PROJECTS: SUPER TRI TONE WHISTLE
makezine.com/12/whistle
4b. Refer to the cutaway diagram and the assembled whistle drawing at makezine.com/12/whistle for a
guide to final assembly. For both whistles, position a flange hex nut on the ³/8" threaded rod approximately
3" from the top. Wrap Teflon tape on the threaded rod to make the nut turn more smoothly.
4c. Place the PVC pipes with the adjustment bolts over their respective rods and turn the adjustment
bolts until they contact the flange hex nut. Carefully tighten the adjustment bolts onto the flange hex nut,
maintaining the pipe’s vertical aspect (i.e. make the pipe centerline parallel to the threaded rod). This
allows the height of the mouth or air opening to be adjusted simply by spinning the bell up or down.
4d. Place the hole in the end cap over the rod. Then place the
smooth-to-smooth coupling over the bottom of the pipe. Next,
place the wing nut over the center post and gently tighten. The
bell edge must be positioned directly above the windway space
between the languid and the bowl, and parallel to the languid.
Retighten the positioning bolts if necessary to attain the correct
positioning.
4e. Position the bowls and manifold as shown in the assembly
diagram, then adjust the bells and bowls until the mouth opening
is approximately ½" high.
5. VOICE THE WHISTLE
Voicing the whistle, that is, adjusting it to produce a satisfactory musical tone, takes considerable time
and patience. There are a dozen variables that could be tinkered with, but we’ll limit ourselves to 3 critical
corrections: languid height, mouth height, and bowl/bell edge alignment. Getting it right can be difficult.
So take your time and have patience. Eventually, you’ll come across the correct combination to give your
whistle great sound.
5a. Adjust the mouth height by spinning the bell up or down.
5b. Move the languid up or down relative to the bowl by turning the flange nuts holding the languid in
place. Start with the top of the languid even with the top of the bowl and adjust up or down in small
increments.
5c. For optimal bowl/bell edge alignment, keep the bell edge directly over the bowl. You can make fine
adjustments by carefully tightening and loosening the bell and/or bowl adjustment bolts.
Continue to make small adjustments until you attain a loud, clear sound. Be patient, this can take a while!
FINISH X
96 Make: Volume 12
NOW GO USE IT
