The A whistle I just made with pvc has a third octave A note which is too sharp by all fingerings listed at the whistle fingering research site. I did come up with an alternate which works: left hand all fingers down and end of whistle against the knee (as in some third octave recorder fingerings). Of course this is kind of awkward. It works for slow stuff, but is pretty hard in dance tunes. Anyone have other alternate third octave root note fingerings? Anyone know what aspect of design is causing this? The whistle has excellent intonation in the first two octaves. Thanks.
Hi, Dan: Whistles in keys other than D are usually treated as transposing instruments. So what follows treats your A whistle in terms of D fingerings.
Your xxxooo fingering is just overblowing to the next harmonic (5th) of the g, with the assistance of end-loading. The usual d’ fingering oxxooo is just a venting of that fingering, to make it speak more easily. If you just vent the T1 hole (1st hole) only slightly, instead of opening it all the way, is the note then in tune?
If your first octave bell D xxxxxx and second octave d xxxxxx are in tune, check that you can overblow the next 2 harmonics (a and d’) more or less in tune also. If not, there’s something non-linearly wrong. 
Adding that the 3rd octave d’ is usually considered beyond the range of the instrument in Irish trad, and not really much used anyway.
On a D whistle I made, the oxxooo fingering makes a good third octave D note. On my new A whistle that fingering makes an A# plus 30 cents. On the new whistle the first octave bell A note and second octave A note are in tune; the next harmonic (E note) is in tune. The following harmonic (The third octave D) is 25-30 cents sharp.
I know that using the third octave is not common. But I was playing a tune I wrote in the key of A which has a few high A notes. The tune can be played fine in A on a D whistle, but I was enjoying the rich tone of the same tune, still in the key of A on the A whistle. There are some key of D airs which I also like on the A whistle which need the high A.
I have a similar effect on one of my low whistles (a cheap one that’s called “Tribal Earth Low D” - I’ve only found references to this whistle on German sellers’ sites - I’d actually be curious to know who makes them); the problem appears to be caused by the rather big diameter of the tube (I have another low D - a Dixon Aluminium - to compare, which doesn’t show any signs of that behaviour). The size of the tube in turn results in small hole distances, which is pretty comfortable and doesn’t have much of a downside in the first one-and-a-half octaves, but the notes above are unbearably sharp (the third D by a half tone!). What’s worse, I can’t do anything against it by changing air flow and working on breath control (I’m a reed player, I’m pretty proficient when it comes to working with pressure, speed and flow). Maybe the problem you’re having is related to mine? I’m not (yet) a whistle builder, though…
M.
Sure, an A whistle can be a nice substitute for D tunes in a session setting - usually involving octave folding and excursions into the 3rd octave.
For the high d’ note, try fingering oxxxoo or oxxoxo (or oox@oo or ooxo@o, where @ = half hole). One of those should flatten the d’.
My only A whistle is a Susato, and the high d’ is spot-on in tune.
While you are talking about the third octave, can I ask a dumb question? Thanks…
When I tried for my third octave d and e on my new low D I felt quite chuffed to get a reasonable sounding note. Until I tried them in a tune and realised that what I had was a second octave a and b. Now my low D whistle is hand made by a man of very high repute, and the notes seem so strong that I am sure its a normal thing for a whistle. In fact if I blower even harder I can get (squeaky) hints of the real third octave d and e, so it is probably my lack of skill here.
So is this normal whistle behaviour, and is it a trick that is any use in tunes, and are there more odd notes hiding in that tube?
OK so that is three questions. But you guys seem to have lots of useful answers.
TIA
Phill
that is normal - the notes are the harmonic series: starting with d you will get d,d,a,d,f#,a,d… well actually you will probably only get the first 3 or 4 as you blow faster/harder
not all instruments will have in tune harmonics
google harmonic series for more than you wanted to know, but probably not the particular answer you wanted!
Bill
Thanks. Actually you answered the question I would have asked if I had known the answer. It makes more sense to me now - and even makes some (decades ago) school physics seem more useful!
Phill
A great site for wind acoustics, and music acoustics in general:
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/
Start with the Basics link, and explore from there.
Gosh. While walking the dogs and pondering the information in Bills post I thought “what I need is a technical description of the physics of the whistle”.
What do I find when I come back on here? Exactly what I hadn’t yet asked for. Not only do you guys know the answers to my questions, but sometimes you know my questions before I do.
Thank you
Phill