I started to experiment with adding silver lip plates to my aluminium whistles, to reduce the lip contact with the aluminium. For this I cut a 10mm wide recess into the upper fipple beak, and glued a 0.3mm strip of Sterling silver into it, to keep it flush. This is a fairly simple addition, but greatly reduces lip contact with the aluminium. The upper lip rests entirely on the silver plate, whereas the lower lip rests to a great extent on the Delrin (acetale) fipple plug.
This reduces greatly a possible slight taste of aluminium. Some lip contact with aluminium is still possible, due to the sandwich construction of the beak (inner Delrin plug, aluminium tubing forming the windway channel, outer aluminium tubing). I’d like to consult with a silver smith to learn if the silver plate can be shaped in an easy manner, so that it will cover all remaining exposed aluminium surfaces.
Low D whistle head with silver lip plate
I got really excited working with the silver, and love to extent my skills that way.
Looks interesting. I think I might like to get a silver tip head-joint for the extra D body I got a while back. Matter of fact, a solid silver whistle is something I’d be interested in (I have a thing for silver), though I’m perfectly happy with the aluminum whistles. I haven’t noticed any taste of aluminum when playing.
Yes, for any whistle, new or retro-fitted. But if you have no problems with taste perhaps it should not matter. It will though be easier to fit a silver plate for a new head, rather than fitting it to an existing head.
There are some Boehm flute players that develop allergies to silver. I don’t know if this would be an issue on the lips, mine is the flesh under the lip, hence the gold lip plate option.
Nickel-silver is pretty easy to get and use. FWIW, it’s an alloy of copper and nickel and does not tarnish or corrode. Thats what Shaws are made of, for example.
Not sure about the “Rolls Royce”, perhaps it should be gold or platinum
I found a source for hard drawn 925 Sterling Silver tubing, and I could make D, C and Bb whistles with that (and probably other keys as well). The plug could be Delrin or Sterling silver (adding to the costs). Ask me for price details.
You mean gold plating the beak? Or adding a solid thin gold plate (and then just for the upper lip, or the entire beak)? And what karat gold, 22 or 18 or?
I’d need to enquire about gold plating. Not sure how quick it would wear off, when used on the beak.
Nickel silver or German silver is a copper alloy with nickel and often zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_silver.
It has sort of a silvery look, but more yellow, and a bit dull. The aluminium whistles look much more silvery. I got a Shaw A whistle, and I don’t get much of a taste from it, although it smells like a brass whistle. I don’t like copper or brass on the lips, and for me a brass whistle tarnishes a lot more than an aluminium whistle, in fact I don’t notice any tarnishing under the fingers with my whistles.
