Taming a Susato...another easy tweak

Whistle
1

OK, here it goes: How to greatly reduce the volume of a Susato and make it sound more whistle-like.
I did this tweak on a very shrill Susato that has the narrowest bore available and is supposed to be sweeter. It was shrill and unruly.
Details:
Take a round toothpick and stick it in the beak of the mouthpiece, where you put your mouth to blow. Put the point of the stick over to one side, as far over as it will go, and push it in until it’s jammed in tight. Now bend the toothpick back and forth until it breaks. Now try the whistle. You’ll hear a difference. If you want to go further, do the opposite side too.
It’s not permanent. I’ve been able to undo this tweak by poking out the piece of toothpick using the point of a tack.
I used the double tweak on the Susato in question. It’s now so quiet I don’t use earplugs to play it.

It’s a whistle that was always very in tune, but I hated the tone. Now I like the tone, and use it a lot for practice.

Some may come up with refinements to this one. Let me know how it goes.

Tom.

2

Yes Tom, that’s very similar in principle to the effect of blowing at an angle. In either case, you’re cutting down the air filling the large Susato windway. I prefer the flexibility of just changing playing technique without modifying the whistle, but your tweak does work as advertised, and the effect is more pronounced. I just tried it using a paper matchstick with the head cut off instead of a toothpick. I’m a little more comfortable that the paper match won’t damage the windway, and it’s easy to remove with just your fingers. Nice!