“A whistle can be loud and not shreik (my Copeland was adjusted so a while back). It was loud and shreik but is now just loud. This came from changing the sharpness of the blade (ever so slightly) and lowering
the blade in relationship to the air stream by a few hundredths of an inch (work performed by M. Copeland!) do not try at home!”
I came across the above in a message some time ago and made a note of it (probably from Chiff & Fipple, but maybe IRTRAD-L. I’ve got a nickel whistle on order from Copeland (may be ages before I get it…), but I was considering emailing them and asking them to do this for my whistle too.
I was curious if anyone else had experience specifying a whistle with a non-shreiky 2nd octave, and what exactally you asked for (from Copeland or other makers).
I’m not a whistlesmith but I do know that a properly voiced and tuned whistle will play well in both octaves,which sadly is no guarantee on even the most expensive whistles if recent comments on this forum bear any weight.I dont beleive its possible to bias 2nd oct at the expense of the 1st and would make little sense to do so unless your friend was referring to actual tuning as opposed to voicing. Peace, Mike
I will never spin staw into gold whistles, but I can tell you my experience from massive tweaking efforts on all my cheap whistles.
Every one of them has come from the factory with a sharp blade, and most with the cavity underneath the windway.
On most of mine, esp. my Gen’s and my Oak, I’ve filed the blade down to a point that it’s actually not just less-sharp, or even blunted…it’s SQUARE! I’ve probably taken a good millimeter off the length of the blade at least. I also try to smooth off the edges of everything. the window, the blade, the fipple…everything I can find.
I have some that this has worked miracles on, and some where the improvement was non-existant! I’ll try to post a clip to Clips and Snips with my Oak (my most recent WOW-this-sounds-really-good-now tweak)
At any rate, in all my tweaking, I’ve never noticed the first or second octave becoming weak, or tending to break more than it did before the tweak. Tuning seems to be unchanged, and if anything, the balance between the octaves, to my puny brain and poor ears anyway, seems a bit better.
“A whistle can be loud and not shreik (my Copeland was adjusted so a while back). It was loud and shreik but is now just loud. This came from changing the sharpness of the blade (ever so slightly) and lowering
the blade in relationship to the air stream by a few hundredths of an inch (work performed by M. Copeland!) do not try at home!”
I came across the above in a message some time ago and made a note of it (probably from Chiff & Fipple, but maybe IRTRAD-L.
I think that was me, actually. Do I really write like that? Oh, well. . .
I’ve got a nickel whistle on order from Copeland (may be ages before I get it…), but I was considering emailing them and asking them to do this for my whistle too.
I was curious if anyone else had experience specifying a whistle with a non-shreiky 2nd octave, and what exactally you asked for (from Copeland or other makers).
I’ve had conversations with Mike Copeland and Jim Rementer (in person) and Pat O’Riordan (over the phone). The shreiky 2nd, as I think of it, is where the 2nd register A, B, C-nat & C# are so loud it causes some discomfort in your ears when you play the notes. One way around it is to do what Dale suggested the other day (from C. McConnell’s 3 tape whistle tutor) with playing the notes very staccato. The other thing that can be done (living close to Philly) was to take My Copeland to Mike and have it re-voiced. I was told by all three whistlesmiths that lowering the volume on the high end of the second octave (thanks Jessie), would also lower the volume on the low end of the first octave. My Copeland D had a terrific volume (IMHO) at the 1st octave D and E. Those notes were sacraficed in volume to make the 2nd octave A through C# less painful.
Mike normally makes the D whistles are “session blasters” based on the majority of his customer feedback (cumulative over the years). The Bb, A, and G whistles are very well ballanced since they have less utility in sessions. The Low D has a very strong Low end. If you ask for something quieter and more ballanced, they can do it. It is a matter of personal preference. What you think is too loud and what I think is too loud might be two different things.
If you have some phone conversations with Mike, that would be a good thing.
Mark, What The other whistlesmiths have said I find to be true. My standard bore Low D (which is big) has a very powerful low end and in the second octave the three highest notes are really blasting. This may be ok in a session or not? I have found I can balance it somewhat by adjusting the blade position relative to the windway, but only slightly. I am now offering a narrower bore model that is much sweeter and softer in the upper register but with some loss of those wonderful low notes. When I play I tend to want to lean into the lower notes and and bring out the overtones with my fingers (as Davy Spillane does) Uillean pipe style. And so I prefer the larger bore for this technique but this does place some limitation on the upper notes. However, I don’t care because what I can get out of those notes is worth it. Its nice to have a choice on which whistle for which tune.
Ronaldo
I think the Copeland nickle D is a
spectacularly good whistle, as is.
It’s a loud whistle–I play it mostly
in venues where I can be loud, e.g.
sessions, on the street, etc. I do
not play it much in my apartment,
cause the neighbors begin to applaud.
The top notes are loud but not shrieky,
to my ear anyway. Anyhow something’s gotta
give in a whistle like this–and if
it’s the very top notes, that’s OK
with me. If necessary I use staccatto
upstairs. As said, in the venues where
I play it, the top notes are no problem. If I may make a suggestion:
get the whistle the way Michael sets
it up. Get to know it that way. Then, if you want changes, ask for them. Meanwhile I wouldn’t spend much time being concerned about this stuff. When it comes to the nickle D, Michael and Jim really
know what they are doing.
[ This Message was edited by: jim stone on 2001-10-21 21:45 ]
