Chiff and Fipple Forums

Without doing the math, I feel like it must be possible to create a tapered bore that would yield the optimal average diameter bore for each tone hole. This would be an interesting and expensive experiment. Anyone have a CNC machine to create a reamer to these specifications? A tapered bore may hel...

...but yeah i made ...well tried to make an overton style low whistle in D i went with the specs of my aluminium whistle and decided to make it out of a different cheaper type of african blackwoo....the bore was a ridiculous 22mm wide [.......] Anyway........i made this huge bored whistle and it wa...

If you make the length/bore ratio ridiculously low: 2. Even wider, it's no longer a Pennywhistle. It then falls under the category of helmholtz resonators (aka occarinas) - the tonehole positioning rulebook for Pennywhistles then gets thrown out the window and different set of rules for toneholes a...

checking whistle design with a hole location calculator: It seems possible to increase the bore to about 23mm / 7/8", i.e. tubing for low D, and still be able to make a high D whistle which will play over two octaves, and with holes which are fingerable. Increasing the bore further will require...

I thought the bore size did have some effect on pitch - is that not right? I'm going to have to go off and look now. Glad you chimed in here, Hans. It's a really interesting topic, I think, and you actually have some expertise (unlike, say, me :oops: ). yes, some effect, but the length is the prime...

Unfortunately that kinda thing won't work. A whistle or flute tube has to have bore diameter that's relative to the length on order be in tune, or even make a sound. So even with a D whistle, if you went wider than 5/8 of an inch the tuning would be all over the place and it'd be very quiet. Pity t...

The flute sounds because the air column "inside" vibrates, it changes from being more compressed to being less compressed at the frequency of the note being played. Air molecules enter and exit the embouchure hole and the finger holes (top open hole most) because of theses pressure changes...

Anything else you want me to try? Can you model the effects of a Fajardo-style wedge? Can you model the effects of a restriction of the cylindrical bore near the window, say a narrowing of the bore to about 80% to 90% of its diameter, starting down from the labium one bore diameter and one bore dia...

Welcome to Chiff & Fipple! Quena finger holes can be quite large, so I can understand that you struggle covering them if your fingers are thin. But perseverance may help. If you can learn to cover the top holes, then you should be able to cover the bottom holes in time too. I say all this withou...

You will not find many classes where the children are taught to play whistle, but you will find thousands of classes where the children are taught to play recorder! Which is a pity, since children can adapt much easier to play whistle than recorder. In any case we got mass-produced whistles like Gen...

Recently I was asked, if it is safe to play the (aluminium) low whistle outside in winter, when the temperature is below freezing point (0°C, 32°F), and what minimum temperature is considered safe. My short answer was: I don't know. My long answer went like this: My instruments are not designed to p...

I used a needle file, just filing the end a bit thinner. I used a narrow strip of thin aluminium, as you can cut out of a used teelight alu holder, as a wedge to hold the reed above the reedplate (put between reed and reedbed) while doing the filing. A dremel would be a lot faster, but I was anxiou...

sad to hear this. Love his singing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC1ZY8SC4ew
( Silly Wizard - The Fisherman's Song / Lament For The Fisherman's Wife )

I realize Colin Farrell with The Elders is playing a Goldie low F, rather than low D, but the long playing without clearing the whistle he does well. I've seen Colin on a few occasions live and the whistle clogging doesn't appear to be a problem even in the longer parts. He does blow it out on occa...

these images may give you some ideas: Models in a Thai Boat Museum, showing general design idea: http://www.thailandtriptour.com/ayutthaya/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Thai-Boat-Museum.jpg From a restoration project ( http://www.sobs.us/id30.html ): Before: http://www.sobs.us/sitebuildercontent/sitebu...