I turn the tuning slide of course, but the balance of the tube is as purchased. I turn the ID of the head slightly to accommodate my fipple material since I like the surface finish as it comes from the manufacturer. And I turn the OD of head where the white mouthpiece goes to accommodate the mouthpiece ID so I don’t have to mess with that on the mouthpiece. I have selected the fipple and mouthpiece raw material so I have the windway height I want without needing to machine them. So under the mouthpiece the wall thickness has been thinned out for windway purposes but the balance of the whistle is untouched.
Now that I’ve sent that response it occurs to me that we might be using CPVC from different manufacturers. I’m using FlowGuard Gold by Charlotte Pipe. The ID is about 0.480" and the wall thickness is right at 0.075". Is that similar to yours? Feel free to not respond if I’m treading in on trade secrets here.
Small toneholes give reduced loudness and restrict the weaker high frequency harmonics giving a warm/reedy tone . Large toneholes give increased loudness and favor the high frequency harmonics giving a cool/flutey tone. Narrow bores and toneholes dampen high frequency harmonics for warm/reedy tone. Wide bores and toneholes favor weaker high frequency harmonics (less resistance) for a cooler/flutey tone.
PVC and CPVC can be reshaped using an Acetone “Bath”. A container large enough to submerge a whistle blank is needed. You can use a Pyrex Baking dish and a small sandbag to keep the tube submerged (In a well ventilated area!). After a period of time the tube will soften. The degree of softness depends on the time submerged. Sliding the flexible PVC over a wood/metal conical Manderel will expand one end and pulling the other end will compress the opposite diameter. Set this out to “cure/harden” and you have a conical blank to use, or any other twisted shape you like. Makers of PVC Didjeridoo’s use this method. They also scrape/brush the exterior for a textured surface. Krylon also makes special spraypaint for PVC that “bonds” with this polymer. I have made PVC/CPVC Flutes and Whistles with a textured surface that I apply gold and silver leaf to, folowed by an acrylic clear coat. (don’t ask, I only sell at local flea markets to protect my work till I can apply for patents)
If you prefer sanding, Put the PVC/CPVC tube on a lathe with a “steady rest” or hollow tailstock. A dowel with attached sandpaper in degrees of grit can be inserted in one end to change or smooth the inner bore. Another option for increasing the inside diameter is to cut/split a tube down its length to for a “C” tube. You can remove more material from the longitudal cut and “squease-n-glue” it back together for a reduced diameter or place a long “wedge” of PVC with PVC-glue into the split to increase diameter. (place the seam down the back side.)
Backpressure can be improved by placing a thin 1mm-3mm “throat” tube inside the bore between the top tonehole and the voicing. You canmake these easy on the lathe. Have a look at the diagram here…
I think I said this in another post recently but..FlowGuard Gold is a tradmarked brand name for CTS (copper tubing size) plastic pipe made with CPVC compounds from a supplier named Lubrizol, as far as I know. They license their brand name of the pipe to a number of companies. Charlotte Pipe is one, Genova is another and Harvel (who just happens to be near me) is another company producing pipe under the FlowGuard name. It seems to be the “upgrade” pipe used in the “mortgage bailout” housing market. Most of these companies also produce CPVC pipe in the same sizes without the FlowGuard name and at a lower price. I have used both and I “imagine” the FlowGuard branded stuff is more uniform in size. Unlike Carey, I can’t see much difference in it mechanically. Both turn equally well with sharp tools. The whistles made with each come out very much the same.
Oh, I think the resulting whistles are indistinguishable, but in the process of machining them with my tools, I have an easier time managing the chips and burrs with the Flowguard Gold. Different tooling might prefer the opposite, so as always, YMMV.
Yep, fair enough. I guess the point I was trying to make was that there is no great need to go searching for FlowGuard pipe to make a whistle. The more generic CPVC pipe works too.
Thin walls with larger toneholes makes for better portamento response whereas thick walls with smaller toneholes makes for better cross fingered chromaticism.
Small holed recorders have thick walls. I have never known a sliding recorder player and the best and most evocative slidings in ITM whistle I have heard is that on thin walled whistles.
I had to look up “portamento”, why can’t you just say “better slides”?
I understand your argument/experience about small holes vs. large holes,
but is this connected to the wall thickness as well, or independant of it?
It seem to me that a large tone hole on a thick wall still offers a good slide.
Is this inferior to a thinner walled whistle or flute?
Now coming just from empirical experience, when I recorded myself playing the same tune on a number of different low D whistles to compare the sound, I found that only the Susato retained any sort of interesting timbre in the 2nd register. All the other whistles, however much character their timbre possessed in the low register, became bland in the 2nd register.
The Susato had the thickest walls of the lot, and the narrowest bore.
I think you are right. Just did a slow sliding test on a 10mm hole. On a PVC flute with 3mm wall it was much more difficult than on a whistle with 1mm wall. I seem to have to cover at least half the hole on the thicker walled flute to feel the start of the slide, whereas on the thinner whistle it feels immediate, as soon as I cover a fraction of the hole.
A thin walled low whistle, or flute, like a bansuri, feels also more immediate in its response, and I am intuitively more immediate, closer, in touching the vibrating air column, i.e. sticking my finger(tip) into the main column, and the slightest change has an immediate effect.
I am also noticing that half-covering a hole to obtain a semi-tone is much easier.
All this is amply demonstrated by the art of bansuri players as well, achieving the most exquisite micro-tonal expressions.
pancelticpiper, I would propose that the timbre of the Susato may be more due to its recorder type head. Not that I have or play a low D whistle (preferring flutes for low D) but I note the timbre of my soprano Susato E and Eb is particurly nice - recorder type heads.
I feel that the particular specialty of Irish and Scottish music (not only dance tunes) over and above other European fipple flute traditions is the importance of slidings or portamento to an extent over and above the preoccupation with timbre in other trads. One hears the the most exquisite airs and things played on some cheapish thin walled whistle and no 2000 dollar wooden recorder with its rich timbre can surpass the articualtion of the whistle in the hands of a sliding whistler.
However I believe that an open minded whistle maker could have the best of both with a thin walled, large toneholed whistle body for sliding articultion AND a head designed for timbre. Just an idea!
For instance Michael Burke? Yesterday I received a low D Pro Viper (aluminium body, tube wall 0.9mm, 1" OD). This is an amazing whistle for easy playing, easy sliding, easy half-holing and easy transition between octaves. Plus a pure tone, which some like (like me), and some don’t. I can create slide effects which I was never able to do on a flute. I think I am going to built a thin-walled flute like that, to see what is possible. Or simply build a flute head for the Burke whistle body. I am thrilled and excited!
