Susato Tuning Questions

Whistle
1

All,

I’m the proud recipient of a Susato VSB High D whistle. Took a little while but it totally blows away the Clark Sweetone that I started with. I do have some questions I’m hoping you can help with:

  1. Originally when I blew a low D it was super quiet and even then tuned high. So being the first tunable whistle I pulled out the head a little and it made for a great difference. What I now consider a normal volume blow makes a nice in tune low D +/- a couple of cents. My question is if this is typical? Are tunables designed to be pushed in all the way as the default? I would think the middle position of the tuning range would be the ideal spot to attempt to get a perfectly tuned instrument.

  2. For my Susato I have it pulled out so that about so that I see 4 rings and the mouthpiece is about even with the fifth ring. I’m curious where other Susato users have their mouthpiece pulled out to?

  3. So as I understand the tuning I made it lower by pulling the tuning mouthpiece out. Making the whistle longer. That would be the typical case correct?

  4. I didn’t know how to move the mouthpiece so I did a combination unscrew/pull motion and it appears that it actually just pulls on/off. Even though there appear to be threads yo don’t unscrew it. Is that correct?

Thanks all!


AB

2

My VSB D is usually pushed all the way in, occasionally pulled out just a tad. Mine is an older model, and doesn’t have the serrated joint that yours does. The Susatos don’t have a huge tuning range upwards (to raise the pitch) but I’ve never found that to be a problem. Some whistles do have a wider tuning range as you were suggesting. Susatos don’t. I think having too long a slide on an instrument as small as a whistle can cause other problems, so the limitation of the Susato tuning slide is not necessarily a bad thing, in my opinion. Pulling the head out lowers the pitch, pushing it in raises the pitch. A gentle twisting, pulling motion is probably the best way to move the mouthpiece. Again, you have a serrated joint, those are not threads, so it is possible to simply pull it out, or push it on. On their website, Susato says the purpose of the serrated joint is to allow you to consistently tune the whistle the same way, and to hold the tuning grease longer. Hope that all helps. Enjoy your Susato. They are great whistles!

3

Hi,

The tuning is relative to your breath.

Susato has a secret embouchure technique.

Don’t tune a whistle on its bell note.

Tune it on its high and low 5th or 4th.

In a D whistle its the A or G.
Tune it on both octaves. Check which notes can be corrected by air control.

On my VSB D it is on 3rd ring to be on spot with A440. This is of course using my breath control.

4

I’ve owned a load of Susatos, from High D chromatically all the way down to Low C, and the tuning is all over the place.

To play in tune at standard pitch, A=440, some have to have their heads shoved all the way on, some need the heads pulled far out so that half the tenon is showing.

One would think that Susato would decide on an ideal default position, say, the head pulled out 1/4" for 440 (to give some room to tune sharper) and have all their whistles that way. That’s not been my experience.

Also odd is the way that you can have a half-dozen different Susatos in a half-dozen different keys and each has a unique scale, with various notes randomly being too flat or too sharp. Some have a flat bell-note but otherwise fine so I have to chop the bottom; some have random flat notes that have to be carved out; some have random sharp notes that need tape on that hole; one whistle has all three of these issues and had to be heavily re-worked. (Happily Susatos are very easy to carve and chop!) Every now and then a Susato might have an enormous C# hole so that no fingering of C natural can work. Why? Who can say.

Years ago, back in the 1980s, I got a one-piece (nontunable) Susato High D and the whole thing, though in tune to itself, was very flat. I think it had been made to Baroque pitch or something. Anyhow I chopped the bottom to get Bottom D in tune, then worked my way up, carving each hole in sequence, until at last I had a perfectly in tune whistle with huge fingerholes, the very loudest whistle I’ve ever heard, the Street Blaster par excellence.