Whistle Mouthpieces

Well, thought for this week I would try to lay out my thoughts on whistle mouth pieces and what I go through in their construction.
First off, you don't get very far into the building of whistles when you find that the mouthpiece is where it all happens. The characteristics of the mouthpiece airway and blade (or fipple) are very important in the overall sound of the whistle.

I have spent much time and effort in the design and construction techniques used in building my mouthpieces. You have only to look at the box of rejects (numbering well over 30 that just didn't give the sound I like) to realize that it is not a "cut and dried" process. Their are many variables involved. Some of the variables in the mouthpiece are: the air way (it's width, height and length), the blade's sharpness, angle and degree of blade under cutting and the shape and position of the airway block (the piece that forms the bottom of the airway). The interaction of the many, many possibilities of these variables is very great. Finding the "just right" combination of these variables is just about impossible. I finally settled on a combination that gives the sound I like.

I should also note that the final mouthpiece design is very much a compromise. You would like a mouthpiece that requires little air to blow, plays with equal loudness through 2 1/2 octaves and generates just the quality of sound you like throughout it's entire range. This does not happen!
To get the qualities I want, my mouthpieces require a little more air for the volume I want. The design strives for ease of blowing the low notes in the first octave at the expense of a little more air in upper second octave. Overall, my whistles would be considered quite loud, the sort of thing you want for session playing.

Another consideration in the design is the choice of materials used in their construction. I wanted a material that offered durability, ease of construction, suitable appearance and low cost. I found that Delren polymer filled the bill nicely.

The picture above is an attempt at showing the steps I go through in the construction of the mouth pieces.
1 - The leftmost item is the raw 3/4 inch diameter Delren rod I start with. It is cut to 3 1/2 inch length.

2 - The second item shows the rod bored through at a 1/2 inch diameter. The end has been turned down (using a lathe) to a diameter and length yielding the airway height and length.

3 - The third item shows the rod, the airway block, the airway cover, the brass tuning slide and the brass end ring. The rod airway slot has been cut on the mill and the ramp for the blade has also been milled.

4 - The forth item is a completed mouthpiece. The blade has been shaped very carefully by hand to it's final dimensions.

Well, that's it for now. I welcome any questions you might have about what I have posted here.
Next week I will be out of town but the following week I will go into the construction and tuning of the whistle tube.

Whistle Tube Woods

Well, another Friday has rolled around so time for another posting. Today, I thought I wood cover most of the woods I use in the construction of the whistle tubes.

The choice of wood used in making the tube is mostly a matter of appearance. The effect on tone is slight (in a blind test most folks could not tell the difference from one wood to the next). One exception is use of Dymondwood. Dymondwood (a trade name) is a composite of very fine wood veneers and polymer adhesive cured under high pressure and high heat. This makes a very moisture resistant material, very important for whistles that are played for long periods of time, such as experienced in session playing. The wood veneers used can also be dyed different colors (red, black, green and etc.) which makes for a very striking effect.

The first photo is of the woods. They are, left to right :

Cocobolo, a hard wood with very tight grain. It is highly figured and polishes to a high sheen. The color varies from dark brown to all most red. It is my all around favorite wood for whistle tubes.

Honduran Rosewood, another hard wood lighter in color than Cocobolo. It is not as figured as Cocobolo and more consistent in color.

African Blackwood, a hard wood of varied shades of black. It can run from pure, dark black to black with shades of brown and/or yellow streaked throughout. It is a wood that is used also in the building of clarinets and other wood wind instruments. It also polishes out to high sheen.

Purple Heart, as the name suggests, light purple in color. Not as hard as the before mentioned woods and does not polish out to a high sheen. It does make a very attractive whistle.

Bloodwood, a light reddish colored wood. It is a softer wood but finishes nicely for a attractive whistle.

The second photo is that of the Dymondwoods. They are, left to right:

Cocobolo Dymondwood, a composite using actual Cocobolo veneers.

Red Dymondwood, a composite using light colored veneers (usually birch) dyed red.

Black Dymondwood, a composite using veneers dyed a dark black. The overall effect is a gray shade.

Green Dymondwood, a composite using veneers dyed green. I just recently ran across this configuration and have found a number of folks who like it (the whole Irish green thing I guess).

Next week I will elaborate on the mouthpiece as I have worked it out.

Weekly Input

Well, it's Friday. I promised I would do a blog each week on Friday until I run out of any thing to say. I have been trying to come up with a good place to start on this and have settled on an attempt to categorize the types of whistles (as I see them) and the materials used in constructing them.
Very basically, the whistle is a tube with a mouthpiece. Air blown in the mouthpiece excites the air to vibrate at a frequency determined by the length of the tube (the longer the tube, the lower the frequency). To allow the thing to be played as a musical instrument, holes are placed along the tube to effectively lengthen or shorten the air column to produce the notes of a diatonic scale. The full length of the tube determines the base frequency, or key, of the whistle. Each whistle can be played quite simply (with cross fingering) in a second key a 4th above the base key of the whistle; i.e, a D whistle can also play in the key of G (replacing the C# with a C natural).
As far as the materials used in their construction, whistles are constructed (pretty much always) of one of three materials or various combinations of the three. The materials are; metal (hence the term "tin whistle"), wood and plastic/polymers.
The choice of materials used is determined by the sound wanted, the cost of materials, the workability for construction purposes, the durability and (often) the appearance of the whistle.
After many, many trials on my part (you should see the box of many dozens of different mouthpieces that didn't work out), I have settled on Delrin (Acetal) polymer for mouth pieces and wood or wood/polymer laminates for the tubes. I also use brass for tuning slides and tube and mouthpiece fittings.
Well, next week I plan to discuss the tube materials I use and will make the leap to include photos of the various materials.

Well, Now that I have a blog, I guess I had better start using it! I have been trying to come up with ideas to bring forward on this blog. As stated earlier, I certainly have a love of Irish/Celtic music, especially that played on the whistle. Since I have really been bitten by the bug of building the whistles, I plan to post weekly on the whistle building process I have developed. I will include pictures of the tools I use and pictures of my various whistles. I hope to add clips of folks playing them (certainly not me, I don't want to subject the internet to that). I have promises by several very accomplished players to do so and will add them as they become available.
I also plan to elaborate on the various materials I use for the whistles.
Hope to get started next week after I return from the Westcliff Bluegrass festival, Bluegrass being my other obsession!