So I've made the Bb, and I have an A and G length body on the workbench waiting for me to get around to figuring out where the best place to put the holes is.
I've been side-tracked by interesting technical questions pertaining to how to check the intonation of the whistle in my mid-90F shop when it is to be played in a upper 70's environment, and how best to adjust the holes by micro amounts. It's not as simple as moving the tuning slide, because the whistle is exactly in tune with itself AND other instruments only at one ambient temperature. Move the slide in or out and you move the high finger holes more (proportionally) than the lower ones, and mess up the intonation. Not so much that you notice on a casual playing, but enough that I can measure it, and I want the whistles to be as good as possible in actual use.
Another challenge is the variation of the ID of the tubing as it comes from the factory. Is it less work/cost to try and "fix" the ID so I can use the same hole jig or is it better to leave the ID alone, and ooch the holes around to suit the ID on every whistle?
I think the answer is ooching the holes for the ID of the whistle, but that requires a good way to measure the effective ID and calculate and accurately set the hole locations.
Maybe it would be easier to use metal tubing with a constant ID. But I sooo like the black and cream colors of the Bb whistle....
I've been side-tracked by interesting technical questions pertaining to how to check the intonation of the whistle in my mid-90F shop when it is to be played in a upper 70's environment, and how best to adjust the holes by micro amounts. It's not as simple as moving the tuning slide, because the whistle is exactly in tune with itself AND other instruments only at one ambient temperature. Move the slide in or out and you move the high finger holes more (proportionally) than the lower ones, and mess up the intonation. Not so much that you notice on a casual playing, but enough that I can measure it, and I want the whistles to be as good as possible in actual use.
Another challenge is the variation of the ID of the tubing as it comes from the factory. Is it less work/cost to try and "fix" the ID so I can use the same hole jig or is it better to leave the ID alone, and ooch the holes around to suit the ID on every whistle?
I think the answer is ooching the holes for the ID of the whistle, but that requires a good way to measure the effective ID and calculate and accurately set the hole locations.
Maybe it would be easier to use metal tubing with a constant ID. But I sooo like the black and cream colors of the Bb whistle....
