Could someone assist?
I like my Sweettone’s but my Megs both seem to be out of tune (flat) on the upper register. The same with my Susato A. That one is unplayable as it is about a half step flat after the middle D.
I like my Walton OK but it too is just slightly flat higher up.
What can I do to try to fix them?
Thanks
http://www.chiffandfipple.com/tunable.html
helps if you check the website. :roll:
I read that page on tuning but if I move the mouthpiece around it’s going to throw the lower octave out of tune. I just need to figure out how to sharpen the higher one.
I’m not sure if you can. I don’t know why one octave would be in tune and the other not. Try blowing harder or softer or something. It may be you and not the whistle. If that doesn’t fix it, buy another whistle 
Bad post. Dumb post.
I don’t know alot about megs, but I had a gen that was flat on the upper, 1st question I’d ask is have you check the notes against an electronic tuner - it’s suprising how close you can get to a pure note with breath control.
On the gen I had with these problems I removed the head and resettled it, using the tuner to set the d notevery very slightly sharpe on the lower register and the upper came nicely in to tune - but again using breath control and a tuner 'till I got the notes how I wanted.
I also have messed around filing out holes moving then up the body to sharpen them on some of my homemade coppers - but if you get this wrong thats it there is no going back.
Richard.
Hey geek; I dont think you can expect much from the Meg. They are a cheap copy of the sweetone made in China and it realy isnt worth the time to try a tweek on them. If you like the sound of the Meg(as I do) the best thing to do is buy a couple more in hopes of finding a good one.
The Susato on the other hand should be sent back to who ever you bought it from. I have never heard of them having a tuning problem. The Walton, I have found , is very sensitive to breath controll. Infact breath controll could be the problem, as it is easy to change the tone of any given note by a quarter step with breath alone. You might even consider buying a different brand of whistle that is known to have good tuning such as a Hoover or even another Susato to see if it is a matter of technique. Besides, you can never have too many whistles 
Good luck
Tom
no, I’m serious about changing your breath pressure. Sometimes you can sort of “overblow” a flat note into tune. I wasn’t being sarcastic.
I taught a short whistle class last summer and bought a bunch of Clarke Megs. The quality control was all over the map. Some squeaked, some were out of tune with themselves, some didn’t play at all. Fortunately, there were enough decent-to-good ones in that batch to give everyone in the class a playable whistle. OTOH, I’ve never had a problem with a regular Clarke being off more than a few cents.
Yes, it is, indeed possible for the upper octave to be off while the lower is okay. Vice-versa, as well. It’s why my scrap bin holds a bunch of perforated brass, copper, and steel tubing - experimentation to eliminate just such anomalies.
In whistles, as in other consumer goods, you tend to get what you’re willing to pay for. Buy a $2 whistle, expect $2 worth of performance. Buy a high-end, you’ll probably get perfect tuning, no need for tweaks, high-quality materials and finish, and a money-back guarantee, plus a maker who will work with you before, during, and after the sale.
All that said, you might want to look at Oak or Gen, both middle-of-the-road whistles at the lower end in price. Carry a vat of rubbing alcohol into the music shop, though, and try before you buy!
Good luck!
serpent
Perhaps I was spoiled by the Sweettone (my first whistle). I will work on breath control. I’d be happy to discover the Walton works OK and I’m not breathing right. It sounds pretty nice overall. I might even be able to salvage the Megs! One nice thing about transverse flutes is you can adjust your jaw to change pitch. I should try that with whistle!
I’ve got a couple of Gens coming from Elderly’s along with an Alto R*****der. I’m looking forward to seeing if they work well or not.
I’ll probably be ordering a Burke though soon. That should be a treat.
Oh and Sam. My fault. I misunderstood.
I know this sounds ludicrous… and it’s not going to work on an already done deal whistle if the D is not flat but just some interesting info…
I wanted to keep the finger holes on my whistles larger, HOWEVER, like serpent was saying, you don’t have the luxury of picking whatever size hole you want, because then one octave or the other won’t be exactly in tune with the other. Darn laws of Physics!!! 
OTOH, what I did find out was this… interestingly enough, I accidently made a few tubes one time where indeed… all was in tune (except the upper octave was slightly sharp), however all tone holes were slightly offset ‘up the tube’ … make sense? no? ok. 
what I did was grind off the end of the tube a little bit, and ‘lengthen’ the top, by sliding it out a bit at the tuning slide, and lo and behold… the octaves came together…
SO, moral to the story… very small and out of nowhere weirdnesess make all the differences in the world of touchy darned little whistle thingies.
Deep Technical marvels by John McHaffie
HA! Take care all,
John
That’s really kind of funny, John. I don’t work exactly that way, but the end result is much the same. I cut the tube to bell note with the slide pulled out 3/16", ignore the tube being pulled out, and drill the holes based precisely on the calculations, from the existing bell end, which is sharp when the slide is all the way in.
Where this all runs into trouble and experimentation, is in ensuring that not only are both octaves in tune, but that the oxxooo crossfingering for CNat is also bang on. That involves tweaking hole sizes and positions for each and every stock tubing type (currently 5), and key on the charts! Now add in the differences between external slide behaviour, and internal, and there are some very knotty problems to overcome, indeed!
Flutomat is a huge convenience in getting that first tuning right on the mark, but it doesn’t help at all with the crossfingering calcs.
Cheers,
serpent