What is it about a whistle that determines whether it’s breathy or pure?
I’m not so much concerned with other kinds of chiff for this question. (Acknowledging that breathiness may or may not be included in the definition of chiff.)
I’m also curious to know what factors determine the strength and balance between the registers. Sometimes the lower register of a whistle will be strong and pure, while the upper register will be noticeably weaker and breathier.
Best wishes,
Jerry
If I’m understanding you, ther are a couple of things that create breathiness. One is a window that is too long (from top to bottom), this allows the air to diffuse and destroys a focused air stream. The other one is a windway which is too far below the blade (making an air stream that is very thick, looking from the front of the whistle to the back), this creates too thick an air stream hitting the blade. Purity of tone is a function of having a very focused, non-turbulent airstream hitting the blade.
The distance from the fipple to the edge is pretty critical here. A tiny variation can make a huge difference. Also, a windway which is too high can make for an airy whistle. Actually, all of the dimensions in that region of the whistle are pretty sensitive to small variations.
As Paul said, just about everything in the region from the fipple to the blade is critical. One specific not mentioned, is the blade, itself. Too shallow an angle, as well as too steep, can produce a breathy sound. If the blade is too sharp or too dull where it’s impinging the airstream, it can contribute to breathiness.
Are you looking for some specifics on tweaking? There are lots of threads here that deal with the process.
Best,
serpent
Great answers, all.
I’ve read much of the material on tweaking, though I might find more with another search or two (have searched numerous times).
You’ve given me some good information to go on for question number one. How about question number two:
“I’m also curious to know what factors determine the strength and balance between the registers. Sometimes the lower register of a whistle will be strong and pure, while the upper register will be noticeably weaker and breathier.”
Thanks and best wishes,
Jerry
Did my whistle spark this question? Or have you been thinking about it for awhile? I can tell you that in my whistle that the main cause of the breathy upper register was that the windway was ¼" wider than the blade. That’s a lot of wasted air. See if this sounds a little better…
Both these were recorded in identical conditions with the same microphone. I know the whistle still sounds a little breathy, but the difference in breathiness between the registers seems to have diminished greatly by narrowing the windway…
In this modern day of adjustable car seats, I think it may be time to create a whistle with a few adjustable parts, especially the blade. The first “User-Tweakable Whistle” would satisfy the preferences and tastes of whistle owners, and record producers.
Just a crazy thought.
Hey, Michael,
That sounds like a whistle!
Now I would say it’s balanced enough to be a professional instrument. I wouldn’t be surprised if you continue to refine it a bit, but now the two registers are similar enough and the upper is strong enough that they blend well and aren’t noticeable without carefully listening for them. The upper sounds much better now, and the lower still sounds great!
I was thinking about this already, and your string came up at just the right time for me to join in and try to get more information.
Bloomfield was kind enough to send me a Gen D he tweaked, and one of the things he did was to heat the mouthpiece and squeeze the windway to make it a little smaller from bottom to top (as seen from the mouth end). He commented:
“I heat the windway over a stove burner enough to make the plastic soft and I press it together slightly, to reduce the windway. The effect is that the tone becomes sweeter, more focussed, more stable and less likely to rasp or squeek, and a bit softer. Also you get ‘back pressure’ meaning that you have to push a bit with your breath to move the air through the whistle. I (and many other players) like this because it gives you a bit of control, more meat in the air to work with, so to speak. The trick with doing the heat tweak is to get it just right, because if you reduce the windway to much, the whistle become very soft and clogs constantly.”
Best wishes,
Jerry
Sounds like you tightened up the upper register nicely.
Philo
Jerry,
Since the tweaked whistle I sent you seems to have really got your tweaking juices going, let me explain a couple of things.
First, I got the heat tweak idea from Brother Steve (StevieJ) who posted a thread about it some months ago, and he answered some of my questions in chat before I actually had the guts to start holding my fipples over a powerful heat source. 
Steve, btw, tells me that he originally got the idea from Debbie Quiggley, a great pipes & whistle player from (I believe) Toronto.
Here is StevieJ’s original thread:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?topic=3434&forum=1
I feel a bit guilty now, because the tweake Gen D I sent you is not the best tweak I’ve done. It was one of the earlier ones and I was pretty happy with it. But I have since produced one (maybe two) better ones. The thing I was not totally happy about with the whistle I sent you is that because of the way the plastic heated and softened, it is compressed right at the mouth-end of the windway. I was trying to reduce the size of the blade-end of the windway. That is not really possible unless you press the roof of the windway in, which I did not want to do. But I have since managed to compress the middle of the windway, and the results are a bit better and a bit less prone to clogging.
Two points fyi:
There are people who tweak their cheapos in the following manner (I haven’t tried it): Take some rigid plastic, like a bit of guitar pick, cut it to the width of the windway and glue it to the top of the windway, where it opens onto to the window. That reduces the windway opening opposite the blade. I understand that very little can have a significant effect. I guess that the tweak will create backpressure, and probably increase the purity of the tone. (Potential problem here is that you want the edge of the blade to divide the air stream roughly in the middle—I’ve read 55% above/45% below—and if you just narrow the windway from the top, you are messing with the blade placement vis a vis the windway.)
Nothing has given me insight into the factors controling breathiness/purity, volume, balance between octaves and so forth as tweaking my Susatos. I cut away the curved blades and replaced them with a straight guitar pick blade. I spent quite some time moving the new blade around moving it closer to the windway or further from it, making the blade’s angle steep or shallow, bevelling the edge of the blade in different ways with a nail file. Very interesting, especially if you realize that a fraction of a millimeter can complete ruin the voice of the whistle, as can a poor bevel on the edge.
Here is the Susato tweak thread:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=7282&forum=1&start=15
Cinead-- a user adjustable whistle is not out of the question. There is one maker out there who makes a recorder with an adjustable block
Good heavens, Paul! Watch your language! There are children reading this board!
That’s "re**der", PLEASE!!
serpent
~~ 
S~<
To a certain extent, breathiness in upper/lower octaves can be adjusted by fipple plug placement. If you move it more towards the blade, the upper octave becomes more pure, but at the expense of the lower octave. Moving it back toward your lip may create a more solid low note, but at the expense of a very breathy upper octave. However, if you have problems hitting D’‘’ or above, sometimes this maneuver actually helps. And smacking a re***der with a hammer is considered very, very good for the soul.