playing? Or a cross-fingered Cnat on a “D” whistle???
That makes a big difference.
I’ll assume it’s a “C” whistle, and the note is the second octave Cnat. If this is flat, you may wish to try OXX XXX fingering, as it may help it to sound more in tune. It doesn’t alter the actual pitch much, but the timbre of the note is changed.
You’ll see what I mean. Try XXX XXX and then compare it to the other, and you’ll hear the difference.
now, if it’s a “D” whistle, you may need to try a different cross-fingering. The most common for Cnat is OXX OOO, but there are almost as many variations of that as there are whistles.
Give us just a little more info, and perhaps we can help pinpoint your problem.
It sounds like the hole is a bit short, so you’ll need to open it up a little bit, towards the top or mouthpiece end of the whistle. You’ll want a dremel tool, or something like it for the fastest work, but try to get a varable speed one, and start out SLOW.
If for some reason, you sand too much out of the hole, you can use a piece of electrical, or scotch tape to close off a small amount of the top of the hole to bring it back into tune.
Does this make sense?
It’s funny you say this, because I’ve found that some of my cheaper whistles tend to be too sharp on that note.
Anyway, let me know if you need further clarification.
Well I have no idea what a “dremel” is (I absolutly NOTHING about tools), and I’d probably be too chicken to fool with it, since it’s the only whistle in my possesion…
I guess I could take a metal file to it when I’m feeling less chicken-hearted. Hmmm. Well I’ll probably fool with it later when I get fed up with my C# not being sharp enough. It’s just kind of a hobby for me; something to do instead of my calculus homework, it’s not like I’m actually playing within earshot of anybody. (if I did, I’d probably get something rather heavy tossed at my head)
Y’know, you’d think that since these whistles are mass produced that they’d all turn out sounding about the same. shrugs
A Dremel is a popular rotary tool with lots of little bits. Some for sanding, some for grinding or citting. Even a polishing wheel. Most of the wheels are about the size of a quarter, and the bits about the size of a sharpened pencil.
The better models have a variable speed, so you can use it slowly or fast, depending on what the particular job calls for. I use mine a lot in plastic model making.
Hi TS,
The tuning advice you looked up most likely refers to moving the fipple back a little as this would flatten the bellnote.Finger holes are more succesfully tuned sharp by widening.Something to consider with the sweetone is that due to its design characteristics it responds equally well to soft or hard blowing which affects the pitch of the note and c# can usually be blown into tune.Make sure you protect your eyes well if you decide on tuning the holes…sweetones are made from steel and is more diffcult to work with than brass and flying particles in your eyes can lead to untold troubles.Peace,Mike:)
steel? I thought they were made out of tin. I’d think tin would be cheaper anyhow. Guess not…
As far as blowing harder, this thing goes up an octave very easily. I think I’ll just find a metal file.
Heck, sweetones are cheap, I’ll probably just end up buying another one at some point. (If I can ever find another one. I hate living in the middle of nowhere sometimes…)
ps. NicoMoreno–I live in georgia. On the border. I can walk to tennesse in five minutes. Wheeee!!!
On 2001-10-18 19:32, TelegramSam wrote:
I’ll probably just end up buying another one at some point. (If I can ever find another one. I hate living in the middle of nowhere sometimes…)
TelegramSam -
You probably already saw this, but in case you missed it, Dale has a page about internet whistle vendors (the downside to these being that you can’t try whistles out first) - might help you find another sweetone if you’re really that far removed from civilization (i.e. settlements with populations large enough to support whistle-selling stores). Dale’s page:
Mike–Well, what do you expect for six bucks? Platinum?
Paul–I was looking at The Whistle Shop and some other sites, but I don’t have a credit card and since I’m 17 I can’t get one. Hm… Maybe if I beg my mommy?
[ This Message was edited by: TelegramSam on 2001-10-18 20:21 ]
Mike