I made a whistle like this with some tuning issues, and I opened the holes like Mr Guru says. Like Feadoggie says, the Bell note becomes weaker but not too weak, I cut the heal off the end of the whistle diagonally as suggested on the gg site, and also adjusted the window size, and fipple block distance. With breath control I can blow all the notes into tune pretty well, and a whistle which I was prepared to throw away, became a very nice sounding and very playable instrument. In whistle making, lots of small adjustments can make big differences, and sometimes big adjustments can make small differences. The whistle is very playable and is in tune with its self, but it is probably not a perfect A whistle anymore, although I've never checked it.Feadoggie wrote:Sure, we didn't go there did we? We didn't even ask about hole sizes, did we?MTGuru wrote:Just thinking out loud ... Assuming that the existing holes are too small for that bore and scale, and since the bell pitch is good ... Can the OP simply ream out the existing holes one at a time? May not be the ideal bore:length ratio, but at least it would be playable.
Still, also thinking out loud, such an exercise still won't result in a low A whistle that performs well. With a a +21mm bore the high notes would be a bear to hit, the bell note would be weak and the second octave tuning would still have issues. Better to start anew with a proper bore diameter. But that's just my opinion.
If the whistle is made there is no harm experimenting with hole size. Go for it and learn as you go about it!
Feadoggie
It certainly wouldn't hurt to experiment like I did, It taught me a lot, and I was amazed that I could make it playable.
Chris
