Trouble Making Own Whistles
Hello all,
I am conducting and playing in the pit for a production of "Come From Away" in about a month and am attempting to accumulate the full arsenal of whistles. I purchased Sondery and Generation whistles to cover F, D, C, and Bb, but still need a high E whistle and the midrange/low whistles. I have used the low-tech whistle guide with handmade mouthpieces and even bought a 3D printer to try and make good mouthpieces more consistently, but can never get a whistle that has everything right. Here is a list of some of my woes, please feel free to offer any guidance and advice:
- Handmade mouthpiece
- Airy tone
- Very inconsistent whistle-to-whistle (low reproducibility)
- 3D-printed mouthpiece (I've tried online designs as well as modeling my own)
- Much clearer tone, but:
- Tuning flattens rapidly as I climb the second octave, unless I use an absolute crap ton of air
- General:
- When I frankenstein a mouthpiece from one of my "real" whistles onto one of mine, the second octave is just fine. I would do this for all of them if I could but the largest mouthpiece I can get affordably is the one on the Bb Generation (and I would hate to buy a bunch of whistles just for the mouthpieces).
- I live in the US and our PVC has rather thick walls, so 2 to 3 millimeters. I am unsure how much my issues are attributable to this. The only affordable material with thinner walls is steel pipe but I don't think I have the tools to work with it. What I have to work with is the following (chose SDR11 where possible because the walls are a little thinner):
- 1/2in SDR11 (inner 12mm, outer 16mm), intended for high whistles
- 3/4in SDR11 (inner 17, outer 22), intended for midrange whistles
- 3/4in Sch 40 PVC (inner 21, outer 26.5), intended for low whistles
- I have tried every hole calculator I could find with the same results. I am suspicious that they cannot compensate for the wall thickness of my pipe (if wall thickness is actually the issue).
I've attached some pictures of my work in case you see anything that helps you help me. Appreciate y'all, although frustrating, this has been a fun process and I enjoy playing the well-made whistles!
My best handmade mouthpiece (plays in tune but airy)
Online 3D printed design 1 (great tone but terrible 2nd octave tuning)
Posted Jun 7, 2026, 4:33 AM UTC