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.

Wicked Good Inside Scoop on Whistles!

In the past six month, I have had the privilege to talk and e-mail to dozens of folks who have purchased WhistleSmith whistles and flutes and to get input that is impossible to obtain any other way.

As I have written up the e-mails for posting, there have been some areas that bear listing as a reference for further development. Probably the first item to be taken care of is the matter of whistle colors. White whistles have a number of things going for them and although it might be repetitive, I’m going list them right now.

1. White whistles and flutes do not require the extra work in masking and painting and therefore cost less.
2. White whistles are easy to see if they are misplaced when camping and outside when camping.
3. White whistles play better under very hot conditions and draw very little heat.
4. White whistles are easier for children to maintain because you can see when they need cleaning.

The problem is that folks like color on their whistles and how many of each color whistle or flute do you need to stock and what colors do you need to have on hand? Over the past two years, I have narrowed the color selection down to one that works for almost everyone. Jet Black, Bright Red, Dark Green, Deep Maroon, Dark Brown and Cornflower Blue will still be the major colors that are always offered. Navy Blue,Magenta, Rose Pink, and Orchid Purple will also be offered as additional colors that appeal to a large group of whistlers. Silver striping will be standard on all white whistles and the decals on all whistles have been resized and updated to give a more uniform look.

For those folks that want a colored whistle in a model that has previously only been made in white, I am offering a custom paint package. Buy your whistle and then purchase the paint package in the color you wish your whistle to be finished in. Silver striping and pewter silver stippling will be included at no extra charge. The price for the paint package will be posted with a full description on both eBay and this website with Buy It Now information. This option will be extra nice if you are purchasing whistles as sets and want a matching color combination on the entire group.

Before I get a dozen or so calls on the subject...The prototype whistles I am going to mention next will not be for sale on eBay or anyplace else. Most will never see production, but they will all be available for study along with information on how they were made. Prototypes are part of the archive of whistles and flutes that are the property of WhistleSmith to be preserved and studied for future changes or improvements to the product line. WhistleSmith does not sell seconds, prototypes, or whistles with defects on eBay or anywhere else.

I made four dozen completely new design prototype whistles in various materials to test for ideas that might make it into a production whistle. The idea was to find out as much as possible about these materials, how they work for different applications and document the material as far as pluses and minuses on machining, finish, sound and of course, durability. All this information is going to be available at the workshop this summer and I’m sure it will be enlightening to everyone attending. At no point in history have there been as many materials (both man made and natural) available to a whistlesmith as there are today.

Aluminum in various finishes has been a predominant material in testing. Since I obtained the samples and test material from a major manufacturer of extruded aluminum, I have been able to proceed with putting together a complete set of prototypes whistles. These whistles are a new concept design and are exceptional in appearance. Aluminum passes most tests for durability(except bending and denting), is easily machined and can be finished in a variety of ways. Right now, aluminum seems to be cost effective in small size whistles and a bit more costly in the larger whistles. Aluminum is most efficient at dissipating heat and there is where a major problem lays. Below 68 degrees, which is a warm temperature, large bore aluminum whistles such a the Low D play too cold and collect condensate in the bore. No matter how hard they are played, they stay much too cool to be practical if played outdoors and in cold weather. One of my testers after playing the Low D in aluminum in the barn on a cool day, suggested we could wrap the whistle in insulation foam to take care of that problem. I an only hope he was just trying to be humorous.

Small bore aluminum whistles seem to be fine and play well down to about 65 degrees (after which they get noticeably flat). Small bore prototypes are finished and no further development is necessary at this point. However, I am not going to recommend aluminum for outdoors cold weather playing. Aluminum makes a very nice concert type whistle where temperature is not a problem. Aluminum scratches and nicks easily under hard use, and requires the owner to treat polished aluminum whistles with care. I have a very good source for coated aluminum tubing that promises to be much tougher to scratch and seems(at this point in time) to be more suited for whistle production. I am doing a complete data base on aluminum and finishes. Information on my conclusions and sources will be available on request to anyone interested in this area of whistle development when information is compiled and complete.

Wooden whistles are always interesting. I have been involved in wood turning and making urns and artistic pieces on the lathe for over forty years. Because I know a bit about wood and its inherent problems, I have rethought the manufacture of whistles from this material. Some of the opinions I had originally on using wood can be balanced by using new techniques in preparing the wood and replacing the water content even in seasoned and aged wood.

Native Americans basically got it right when they made flutes from cedar which is inherently waterproof due to its high oil content. Lightning struck cedar is the cedar of choice for many makers of these flutes and the crystallizing effect does have a bearing on the instrument. Lightning struck cedar has been made harder than regular cedar and therefore is easier to work than regular cedars that tend to be very soft.

In making urns, I have used both red cedar which has the smell of a lead pencil when cut and Port Orford cedar from the west coast which has a delightful perfume smell like flowers. Port Orford is hard to obtain in large size and in extra clear grades. Ten years ago I purchased a large lot of this cedar as a high grade lot to make urns from. This cedar was stored inside an insulated tractor trailer and eventually lost most of its moisture and is very dry and straight grained. Port Orford is so waterproof that you can build a boat from it, never paint it and the boat will survive salt water and last for a hundred years!

This is a Port Orford Cedar creation I call The Floating Amphora that you may find interesting. The vessel still retains its wonderful aroma after many years

A new way to manufacture wooden whistles along with templates for the design has been developed. This new design whistle is unique and new to whistle making and makes a visually striking instrument. Whistles that I made from Port Orford cedar over the summer, have a lovely sound and are extremely durable. They do not acquire moisture from saliva and will not clog. Because this cedar has been properly aged, it is feather light in weight and the color is clear to a slightly golden color with a very nice grain.

How of many of these whistles will be available for sale? The first one hundred have already been purchased by a private collector on a ship as ready basis. It will be a full year at least before any consideration to further production can be taken into account. Having a benefactor for the WhistleSmith is a very exciting development!

I do have an extensive amount of information on processing wood for turning and some neat tricks for processing raw wood to product that can be a lot of help to anyone who is interested in pursuing this area.

I will be posting individual items on the WhistleSmith News on each of the new developments as things proceed in the next few weeks. Be sure to sign up for the News Letter where you can get immediate updates. I promise you will be entertained by some unique new designs. You never know, The Magic Whistle may show up and you wouldn’t want to miss that!

Have a Wicked Good Holiday!

I would like to personally thank all those folks that have made 2006 an interesting and busy year. If I had stayed in Lake City, we would have been neighbors, so this true little story is for Don Kuse over in Live Oak, Florida.

After the hurricane that flooded Columbia County, Florida in the late ‘40’s, neighbors depended on neighbors and folks made do with what they had. This is a true story, as I remember it from my childhood.

You could smell the heat it was so intense. The smell of mud coming up from below into the train trestle was like some sort of herbal remedy and if you smelled too long it would just make you faint away. You wouldn't want to do that... Just looking down through the ties on the railroad trestle into the water was enough to make you feel faint.
It must have rained for a month. It felt like the water coming out of the ground from the sun was giving you a hot bath and the flow of heat from your head went right up to the sun.
I guess that I was about five or six years old, and Mammy and I were off to see a friend of hers....it was the sort of thing we did occasionally. Granddaddy wouldn't know we were gone until supper when he got home from the sign shop in Lake City n his old red GMC pickup which would be covered in red clay from the hurricane ruined roads.
It was a sort of high adventure and the neatest things would be sure to happen. Why, just this morning starting out , we had come to an impossible old dirt bank and there was just no way up it at all! Mammy had just reached down and picked up a stick and declared it was full of magic.
It was the most magical of things it turned out and that stick got us up that bank lickety split. Later, the magic stick got tied up with a kerchief to hold some fruit a neighbor gave us as we passed by, and at the trestle where anyone could see you'd fall through and into the water below, that big old stick was just right to keep you stepping right over those gaps in the ties and on to the next one.
A long about dark we came to an open field. The rain had flooded over the road and the only way to the little house in the middle of the field was to wade. Mammy took off her stockings and carried her shoes in her hand and we waded on through the water and up the driveway. A nice enough lady with a couple of children met us just outside the door of the house. She was a uncommon sized woman, in that she was as big around as she was tall. I thought that was mighty strange, but hunger was first and to go play before bed was second.
That night as I was getting ready to go to bed, I heard Mammy tell the fat woman that everything would be okay and not to worry. I remember that someone was crying in my dream that night, but it wasn't until morning that I found out that a baby boy had been born that very night.

The next morning Mammy and I left for home. After a long days walk, we got there and Granddaddy was waiting. The next day was Christmas.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Wicked Happy New Year!

Whistling in the Wind at St Froid Lake

September 24 this year, I had the privilege to be invited to Cry of the Lost Hunter Campground for Sunday dinner with Frances Cushman and her daughter Ann. Located on St. Froid Lake at Quimby, Maine, the campground was home to my boys and Nadiene and I in the summer for many years. Owen and Frances Cushman created the campground from an undeveloped piece of shoreline property over a long period of time. Originally the campground was full of tents and folks with trailers in the summer, but now most of the occupants are local people that enjoy being there all summer and have settled in with larger trailers that stay all year long.
It was a really bad day weather wise when we left Presque Isle and the wind was up even worse by the time we had driven the sixty miles up to the lake. Even though it had been quite a few years since we had been to the campground, everything looked pretty much as we had left it on our last visit. Mother Nature seems to maintain things at a pretty nice level if she doesn’t get stressed and the fall foliage was at its best even if the day was dark and wet.
We had a nice long visit at the big log cabin where Frances lives in the summer and of course a tour of the property and a chance to see some folks we knew who were getting in the last visit to camp for the season.
After a leisurely dinner with all the good things that go with homemade cooking and big piece of raspberry pie, I decided the rain had let up sufficiently to go for a walk. The wind was still blowing at about twenty five miles an hour and the shore was getting hit with some big waves from the whitecaps out on the main part of the lake. Nadiene picked up her camera and came along with me as I grabbed my whistle from the Mazda and headed for the beach.
I had been testing the new Traveler whistle in A and thought it would be a real test to be able to play it outdoors under some tough conditions. Frances, Ann and our friend Diane Barnes stayed on the porch to see how the whistle sounded and how far away they would be able to hear it against the wind.
We wandered up the beach and I played the Dance of the Frenzied Turkeys all the way. Nadiene took a bunch of pictures of the cabins along the way and was the onsite expert to attest to the playability and staying power of the little whistle against the wind. It was great fun and there were several places that I would have played for a while, but everything was pretty wet and the weather held off just long enough to get in a good walk.
The girls back at camp said they could hear me playing until we were completely out of sight which I found surprising as the wind really started to blow. The Traveler played without a hitch. No wind kill even though I did a full 360 degree in slow motion and the wind was very strong. This is a very pleasant whistle to play and the more I play it the better I like the Key of A. After getting back to camp I gave everyone a short concert of some of my tunes that I’ve been working on and then it was time to head for home.
We all had a great day and got home just before dark. You try to miss the moose and driving in the dark is not a good idea in the fall of the year. Later in the evening , a tremendous gust of air came down out of Canada and the next morning the color was gone as the leaves blew off the trees. You could say we got in the last nice day of the fall season and had a chance to whistle our way through it in style!

Comments on White Whistles and Where the Whistlers are Whistling!

Here is an excerpt from John Hughes long letter on some of his observations on whistle color(especially white instruments) and other interesting whistle observations. I found this letter to have several interesting points and I will add them to the revue on the Low whistles as soon as I can.

“There are several advantages to owning a white instrument.
I find that students keep these instruments cleaner and ready to play, because dirt shows up more readily on a white instrument and it looks either clean and white or it looks dirty. Case closed.
A white instrument plays cooler in summer heat and stays in tune better when exposed to direct sunlight. I make it a point to instruct students to place their instruments out of the sunlight when not playing and to remove them from auto windows when traveling. Leaving any instrument in the direct sun, whether it is plastic or wood is not a good idea and can cause them to warp or even split. Here in the south, you can get a burn from a metal mouthpiece left in the sun and you won’t soon forget that!

You can find a white instrument (even if it is only the mouthpiece that’s white) easier when laid down. Black and dark brown instruments tend to get lost and at best are hard to find. I have searched for hours over the years trying to find lost instruments that were often right beside me. Outdoors events with a fife and drum corps are always a matter of someone losing their fife or drumsticks by laying them down on the ground and leaving them behind. I recommend dipping your drumstick ends in some white paint so they show up!

White instruments never need more than a good cleaning and they look like new. Paint, coatings, polished aluminum and even chrome have issues after being handled a lot. Brass looks okay when everyone polishes, but it looks terrible in a group if even one person prefers to have their instrument have a patina. Patina just means unkept and not polished in a band.
I appreciated the time you spent on the phone with me discussing the Fife & Pail concept. Will get back to you as soon as the Town has a chance to discuss the matter and I believe we will go with the idea because the kids need an activity like this that could be done all year round.”

Several folks have written about where they play their whistle. I would publish their letters complete, but I always ask if it is okay first and that takes a lot of time. If you want something posted during the month, please remember to state that it is okay to publish your letter in its entire form.

A lot of people play their whistle at funerals and wakes. Out of respect for the departed and also because there are not enough pipers around. I often remark that the pipers of our land must be tired out from piping at funerals, never mind all the parades they have to attend. I know that I hear more people say they have heard someone playing the whistle at a funeral than I have ever heard before. If you have not played for a funeral, you better practice outdoors under real conditions before you show up for your first performance. The wind can make your music go away if you have the wrong whistle in your hands.
At least one person is financing their college by playing whistle at dedications, funerals, and other events. What better incentive to practice than to have your own business that furnishes a wonderful service to the community as well.

Many folks have found the wonders of echoes in playing their whistle. The echo coming back over at lake, the way the whistle sounds coming back from heavy woods over an open field, and the sounds you get in an open alley when it is quiet on a Sunday morning where all mentioned in the past month.

The amount of phone calls discussing various types of music and folks with ideas on whistle music in general has been very interesting. The whistle is being played in every type of music imaginable. Delta Blues, reggae, calypso, traditional, blues, and many more have been mentioned lately.

Many of the calls pertained to ideas that individuals have for new or different variations on the whistle. If you have ideas for an instrument don’t hesitate to call and discuss your idea. The data base information is getting larger every month and an answer to one of your questions may be available. Really secret projects will stay secret...that’s why I’m in Maine on top of a ridge.

More people than ever are playing their whistles during the Holidays! Some players are in symphony productions, some in stage shows and musicals and the whistle will be played with choirs and caroling on Christmas eve this year according to the folks ordering new whistles on the phone and over the website. I know there have been a lot of whistles ordered in green and red which I think is an indication of what they will be used for. I think this is just great! “The More the Merrier” as the old saying goes.

The WhistleSmith Visits Grizzly Industrial

My wife Nadiene and I usually get in some vacation time in the fall. We leave when the autumn leaves are finished in Maine and are still beautiful in the rest of New England. This year we traveled from Presque Isle to Portland for a days visit on the historic waterfront and a chance to check out some shopping and for me to do a hands on look around the Rockler store. Then it was on to Scranton, Pennsylvania where we pick up Route 81 and head down the Blue Ridge toward Virginia and the town of Mineral where my older son Rodney Lee runs the Montana tractor dealership and Ultra Touch Landscaping.

We have traveled this way several times before and it is a spectacular ride that roller coasters through the mountains and down through the scenic valleys. When we got to the intersection of routes 81 and 80, we turned right and followed 80 west to Bloomsburg, Pa. where we had planned to stay the night. After a long day on the road, we found the Hampton Inn to be a welcome sight and checked in to spend the night in Bloomsburg and travel the short distance to Muncy the following morning.

After a pleasant supper, I got a call from Rodney Lee and while we were talking, he checked out our location on MapQuest to see how far we were from Mineral. “You are about a hundred and twenty five miles off course according to MapQuest. How can you be in Bloomsburg?” he asked? Well, we were in Bloomsburg all right, the Town of Bloomsburg (which it turned out was where we should have been all along). and we were on route 81 which was the correct interstate. Turns out that Pennsylvania has two Bloomsburgs, one is the Town of and the other Bloomsburg showing on MapQuest which is a City. They are about 125 miles apart and when we inquired at the desk if they often got missing customers, the desk did not know there were two places with the same name. It turned out that the management was new and from California and knew almost nothing about the local area as they had just arrived!

The next morning we were up and at ‘em and on our way to Muncy up Route 180. After a short ride, we pulled into the Lycoming Mall Circle and up to the entrance of the Grizzly showroom. The building is 230,000 square feet on 22 acres of ground and the showroom is just spectacular. This is probably the largest machinery show room in the world and it is packed with every type of wood and metal working machinery that your could ever ask for. Every article that is sold in their catalog is on display and that is a whole lot of stuff to go through. We needed to buy some air tools and a specialty stapler plus a lot of small cutters and reamers for the Whistle shop. So picking up a tally board, we set out to fill our list. Write down the item number and the listed amount and you can begin working through your shopping list. No carts to push and nothing to carry, you get everything filled at the end of your shopping by a fast and efficient crew in the warehouse.

Here is a small amount of Grizzly Mill and Drill Machinery.

The first thing you notice at Grizzly Industrial is the absolutely spotless showroom. You are walking into the best kept showroom that you will ever set foot into. There is not a spot of dust anywhere. The floors, machinery, display cases and displays are absolutely maintained to a very high level. The restrooms were so clean that I thought the building must have just opened! You can tell a lot about a company by looking how it is run and how things are maintained and this is the most impressive showroom I have ever seen.

Nadiene and the giant Grizzly Bear

The staff on the floor are very cordial and most are retired product inspectors. They can answer technical questions that you might have on any piece of machinery on the floor. Gordon Patterson was working the morning we arrived and he showed me the various milling machines. I found that he was interested in my project and went out of his way to show me the machines that would be the easiest and most economical to use to get the results that I wanted.
There are many different projects on display and we especially enjoyed the woodworking pieces. This is a terrific collection done by a Canadian woodworker using all Grizzly machinery and tools.
So what does all this have to do with the WhistleSmith? Well..., we saved a bundle on our new machinery for this spring and had a terrific time getting new ideas for the projects that are coming up.
Grizzly Industrial has a huge website at www.grizzly.com and be sure to sign up for their catalog. If you are near Muncy, you would really enjoy a visit to the showroom and the Pennsylvania scenery is beautiful on your drive over.

Low D Whistle from the Whistlesmith

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When something is extra good, folks in Maine usually say it is Wicked Good! This is a Wicked Good Sounding Low D Whistle.

Made to be easily cleaned, play with minimum air requirement, fully tuneable and fingering for small hands.Whistle has new in line Straight Shot mouthpiece for increased volume. Bristol white and tan pipe construction will not bend, break, or warp out of key. Whistle has a great sound because it is similar in density to high quality hardwood and warms up quickly and stays warmed up because of its insulation value.

All joints are self tapers, all edges are beveled, and the bore is completely unpainted for best sound. Finger holes are for small hands playing and finger holes are offset for comfortable fingering. The mouthpiece slides completely apart and interior wind way is accessible for cleaning. Low D Whistle is available in a variety of custom colors. Colors are airbrushed with liquid vinyl color and two coats of clear top coat. Whistles coated with vinyl feel dry and slip nicely on your hand even in wet, damp conditions.

The adjustable thumb ring snaps onto the whistle and goes completely around your thumb.