Wicked Good Whistle Making Gadgets and the All Mighty Dollar!

The summer of 2006 was extremely hot here in Northern Maine and many days it was just too hot to do much outside. When the temperature gets into ninety degrees here, you know that you are going to get a real suntan and you had better put on a bunch of sun block. With the extra hot weather, running the tee shirt line became a real problem with the extra heat from the conveyor that is used to cure large numbers of tee shirts adding to the shop temperature. I took advantage of afternoons that were too hot to process clothing by spending the time in the whistle shop where it was much cooler and with an open window and fan creating a good breeze was more like working outdoors.

When you work on whistles day after day, you soon become aware of the way you do the repetitive jobs in the shop. I found a dozen or more processes in making various parts that I could either do away with or do better by changing the method I was using to make that part. I find I have plenty of time when doing several hundred thumb rings or similar repetitive parts to think out the process and decide if there is a way to improve the method of manufacture. I can usually find a way to make a jig (a gadget to hold or position the piece you are working on) that will make the part faster, better or more safely.

I have used lathes to a large extent to produce many products over the years, but I gradually came to realize that setting up whistle parts on the lathe was just too time consuming. By changing the making of parts to shapers, mill drill setups and grinding instead of cutting on the lathe produced remarkable time savings and made better and more consistent parts. By using these methods, I can make small runs of parts if needed to fill in the count when assembling whistles and flutes.

I have machinery setups that are never changed to make 90 percent of the stock parts used to produce the major parts that are used in whistles and flutes . The set up is permanent to make parts that are more consistent than is possible any other way. All that sounds complicated, but with advise from Grizzly Industrials staff (see my short piece on my visit to their showroom ) I was able to add four drill presses with milling vises to accomplish everything I needed in the way of additional equipment. The savings by using their suggestions amounted to a dollar figure of $8,500. over doing the same procedures by any other methods. On some whistle parts, the savings in time has been 200 per cent and when manufacturing mounting pins it has been 400 per cent! The bottom line is that these parts are better and more precise than any other method of producing them.

Here is a picture of one of the new cross slide vises that I have been using. Available at Woodcraft. com, it is a really nice piece of machinery. When bolted onto your drill press, the Bitmoore slide vise allows you to mill and drill with extreme accuracy. The vise is usually about $79 and sometimes is on sale for less. If you do woodworking it is absolutely the best. Combined with a laser drill press, I can do precision work without having to work hard to do it. How about that!

The price of the new line of instruments has been directly affected by the way I have been able to redesign the whistle and flute lines over the summer. Mouthpieces and tone bodies on the various keys of whistles have been made modular on whistles and fifes. Low whistles and flutes now use the same tone bodies , whistle mouthpieces and flute heads. By tuning each key individually on the instruments, I can produce better sound and still use standard pieces to assemble the basic instrument. As new instruments are added into the line (yes! there are more new items on the way!) the modular concept will keep prices down and product will improve. Henry Ford invented standard parts to make cars, so I am using a tested principle to make a variety of instruments. Standard parts is not a new concept, but a very practical way to make things if you can get the engineering to work.

The spin off of redesigning the line of whistles has produced several dozen pages of technical notes and sketches of various procedures that I will be following up on as time permits. WhistleSmith is not just about making whistles, but about finding solutions and taking new ideas and pursuing them to find what else may be useful or new.

This coming summer, I will be conducting an informal workshop in August. A Canadian inventor and a would be whistle maker from Nova Scotia have already made it known that they are coming. This will be a hands on workshop and sharing of information obtained from the various prototypes that have evolved over the past two years. It is always productive to sit down and have a think tank with folks with like interests and something usually comes popping up out that is usable. Sooooooo, we will just see what it might be this summer.

These time savings let me have more time to assemble and have basic instruments ready to finish and tune for quicker shipment. This year, I was able to ship your whistle in two working days or less.

I will be passing these savings on to you, the customer by maintaining current prices and in many cases lowering the price on most instruments. You will note that eBay auction prices and the www.whistlesmith.com pricing scale has been brought into line with each other.

I have decided to remain with eBay as the primary advertising medium because of the success of being able to sell to an international group of customers that appreciate being able to deal directly with WhistleSmith.

The decision was made late in the summer that it would be beneficial to deal only directly with customers. The use of retailers would make the cost to the customer double for the same product and sales are sufficient to meet our expectations without bringing more sales outlets into the picture. The decision to sell only directly to the customer has nothing to do with web store dealers, their reputations or products that they carry. I have several proposals on hand to make product for web stores with their ideas and trademarks and I am leaving these ideas on the table. Until announced differently, the WhistleSmith and all products are available only on eBay or our website. Any other sales outlets advertising our products are not legal or recognized by Rod Brewer Designs Inc. the parent company of The Whistlesmith.

Nadiene and I find that taking care of customers and their personal requests on instruments is better accomplished by talking directly to the customer or answering questions before the sale of any instruments.

Clubs, groups and individuals that wish to purchase in multiple numbers have no problem on receiving product or discounts and they are invited to call at 1-800-675-4206 for personal quotes.