I don’t make whistles, so this question is motivated by nothing other than idle curiosity.
Looking at the ramp on my Generation Bb, I notice that it’s not flat. There’s a molded tapered bulge, for lack of a better term, that extends from the top of the ramp about 2/3 of the way down to the labium. The ramp on every other whistle I’ve seen–not to mention recorders and ocarinas–is flat all the way to the top. The only exception I know of is the Clarke Original, where the ramp is formed by a kind of indentation. This feature of Generation whistles doesn’t seem to be copied by anyone. Does anyone know what the purpose of this bulge is? Does it have a purpose?
Obviously, the round bulge makes it easier to play the round notes. Similarly, a flat ramp makes it easier to play flats, and a sharp blade makes it easier to play sharps.
Seriously … I experimented with using blue tack putty to add a “Generation bulge” to various whistles. I honestly don’t remember my conclusions. I suspect the Karman vortex reed is fairly short and the action happens mostly toward the edge of the blade. So the bulge may be nothing more than a design element. And not even the mysterious trolls working in the sub-sub basement of Generation HQ in Oswestry know the history.
On my MK low D, I played notes that only required one hand (G, A, B) in the low and high octaves while placing a finger in various places on the tube below the opening.
When the finger was a certain distance from the opening, while playing High B especially, it reduced some of the lower “white noise” component to the timbre while not seeming to have any effect on Low B.
I’ve thought about putting a blob of wax there but never got round to it.
When I saw the title of this thread, I thought you were going to be making fun of old fat guys like me. Glad to see you are not. Carry on with your conversation!
