Got myself the least expensive Low D that I could find . . . and one that makes ‘stopping’ the fingerholes relatively easy because of its conical bore.
The third and sixth holes have been formed at the maker’s shop by silver soldering quarter inch lengths of silver tube into what would normally have been plain fingerholes.
The intonation seems fine and apart from the usual ‘death by hyperventilation’ problem playing this model . . . I wondered if these 2 lengths of tube were now a standard feature of Shaw Low D’s?
The third & sixth holes have a smaller tube soldered into them that extends into the whistle body 1/8"+/-.It also leaves a slight mound around the top of the hole where it was soldered in.My guess is that it’s there to improve intonation in some way.
Thank goodness I’m not the only to one to have a Shaw Low D (bought for the same reason as yourself).
Mine has the same design as you describe. Don’t know why it is there though, however it doesn’t seem to make it any more difficult to play. I can on;y assume though that is there for the same reason that your keyboard has pips on the F and J keys. Easier to navigate your way round once you have found these “landmarks”.
As for “Death by asphyxiation”, I’ve made a small change to mine that has made a difference. If you get a toothpick and push it into the mouthpiece so that it just pokes out into the windway on one side and then repeat on the other. Once you have the correct length, glue them in place and it reduces the air requirements. Did make a substantial difference to mine.
If I’ve not explained this very well, email
me off board and I’ll draft a better description of what I did.
Have fun with it though, I think it has a great haunting sound.
A
<>
[ This Message was edited by: adrianh on 2001-09-26 02:40 ]
[ This Message was edited by: adrianh on 2001-09-26 02:40 ]
Well, the only reason I said to mail me off board was that I didn’t think I was explaining it very well, but here goes.
get 1 toothpick and snap it in half
Get your Shaw Low D and look at it Fipple End on.
Poke one half of the tootpick, pointed end first, into one side of the fipple until the point just pokes through into the air chamber.
Repeat on the other side of fipple.
Cut of the excess toothpick that is now sticking out of the fipple.
Remove the pieces of pick that are in the whistles and administer some adhesive (I think I used araldite. Someone post a warning if this is harmful to your health)
Replace the glued up pieces of pick into either side of the fipple.
You should now have reduced the size of the windway in the fipple.
Once the glue has dried you should find that your Low D is easier to play. I did.
Do hope I have explained this properly but if I haven’t and you end up taking your Shaw beyond the point of no whistle, I take no responsibility.
Happy tootling.
A
<>
P.S. If all else fails, you could always follow the advice that someone posted for me, that is to have a small air compressor standing by… !!
just a question, If the toothpick (or matchstick) in the mouthpiece works so well, why does’nt shaw just change the design slightly to add something like that?
jeff
I got my hands on a Shaw low D
for the first time recently,
and liked its tone. It’s breathy
but it’s playable. Sometimes
one has to rise to the
whistle, as it were.
Probably Shaw likes the
whistle as it is.
[ This Message was edited by: jim stone on 2002-11-06 00:11 ]
On 2001-09-25 17:13, tony pearson wrote:
The third and sixth holes have been formed at the maker’s shop by silver soldering quarter inch lengths of silver tube into what would normally have been plain fingerholes.
This appears like a rather unique manufacturer’s trick. From what I gather, one advantage of wood vs metal is that thicker walls need smaller holes because of a “chimney” effect.
It seems Dave Shaw gave a lot of attention to this detail and found a quite elegant way to transpose it to sheet metal.
Is this only for the Low D, or did anyone around find the same in Low F or G ?
BbZH
[ This Message was edited by: Zubivka on 2002-11-06 04:41 ]
My Shaw low D has the same hole construction. Yes it needs a lot of air but a magician friend of mine named Mack Hoover experimented with it. He made a little metal piece which fits into the air slot and it acts as both a mute ( to make it nice and quiet ) as well as reducing the air requirement dramatically.
The insert piece is shaped like a >
The top slides into the mouthpiece slot and the lower part follows the line of the wooden block. The base of the bottom bit is turned slightly up to “click” into place against the body.
A simple modification which reduces mouthpiece size just as the toothpicks obviously do.
If I knew how to insert a photo I would. If anyone wants a photo of this little gizmo let me know by p mssge