Chiff and Fipple Forums

Hi, I'm new at making whistles and have put several posts on the forum recently. It is important to know what key you were trying for. With a soprano recorder head joint, I think you should try for a lower whistle, not a soprano D or C whistle. I highly recommend getting the TWCalc program at Jubili...

OK, I'll admit it! The black stuff doesn't look great! :) It is two coats of acrylic paint applied with a brush, then the whole whistle had a couple of coats of spray lacquer. But that leads to my question: What is the best and easiest way to put on a durable finish on copper? I suspect that nickel ...

I'm having fun like you. Just thought I would show my creations also. I make the fipple without a beak, so the fipple is played to the back. I'm going to try pvc for a while and have just ordered Acetal/Delrin for the fipples. I was really helped by someone on the message board telling me about TWCa...

Hi, I didn't want to start a whole new thread, so thought I would mention here that I would like to sell my Laughing Whistle, soprano, key of D. It is one year old, looks like the pictures, and performs like the one reviewed. I just don't play it enough to keep it around. (Might be interested in tra...

Hi Friends, So many makers use Delrin for the fipple plug. Is it available in round stock like dowels? I would like to find something other than wooden dowels for my copper whistles. (Wooden dowels don't come in the right size anyway. I've been using oak.) I don't have a lathe, so if round Delrin st...

Hi Whistle Makers, I thought for the sake of completeness I would add answers that I received from others via e-mail. I got Mack Hoover's answer first, and it was most helpful because it came with just the information I needed at just the right time. (Mack's site is http://home.bresnan.net/~mackhoov...

I have found the Best thing is not recycling a recorder. Yes, making the fipple is the hardest part of whistle-making. In answer to my recent post on this board Mack Hoover helped me with this link: http://profs.sci.univr.it/~gonzato/index.html I have found that the method at the site really works w...

I tried fitting a pvc tube onto a soprano recorder mouthpiece. It didn't work well at all. If you succeed, it would probably need to become about a B whistle, since the upper bore is so wide. The best way I found to make something sort of like a whistle out of a recorder is to use the whole thing, a...

Hi Phil, I think that a Renaissance recorder comes as close as one can to the kind of tone many people like for penny whistles. In other words, because of the staighter bore, the instrument has more chiff and boldness in the sound, like a whistle. One of the cheapest and best ways to try this out is...

I have been spending some hobby time making soprano D copper whistles, mostly following Kim Fulton Bennett's directions (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/6611/makewhis.htm). I have made three pleasant-sounding whistles that are well in tune in the lower octave and up to around F#. My problem is t...

Hi, I visited the makers in NC, and they told me that the non-tunable normal bore (not Very Narrow) can be made tunable. Just use a 12 cent 1/2 inch pvc pipe extension joint/sleeve available at any hardware store. Cut the whistle, file off a little in length, and glue on the pipe fitting to one side...

I just joined the forum because I remembered this thread. I just got a serpentmusic.com Village Smithy whistle. It is awesome! I hope to write a review. It is wide bore, with a wide windway and fipple. Excellent chiff and just the right amount of breathiness, making a very whistle-y sound. And I nee...