Low D that takes less air?

[JTC111]

I have a GG style home-made low D, and just this evening i reduced the height of the windway by half.

To tell me you did it and not tell me how is the ultimate whistle tease.

[ubizmo]

I have the Kerry low D mentioned by the OP, and I agree that it's a wind sucker...

Thanks. In the back of my head I was wondering if maybe it was just my inexperience with the instrument coming through. Glad to know at least one other person feels the same about that whistle.

Well, it could be my inexperience with the whistle coming through!

Ubizmo

[JTC111]

Well, it could be my inexperience with the whistle coming through!

Have you not read my signature line?

[hans]

I have a GG style home-made low D, and just this evening i reduced the height of the windway by half.

I am curious: what is the windway height and width now?
And what is it in a MK, if anyone could measure it?

[Dain]

Take your whistle and look through the mouth of the whistle into some light source. You should see lower part of the blade and, beneath it a sliver of light. That's looking though the windway. Now, windway could be either flat or curved, but either way it's rectangular (if it's curved, it is still a rectangle, only curved ) . The shorter side is the height, the longer is the width.

Now, as i have home-made whistle of GG style, it includes the windway cap, which is basically a bit of tubing cut lengthwise and mounted on the top. To reduce the windway height, (as the wall of the whistle, which is made of aluminium is thicker than cap which is PVC) all i had to do is to glue a bit of PVC beneath it. It's kinda like Jerry Freeman's underneath blade ramp tweak, only made on underneath the top of windway cap.

Oh and, i would never ever try to tweak some brand-name whistle this way. Despite my initial excitement, the whistle had suffered some unwanted changes, like some serious de-tuning of a certain notes and overall quirkiness.

[JTC111]

Oh and, i would never ever try to tweak some brand-name whistle this way. Despite my initial excitement, the whistle had suffered some unwanted changes, like some serious de-tuning of a certain notes and overall quirkiness.

Thanks for that and the explanation. I guess I'll leave it alone and probably sell it down the line sometime to someone with bigger lungs.
Cheers!

[Tyghress]

I have the Kerry low D mentioned by the OP, and I agree that it's a wind sucker, in terms of volume of air needed in the 2nd octave. I use high G for the wind test, and with a full lungful I can play that note for 8 seconds, remembering to start the count at zero.

Ubizmo

Thirteen seconds for me on the WDSweet Onyx

[JTC111]

7 seconds with my Kerry low D
9 seconds with my Overton low Eb and low C
12 seconds with my Copeland low F

...and now I need a nap

[hans]

Take your whistle and look through the mouth of the whistle into some light source. You should see lower part of the blade and, beneath it a sliver of light. That's looking though the windway. Now, windway could be either flat or curved, but either way it's rectangular (if it's curved, it is still a rectangle, only curved ) . The shorter side is the height, the longer is the width. (

Dain, I meant: what are the measurements for height and width of the windway.
My own standard low D has a windway which is 13mm wide and ~1.2mm high, making a cross section area of ~16mm². The windway cross section (or the smallest cross section of it) determines how much air flow one can get with a given pressure.

The test how long one can play a steady high G depends on the player, so it does not make much sense to compare results from different people. Both my Burke low D "Viper" and my standard Bracker low D behave the same: ca 10 sec for high G, ca 20 sec for low G on one of my breaths.

[Dain]

Windway of my low D was 2mmx14mm, now it's somewhere about 1.3mmx14mm. So it's pretty close to commercial ones, i guess...

[ubizmo]

I recently acquired a Dixon aluminum body low D, and did the high G test. I got 11 seconds, as compared to 7 on the Kerry, so quite a difference.

As you might expect, the Dixon is a tad quieter than the Kerry, and the bell note is a bit more fragile. On the other hand, the Dixon has a nice touch of chiff and slight "roughness" of timbre, which I find pleasing, and a generally sweet sound.

As much as I like the Kerry, the way it drains the lungs in the 2nd octave is a bit off-putting. With the Dixon, I feel like I have considerably more phrasing options.

Ubizmo

[JTC111]

I recently acquired a Dixon aluminum body low D, and did the high G test. I got 11 seconds, as compared to 7 on the Kerry, so quite a difference....As much as I like the Kerry, the way it drains the lungs in the 2nd octave is a bit off-putting.

I wonder if there's anyone who owns that Kerry low D that doesn't consider it a beast to blow (metaphorically). Perhaps scuba divers were the target consumer? If I'm understanding the term back pressure (and it's very possible, if not likely, that I'm not), I'd say the Kerry has about as close to none as you're gonna find.

[Dain]

Well, if it's the similar design to that of Kerry Songbird D (basically, the blade is made by sticking another tube into the mouthpiece and sharpening it's rim), it is very very hard to blow, in the case of low D i'd say impossible.

[crookedtune]

From what I've seen in low D's, you pretty much get what you pay for. Seems to be true in flutes, too. High D whistles --- well, I won't go there right now.

The advice I wish I'd gotten is to save up first and buy top-'o-the-line. It's cheaper in the long run, and saves tons of effort.

In low D's, I've settled on an MK, and recommend them highly. There are other good ones, but don't go looking for bargains. Spend the money, and get it over with. Then just move on, and concentrate on learning and playing.

[pancelticpiper]

The windway on my MK is a hair over 1mm high, 11mm wide, and 34mm long.

It's quite amazing how much volume the MK puts out with so little air usage.

I'm a piper, and playing my MK is like playing a set of pipes with which everything is air-tight: you get maximum out for minimum in.

By comparison, playing many other Low Ds is like playing a set of pipes with a leak somewhere.