The Elusive Cheap "A"

[lisdoonvarna]

I started a thread two or three months ago on how I changed a B flat Generation into an A whistle. I use it when I perform and it's great. Maybe you can find the thread. I haven't done any searches here yet. What I did was heat the plastic end in boiling water and pull out the head as far as I could where it was still stable. Then I put a copper coupler the kind you use for 1/2 inch copper pipe on the other end (cost about 20 cents). It's ever so slightly too wide a diameter so once around the end of the whistle with a piece of masking tape makes it fit perfectly. The coupler extends beyond the end of the whistle just long enough to make it in tune with A. (about an eighth of an inch) Then I taped it there on the outside with some clear packing tape. Now half of the holes were right in tune. The ones that were flat are easily brought into tune by gradually filing the holes larger. The only hole that was slightly sharp was the bottom hole. I covered about a fifth of the hole with a double layer of scotch tape. It is really pretty easy and fun if you like to tinker. A Generation whistle through Elderly is 7 or 8 bucks. I used an electronic (Boss) tuner which is probably a necessity unless you have a REALLY good ear.
Patrick

[perrins57]

I accidently got a cheap A by putting a Clarke sweetone head on a Generation Bb body. I'm about to sell on Ebay my Dixon PVC A. It sounds great but is too quiet when played with other instruments. Hopefully I'll get more than $20 for it though.

[talasiga]

.......

There is also this that I noticed recently by Daniel Bingamon:
http://www.tinwhistles.us/whis-alto.htm

There you go - an A whistle for 22 bucks.
Topic closed now?

[Dan McBurney]

No, because those are plastic.

There are some made from bamboo here for $14

http://www.songsea.com/tinwhist.htm#canewhistle

I'm thinking of getting one...

[khl]

No, because those are plastic.

There are some made from bamboo here for $14

http://www.songsea.com/tinwhist.htm#canewhistle

I'm thinking of getting one...

Dan,
Check the other site I listed above (and here): http://shop.vendio.com/guardcat/store.html I think you can find bamboo here (and metal) for less ($6).

[perrins57]

No, because those are plastic.

There are some made from bamboo here for $14

http://www.songsea.com/tinwhist.htm#canewhistle

I'm thinking of getting one...

Dan,
Check the other site I listed above (and here): http://shop.vendio.com/guardcat/store.html I think you can find bamboo here (and metal) for less ($6).

I checked out that site you referred to Keith - so, how long have you been a belly dancer?

[Wormdiet]

Is it just me or is a Susato low-A very difficult to play? I was browsing cheapies this saturday and I couldn;t fill the holes in the Susato low A at all. I had an easier time with the plastic low D. Something about the way the tone holes are cut into the plastic just doesn't work for me.

[khl]

I checked out that site you referred to Keith - so, how long have you been a belly dancer?

I tried it for a day. But I've got no sense of rhythm and I'm too thin.

[shadeclan]

Sorry I haven't responded - I haven't had access to the internet for about four days.

I started a thread two or three months ago on how I changed a B flat Generation into an A whistle. I use it when I perform and it's great. Maybe you can find the thread. I haven't done any searches here yet. What I did was heat the plastic end in boiling water and pull out the head as far as I could where it was still stable. Then I put a copper coupler the kind you use for 1/2 inch copper pipe on the other end (cost about 20 cents). It's ever so slightly too wide a diameter so once around the end of the whistle with a piece of masking tape makes it fit perfectly. The coupler extends beyond the end of the whistle just long enough to make it in tune with A. (about an eighth of an inch) Then I taped it there on the outside with some clear packing tape. Now half of the holes were right in tune. The ones that were flat are easily brought into tune by gradually filing the holes larger. The only hole that was slightly sharp was the bottom hole. I covered about a fifth of the hole with a double layer of scotch tape. It is really pretty easy and fun if you like to tinker. A Generation whistle through Elderly is 7 or 8 bucks. I used an electronic (Boss) tuner which is probably a necessity unless you have a REALLY good ear.
Patrick

Interesting idea. I have also seen some inexpensive tuner software on the ChiffBoard which would make tuning possible for a cheap jerk like me. I suppose that using Scotch tape to flatten a note is a pretty common practice? Still, it would be nice to pick up a whistle that looked as nice as it sounded.

I accidently got a cheap A by putting a Clarke sweetone head on a Generation Bb body. I'm about to sell on Ebay my Dixon PVC A. It sounds great but is too quiet when played with other instruments. Hopefully I'll get more than $20 for it though.

Is this duplicatable? Seems that this would be one of those "remote" chances mentioned by Wombat. In any case, good luck on selling your Dixon. As you know, plastic whistles and I don't get along.

There you go - an A whistle for 22 bucks.
Topic closed now?

As I mentioned earlier and as Dan McBurney re-pointed out, I am very bigoted as to where plastic should be used in a whistle. A whistle with a plastic shaft sounds just too close to a recorder to me. In fact, I was highly insulted recently by a floutist who said that my MellowDog sounded like a recorder!

I should probably form some sort of hate group, like the "Plastic Panthers" or "Those Into Nonplastic Shafts" (TINS).

No, because those are plastic.

There are some made from bamboo here for $14

http://www.songsea.com/tinwhist.htm#canewhistle

I'm thinking of getting one...

I took a glance at these - don't look very tunable, do they?

Dan,
Check the other site I listed above (and here): http://shop.vendio.com/guardcat/store.html I think you can find bamboo here (and metal) for less ($6).

I did take a look at this. They do have whistles in the key of "A". I have seen similiar whistles on EBay for the same price. I would be curious to see what would be involved in tuning them, if they were tunable at all. I would also be curious to know if these are the same whistles mentioned by s1m0n as, perhaps, containing lead solder - if so, maybe the metal fipple plug could be removed, the area cleaned, and the plug replaced with a wooden one.
Here is the ad for the "A" whistle from the website (http://shop.vendio.com/guardcat/item/83 ... index.html):
Whistle, Brass, "A"

Straight brass pipe. 6 front holes. Held vertically, it has a built in whistle end, making this easier to play. These whistles are within 5-8 cents of pitch; rarely are they off by 10 cents. A cent is a unit of measuring intervals in music. Each half step (semitone) is made up of 100 cents.

It looks pretty, but does it sound pretty?

Is it just me or is a Susato low-A very difficult to play? I was browsing cheapies this saturday and I couldn;t fill the holes in the Susato low A at all. I had an easier time with the plastic low D. Something about the way the tone holes are cut into the plastic just doesn't work for me.

I guess that, since you own a plastic whistle, you wouldn't be interested in joining TINS, would you?

[perrins57]

I accidently got a cheap A by putting a Clarke sweetone head on a Generation Bb body. I'm about to sell on Ebay my Dixon PVC A. It sounds great but is too quiet when played with other instruments. Hopefully I'll get more than $20 for it though.

Is this duplicatable? Seems that this would be one of those "remote" chances mentioned by Wombat.

I dont see why not, its just a standard sweetone D head. Its longer than the Generation head so lengthens the whistle and lowers its pitch. You need a few raps of PTFE tape to fix the head to the tube.

[talasiga]

.......
A whistle with a plastic shaft sounds just too close to a recorder to me. In fact, I was highly insulted recently by a floutist who said that my MellowDog sounded like a recorder!
.......

Is plastic a Baroque or a Renaissance invention?
And what, pray tell, is a "floutist"? Is it someone who flouts a flute?

[WilliamC]

Wormdiet,
I know what you mean about the Susato A being difficult to play. I have 3 Susato Kildares, an SB D, an A, and a low D. The low D was my first low whistle and where I first learned pipers grip. It was a while before my fingers got used to this whistle especially with the 5th fingerhole being long and elliptical but now I'm comfortable with it. The Susato A on the other hand is a little too small for pipers grip so I use my fingertips which is a bit of a stretch. The 6th fingerhole on the A is larger than the same hole on the low D and it's very easy not to completely seal it.

[Wormdiet]

Is it just me or is a Susato low-A very difficult to play? I was browsing cheapies this saturday and I couldn;t fill the holes in the Susato low A at all. I had an easier time with the plastic low D. Something about the way the tone holes are cut into the plastic just doesn't work for me.

I guess that, since you own a plastic whistle, you wouldn't be interested in joining TINS, would you?

I don't own it. . . I was on a tire-kicking mission up in Black Mountain, NC. Hence the emphasized verbiage.

I am firmly in the "susatos sound too much like a recorder" camp to ever buy one. I have a tenor recorder in plastic that's a) chromatic and b) sounds better if I want that type of sound.

It was at least loud, if loud is a virtue in this circumstance

[shadeclan]

Is this duplicatable? Seems that this would be one of those "remote" chances mentioned by Wombat.

I dont see why not, its just a standard sweetone D head. Its longer than the Generation head so lengthens the whistle and lowers its pitch. You need a few raps of PTFE tape to fix the head to the tube.

Hmmmmm - Do you mean that the Sweetone head doesn't fit over the Generation "Bb" shaft, or do you mean that the Sweetone is a little big for the shaft, and the tape bulks the shaft up some?

A whistle with a plastic shaft sounds just too close to a recorder to me. In fact, I was highly insulted recently by a floutist who said that my MellowDog sounded like a recorder!

Is plastic a Baroque or a Renaissance invention?
And what, pray tell, is a "floutist"? Is it someone who flouts a flute?

I believe that plastic was invented sometime in the dark ages by a mad Frenchman named John "Nose Picker" d'Plastiec and was, early on, made from his own nose secretions. However, like most inventions, it can be used for good as well as evil.
A floutist is a flute player who thinks that, because they play the flute, they can lord it over ordinary whistle players like us - hence, the "flouting"

Is it just me or is a Susato low-A very difficult to play? I was browsing cheapies this Saturday and I couldn;t fill the holes in the Susato low A at all. I had an easier time with the plastic low D. Something about the way the tone holes are cut into the plastic just doesn't work for me.

I guess that, since you own a plastic whistle, you wouldn't be interested in joining TINS, would you?

I don't own it. . . I was on a tire-kicking mission up in Black Mountain, NC. Hence the emphasized verbiage.

I am firmly in the "susatos sound too much like a recorder" camp to ever buy one. I have a tenor recorder in plastic that's a) chromatic and b) sounds better if I want that type of sound.

It was at least loud, if loud is a virtue in this circumstance

Brother! Join us! Help us to vanquish plastic shafts from our fair land!

[perrins57]

Is this duplicatable? Seems that this would be one of those "remote" chances mentioned by Wombat.

I dont see why not, its just a standard sweetone D head. Its longer than the Generation head so lengthens the whistle and lowers its pitch. You need a few raps of PTFE tape to fix the head to the tube.

Hmmmmm - Do you mean that the Sweetone head doesn't fit over the Generation "Bb" shaft, or do you mean that the Sweetone is a little big for the shaft, and the tape bulks the shaft up some?

The latter