I’m new to the list and this is my first post. I have devised an effective whistle mute, truly. But I do not feel up to trying to describe it in words. I need a volunteer who is good with words, or who has the means to upload pictures. I will send the mute and the whistle it works on (a mute must be tinkered with for each individual whistle) via snail mail to this volunteer, along with instructions to the best of my ability. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to describe it if anyone is interested. My email is hellandscissors@hotmail.com
The road goes on forever and the party never ends. Peace.
[ This Message was edited by: scissors on 2002-08-23 09:18 ]
[ This Message was edited by: scissors on 2002-08-27 20:23 ]
I have two more knock around whistles I can send out with mutes fitted, if anyone is interested and believes (s)he can help folks understand them and make their own. My email is listed further up. Also, the thread should probably be renamed something to do with mutes, but I don’t know how to do it.
John sent me one of these, and it’s amazing. It works! I haven’t made one yet, but it’s got to be easy. I’m going to try to post directions, as promised. Let’s see what happens . . . if it doesn’t work, I’ll find another way.
Making a mute for your pennywhistle.
mute designed by John / Scissors
The instructions are basically John's. I just clarified in a couple of places and added scanned images. -- Tery
You need:
- this type of garbage bag tie --
something to cut the garbage bag tie with
Trim the garbage bag tie so it looks like this:
The mute John sent with a Feadog was cut at this joint:
John says mutes are usually not interchangeable between whistles. The effectiveness of the mute has a lot to do with the width of the plastic strip -- and the proper width will probably be slightly different from one whistle to the next.
If you get no sound at all, the strip is probably too wide.
If the strip is too narrow, the upper octave will become shrill. (But if you make it too narrow, save it for a different whistle!)
The final step is to insert the mute into the whistle, like so:
It was impossible to keep the mute in the exact proper position in my scanner. Place it so it's against one side of the window, such that the air stream will be cut by one small blade instead of 2 tiny blades.
For best results, leave the top end of the mute about 5mm out of the window. If you put it completely in, it acts like a wider mute (which, when I did it, caused the whistle to be almost silent).
Enjoy!
[ This Message was edited by: tkelly on 2002-08-27 00:35 ]
Yes! On the Feadog, I got all the notes! I had to fiddle a little with placement of the mute (this translates to I shoulda read the instructions before picking the whistle up and trying to play it ), but after that it was great.
My partner had to go on a retreat with co-workers for a couple of days and positively lit up when I said why don’t you take the whistle with the mute with you? She doesn’t think she’s good enough to play if others can hear her, but she loves to play . . . this way she can!
John’s mute works great! If you push it all the way in to the wide part of the strip it will cut out all of the sound except a “whisper”. You can still practice tunes and hear the tone go up and down. Great for practicing in the office or late at night at home. There’s no danger of waking anyone up.
), but after that it was great.