The recent thread on quiet whistles brings some former threads and questions to mind.
There have been a number of postings regarding a quietening technique attributed to John Skelton (via Whistlepeg). One of the descriptions (Not sure if this is Whistlepeg’s original) reads:
“Take a little ball of bluetac (or whatever you call that putty you use to put up posters and fill windway cavities) and place it on the ramp of your windway. Roll it backwards and forwards and you’ll find you can reduce the volume by any amount you want, down to nothing. Works perfectly on Generations, haven’t really tried it on anything else.”
I have tried to apply this technique, but with little success. Could anyone with experience with this technique provide a more detailed description of the procedure? In particular, what approximate size should the ball be, where should it be placed, and should it be left round or smashed down, or does it matter?
Also, Thomas Hasty provided a brief introduction to what is probably a similar method where a bit of balsa wood is fitted on the ramp, but Thomas disappeared before sufficient details were provided. (Where did Thomas go by the way? He has disappeared from several forums where he regularly posted.) Any additional comments from anyone who has tried his method would also be welcome.
I haven’t tried the tacky stuff or the balsa but I find that the softer type of styrofoam that is often used as trays by markets when they package meat, works well. I had almost settled on the tape over the window approach to quieting my whistles when I decided to try snipping a small rectangular piece of this more resilient type of styrofoam and placing it in the whistle window. I found that by adjusting the position of the piece of foam across the window I could vary the amount of quieting and still retain a decent enough quality of tone for practicing. I find the whistle clogs less then when using tape and is easier to clear when clogging does occur. This also worked on my MkII Feadog which would not play well with tape at all. It may take a few attempts to get the right size of foam bit. It is the best method I have tried and also it’s easy to insert and remove.
\
Alan
Everclay otequay omingcay.
[ This Message was edited by: Alan on 2002-07-01 14:39 ]
Thanks Alan… Do you actually place the foam in the window, which, to me, means covering some of the hole itself (across the window would also mean the same to me), or do you place the foam on the ramp, below the window?
It CAN be a bit difficult to explain such things, CDon.
What I do is cut the small rectangle of stryofoam and then, holding the foam at one end place it in the window turned so that it goes in without touching anything and then I turn the foam 90 degrees so that it wedges in the window between the end of the windway and the labium (blade) thus effectively narrowing the window and reducing the whistles volume. I can then slide it across the window opening to find the position that gives the volume/tone that I want, this is usually but not always, at one side or other of the window.
I hope that clarifies things. If not just holler and I will try again!
Ah… I think that I have the picture now. You start with a rectangular piece of styrofoam whose width is narrower than the length of the window opening, and whose length is about the same as the width of the window opening. Then, once rotated, use it to reduce the size of the window opening (in a length-wise direction) by placing it in the window opening, moving it closer to the windway exit or closer to the labium edge, as necessary, to give the best result. I further gather that best results are generally achieved when the styrofoam is very close to windway exit or very close to the labium edge, depending I should imagine on a number of factors.
I’ll have a go at it and let you know how it works. Please let me know if I seem to have a screwed up perception of the process.
You can wrap a thick rubber band around the head of the whistle and move it up and down to close off the “window”. That works fairly well, although it can make the tone breathy.
Another technique which works well after you get used to it is to blow across the window instead of into the mouthpiece. This is almost inaudible – very good for the back of a theater during a boring play, for instance. The drawback for this method is that the whistle is not in your mouth, which can be a problem fingering a C#, etc.
CDon, hold the whistle with the mouthpiece end up and the window facing you. The foam is wedged into the window and bridges the distance from the exit of the windway to the labium narrowing the window’s width slightly and can be slid across the window from one side to the other, one edge touching the windway exit and the other edge touching the labium, to find the best position. If the foam is in the center it would divide the window into two ‘panes’, a left and a right pane. The thickness of the foam I use on one whistle I have is 1/8 of an inch but that whistle has a wide window and the best position overall for that whistle is with the foam not quite all the way to one side of the window. I found a thinner piece worked best in the narrower window of the Feadog and needs to be all the way to one side.
Ah the wonders of trying to put the picture that is in your mind into someone else’s mind using only text! (Not to mention my still sleepy mind getting ‘window’ and ‘windway’ mixed up… I think I corrected all the wording but…
Thank you for your patience… I now understand what you are doing. In my mind’s eye, I had the bit of foam rotated 90 deg. Ready to give it a try now. Now where did we put those styrofoam plates…
Steve,
I have tried a variation of this technique using a series of 1 to 4 O-rings (to vary the ‘thickness’ of the cover) around the whistle, covering part of the window, instead of a rubber band. They are easy to get on and roll around to change their position. This has worked to some degree, but the tone does seem to get very breathy at about the time it gets quiet enough. This seems to agree with your results.
On 2002-06-29 22:18, CDon wrote:
“Take a little ball of bluetac (or whatever you call that putty you use to put up posters and fill windway cavities) and place it on the ramp of your windway. Roll it backwards and forwards and you’ll find you can reduce the volume by any amount you want, down to nothing. Works perfectly on Generations, haven’t really tried it on anything else.”
I have tried to apply this technique, but with little success. Could anyone with experience with this technique provide a more detailed description of the procedure? In particular, what approximate size should the ball be, where should it be placed, and should it be left round or smashed down, or does it matter?
Those are my words, CDon, and I am amazed that you should have had trouble with this technique. The size of the ball doesn’t seem to matter much, but you can make it at least as wide as the window. The size of a large pea or a (non-genetically modified) raspberry. You don’t need to flatten it. As to where it should go, the instructions above tell you where - on the ramp of the windway. Then roll it backwards and forwards and test.
It is so utterly simple - I’d love to know how you contrive to make it fail! If all you want to do is mute the sound so as not to disturb others, I can’t imagine why you would want to bother with tape, cutting out bits of foam, or rubber bands.
I had not tried the ‘sticky ball’ method simply because I never had any of the sticky stuff handy but curiosity got hold of me so I just spread some Elmer’s Glue-All on my palm and when it congealed I rolled it into a ball and tried that. Though it did not work as well as the foam on one of my whistles it worked very well indeed on my Feadog! Volume reduced greatly but with sufficient tone to make playing enjoyable. Just took a bit of fiddling to find the best size and position.
On 2002-07-01 21:39, StevieJ wrote:
It is so utterly simple - I’d love to know how you contrive to make it fail! If all you want to do is mute the sound so as not to disturb others, I can’t imagine why you would want to bother with tape, cutting out bits of foam, or rubber bands.
I can make stuff fail with the best of them… Years of practice is the secret. I don’t know… Maybe I just had an off day when I tried it. I am going to make an effort over the next short while to give all of these methods a viable and extended test (or another try, as the case may be). Surely I will find something that works suitably. There has been a lot of success mentioned on the forum by a lot of people. We’ll see.
In the interests of scientific research and of never being able to leave well enough alone nor to readily admit that only one possible technique is suited to be etched on tablets of jade, I decided to combine aspects of the ‘foam’ and ‘sticky tac’ methods and cut a small square of double sided foam tape off a roll and stuck it on the blade of my Feadog. It quiets the whistle nicely yet maintains decent tone. I have experimented with different sizes and positions of the tape and achieved different levels of quieting. It’s easy to apply and remove yet stays put, at least so far.
Addendum: In my rush to publish, I had not tried the foam tape on my Cooperman whistle but after placing a narrow strip across the blade edge I was able to play at a VERY quiet level and with better tone than when not quieted.
Alan
Everclay otequay omingcay.
[ This Message was edited by: Alan on 2002-07-10 18:35 ]
[ This Message was edited by: Alan on 2002-07-10 18:37 ]
Addendum: In my rush to publish, I had not tried the foam tape on my Cooperman whistle but after placing a narrow strip across the blade edge I was able to play at a VERY quiet level and with better tone than when not quieted.
I always only ever needed a whistle loudening technique for my Coopermans.
In the interests of scientific research and of never being able to leave well enough alone nor to readily admit that only one possible technique is suited to be etched on tablets of jade, I decided to combine aspects of the ‘foam’ and ‘sticky tac’ methods and cut a small square of double sided foam tape off a roll and stuck it on the blade of my Feadog. It quiets the whistle nicely yet maintains decent tone. I have experimented with different sizes and positions of the tape and achieved different levels of quieting. It’s easy to apply and remove yet stays put, at least so far.
Sounds like a good idea… What brand of the foam tape are you using? I have never used it on whistles, but I have found it very difficult to remove from anything that I have used it on. I think that the last I had was the Scotch brand. You seem to have found something a little easier to work with.
CDon, my foam tape came from Radio Shack if memory serves me (which it often does not).
I just peeled off the bit that was on my Feadog for several days, without any problem. It should come off a non porous surface easily enough but if it leaves any adhesive residue behind a bit of WD-40 should clean it up.
I’m still early into my research so proceed on my findings with caution as no warranty is expressed or implied!
I think I corrected all the wording but…