I just bought three Generation whistles (D, Eb and C). The sound from C whistle is very good. But the D and Eb whistles had strange sound. The first Key D and Eb, some kind of unwanted resonance occurs. I am planning to follow Dale’s method to tune/tweak these two whistles. Before I am going to do it. I would appreciate if anyone could give me some advices. Thanks.
It’s impossible to say what is wrong without actually hearing it, what you describe could be due to just blowing a bit to hard. Try easing the pressure a bit and see what happens. Also check for anything inside the whsitle that shouldn’t be there.
Hope this doesn’t come too late. I’ve had had very good results from moderate tweaking of Generation D and Eb whistles recently. I suggest you proceed in very small incremental steps, testing the sound of the whistle after each one.
The first thing to do is to unglue the head of the whistle (by dipping it in nearly boling water for 20 seconds or so). Clean off all the glue and then put the head back on. On Gen Ds, the heads all come jammed onto the body as far as they can go, making them sharp. Just putting them back in the right place will make the whistle sound considerably better.
If you’re not happy with this, you can try backfilling the cavity with blue-tack. Try different amounts. Push it into the head and sculpt it with the blunt end of a chopstick. Most people recommend a moderate amount, but putting lots (so that you get a sloping wall of blue-tack extending past the end of the windway) can quieten the whistle down. See what quantity, or none, will suit your whistles and your taste.
If you want to go further (most often you won’t need to) take a very sharp knife or a scalpel and clean up any stray whiskers of plastic left from the moulding process.
If you’re still in the mood for experimenting, you can try what I do if I’m still not happy. (At your own risk.) Take the scalpel to the ramp of the head. If the whistle is on the loud or raspy side, try dulling the ramp angle. By this I mean, do not remove material from the edge of the ramp or blade, but from the ridge a millimeter or two in from the edge, where the slope changes. Remove tiny tiny slivers at a time and test the effect as you go. If you’re really brave you can try dulling the edge of the blade itself.
I did all these mods. just last night with a green-headed Gen D that didn’t sound too bad as it was, but which was rather too loud and had a slight strident edge to the sound, especially noticeable on the high B. I am very pleased with the results - the whistle is now quieter and more tractable and has a little more air in the sound, which I love. The downside is that the bottom D is a little less strong and stable and needs more careful breath control. But that’s cool. It’s now a grand little whistle.
For a more radical approach to tweaking this type of whistle, try this thread:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?topic=1077&forum=1
I’ve tried a whistle tweaked in this manner by Cillian O Briain. It’s very sweet but for my taste too quiet and pure-sounding.
Thanks all! Just as I’m thinking about tweaks, a new tweaking thread starts.
New to C/F, playing for about 13 months, still can’t read music and play at the same time (I play better by ear), know a few dozen tunes - some well.
I suppose I shouldn’t tweak a whistle until I am pretty certain what its faults are. Being an incureable tool user, I am constantly tempted though. Of my whistles only the howard low d shows an obvious enough fault - volume balance between high and low register.
Oh by the way, how to measure a whistle for being in tune? I have an old korg guitar tuner that doesn’t seem to pick up the whistle notes very well.
Thanks - Joel
Thanks all. During whistle tweaking, if the fipple will be damaged, I would like to buy a new fipple only. I would like to know any company is willing to sell the fipple to me instead of selling the entire whistle and what is the price range of the fipple.
RE: sources for replacement mouthpieces (fipple) only:
Thom at the Whistle Shop sells mouthpieces only for soprano cylindrical whistles (and also low whistles). There are several listed on the web site for standard sizes:
http://www.thewhistleshop.com/catalog/whistles/heads/mouthpieces.html
prices are shown for these in-stock items right on the web page
and you can special order other sizes etc. Not every size may be available, and you may have to substitute one manufacturer’s mouthpiece for another in some cases, but certainly worth an email to find out if you’ve got a whistle body you like:
Best wishes
Robert
[ This Message was edited by: rpmseattle on 2001-12-31 15:48 ]
[ This Message was edited by: rpmseattle on 2001-12-31 15:49 ]