What are supposed to be the advantages of a whistle with a tapered bore over one with a straight bore?
Better tuning of the octaves and more equal spacing/sizing of the finger holes.
… also, comparing my Generation C to my Moeck descant recorder (with it’s tapered bore), the finger-holes can be closer together. Probably no big deal on a “normal” whistle, but might make a difference on a low D, for instance.
Probably not the best comparison because:
- A descant recorder’s equivalent to a D whistle in terms of ‘six-finger’ note.
- Other factors of bore size (as well as shape) and wall thickness may also affect the spacing.
Even so, Peter, my understanding is that conical bore instruments in general do have holes which are closer together than equivalently pitched cylindrical bore instruments. Is this not correct?
Sure. It’s just that the proof offered was based on an erroneous assumption.
Did you ever read Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons books? If so, you might remember the ‘proof’ that copper was gold from Pigeon Post?
Fair enough.
No, I’m afraid I haven’t. It’s funny, but somehow, whenever I’ve looked at what they’re about, they just haven’t appealed enough to make me read them.
Sorry about that … you’re right of course, poor choice of instruments. I should have written “comparing my Generation C to my Clarke C (with it’s tapered bore) …”
I was just gifted 2 beautiful calura whistles, one painted red in B, the other painted grey in C, both with gold accents/lettering. With a wee bit of adjusting the fipple, the C is sounding nice. The seam on the back is a locking seam, different from a clarke. It appears to have been finished with a grooving machine of some sort that was designed specifically for this purpose. The seam was definitely set down with a wheel though. I can’t wait to try cloning one. They are way too pretty to take apart though, so I will have to measure and trace for my template. Do any of our German members perhaps have any info on the company, Calura? They seem to have been making whistles in several keys.
I’ve read that Caluras, among other German made whistles, were manufactured by Gretch. Can indeed be very nice whistles!
If you’re into cloning them, they do show up relatively cheaply on Ebay.