Chiff and Fipple Forums

When they don’t sell it, you have to make it.

I keep a tiny Generation ‘G’ in the car’s glovebox (because it fits). It relieves boredom if I have to wait when my wife is in the mall, etc. The little G is nifty, but its finger holes are spaced for an infant's hand and the sound is so bright it could etch glass. My ears favor the larger whistles. What I tend to grab most is a Bb which is 15“ long and not glovebox friendly. So… got Bb, got lathe, got K&S brass tubing, and got cold, wet, dismal autumn weather. After the surgical modifications it plays normally, and it is tunable. Now, I need to find a 3-cigar case.

Very nicely done !

Can you do one for me ?

trill

facet wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 10:55 pm Now, I need to find a 3-cigar case.

Nice work. You seem like a man of many talents, time to advance your woodworking skills and make a case haha.

Neat work.

Thanks for the compliments.

The goal was to have the Bb break down into three equal-length pieces including the 7/8” protrusion of the brass sliders. (There is also 1/2” of brass tube retained with CA glue within the whistle's tube.) I couldn’t find the proper size of brass tube to telescope within Generation's tubing, so I settled on 19/32 (.594”) OD K&S tubing. The ID of the whistle's tube is .584xx”. So there was lathe work to reduce the sliders. Machining such thin-wall tubing is challenging because if the cutting tool is not precisely at the correct height and angle and/or not sharp enough it can bite and collapse the tube. The work-around insurance is to temporarily fill the tube with Cerrobend metal (melts at 158ºF), or take very light well-oiled cuts. I didn’t have any of the fancy metal. The slider’s fit needs to be lightly snug, too, requiring frequent test fitting so as not to over-reduce the material.

Anyway, I got lucky and finished the project in one try (not always the result).

If any of you have a lathe and want to cut-up a perfectly good Generation Bb, the lengths are 4 5/8, 4 5/8, and 5 1/2.

Narzog: Hard woods can be machined very nicely with metal-working equipment.

facet wrote: ↑Mon Oct 31, 2022 10:41 pmAnyway, I got lucky and finished the project in one try (not always the result).

Reminds me of my "home improvement" projects.

For those, I count the number of trips to Home Depot that are needed. Not always one !

trill

Great work with the Bb whistle, facet, I'm thinking there are likely a lot of owners of low D and alto whistles
who would love to have them collapsible and much more portable. Don't be surprised if you get
approached for such an idea.

My experience with a Generation high G was that it was so short that my fingers couldn't comfortably
or consistently play it without problems of collisions and awkwardness. Long ago when I was at the
earliest stages of reckless WHOAD and didn't know about whistle options yet, I also had a Generation high F,
which was where at least the fingers could operate the whistle well.

More talented and consumer-friendly whistle makers should consider adaptions that make quality high-pitched
whistles playable, as I've heard a few different model high G and high F whistles that sound terrific, such as the Anak,
Humphrey and Nick Metcalf high whistles. They're real music makers. So if fingers are getting cramped on such short whistles, some kind of alterations
could be created, to allow them to be played by anyone.

The Anak high F. Short, but well designed and sounds amazing >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fA_uyfI8aM

As for tweeking the Generation high G, my method was to take the mouthpiece off, step on the mouthpiece
end of the tube with a hiking boot to seal it off and connecting the other end to a
garden hose and voila, a lawn sprinkler attachment for considerably cheaper than sprinklers
available at the hardware store.