G'day all,

Alison: I rabbitted on about all sorts of side issues and forgot what had prompted me to start the posting - big whistles. I have (as well as the low 'G' and 'F' and great big low 'D' Overton whistle. There is no way that I can hold that in an 'Irish' playing position with parallel fingers. I was shown what was represented as a Scottish piper's hold with elbows raised so that the arms - and fingers - were at nearly right angle to each other.

If you start with this position and place the fingers successively, starting with the bottom hole for each hand, you will be able to cover all the holes, but the index and ring fingers will cover the holes with a lower joint. This does not place fast rolls well, but opens up an entire area of slower, sonorous playing on the deeper whistles and excellent harmony / accompaniment possibilities.

Tinwhistler: The idea of interchangeable heads was well applied in the last century ... going into the next, we should have no trouble with it - as long as someone with the right skills can do it for the pitiful sort of money you can get out of indigent folkies! I see that someone has given a reference to a maker of interesting flutes.

Such designs were my eventual aim from interesting Richard Evans (a toolmaker who makes concertina and repairs all free reed instruments) in making whistles. Unfortunately he has been hijacked to make a (fairly) unimaginative line of 'Dolang' whistles for Christiaan Dolislager of Sydney. Still, I don't despair, some innovative 'Dolangs' are appearing and I can still play around with design in Richard's workshop - when I am in whistle phase.

Dulcimer: The larger bore of your Mello Soodlum is a direct factor inits mellow tone. There was a group in Britain, from about the Edwardian era and possibly still around, the Pipers' Guild who promoted a selfmade whistle to the schools. The body was bamboo and wooden mouthpiecesd could be purchased but the kids had to make their own whistle - so they treasured it(?!?).

Their design was way overbore (based on Romanian peasant whistles) and originally had little more than one octave range, but they loved the tone and wrote arrangements around the limited range and using a range of sizes. Later they discovered a cunningly placed half bore restriction allowed the whistles to overblow and give a full two octaves (still a fourth less than a tinwhistle in expert hands) while keeping the really mellow tone.

I have the plans for these and the bass version and hope to develop an improved version one day (you know ... when I have some spare time ...).

This question of bore seems to be highlighted with the 'Susato' range. Everything from 'A' to 'D' uses the same bore, which seems to be optimum for about C#. This means the 'A' can sound quite strangled whereas the the 'D' is very pleasant. I guess it saves on tooling costs, but it is not optimum. Dan Mulligan: You have pointed out the real secret of the old-style Clarkes - they can be voiced more effectively than any other whistle. I always adjusted mine to suit the range of the song, if necessary.

I dealt with the excess breathiness by puttying up the gaps in the fipple case with 5 minute 'Araldite'. Once the leaks stopped, the tone was much more positive.

Tin-whistling is about patching and adapting - that may be why it appeals to Australians' "fencing wire and greenhide" temperament. It is either patch it or pay for a beautiful handmade wooden whistle from one of several skilled workers. My budget indicates the first approach.

Regards,

Bob Bolton