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Re: Wooden whistle won't whistle

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2017 10:48 pm
by Mitch
Hi Malcombebb,

Yes. The thing has crossed the boundary between cosmetic and music.
A ceremonial instrument was never intended to play.
I would square the ramp-edge to get a decent sound.
The wind-sheet created by the mouthpiece demands a flat edge for the vortex to form.
It is true the the wind-sheet has a slight curvature, but not that much.
But it is a lot of thinking and work to calculate the curvature from the windway exit to the ramp.
I would slowly reduce the curve with knife or file until a 2-octave sound appears.
After that, I would work on the height of the wind-sheet and how it spreads to the ramp.

Play with it. Then play upon it.
11 mm is difficult for the bottom notes - but achievable.
From the photo, a good instrument might be had from it if you can accept big pressure gradients between 1 and 2 octave.
Work with the curve. It's complex.

Re: Wooden whistle won't whistle

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 2:21 pm
by Chifmunk
It strikes me as an object made specifically for the tourist trade.

Re: Wooden whistle won't whistle

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 3:10 pm
by malcolmbebb
Yes, quite possibly a tourist object.

The one that works takes some care to get into the low octave, it's fairly quiet but they are never going to be session whistles. I haven't tried to get the full range of notes out of it.