MK MUSIC BLOG
Weights of High and Low Whistles and Woodwind Instruments for Comparison
Particularly among players at the early stages of learning to play low whistles, the weight of an instrument can be a talking point. It should be said whistles are generally the lightest woodwind instruments, with a typical low D weighing around 180-250 grams.
For interests sake here is a table comparing the weight of woodwind instruments. Some of the heavier woodwinds do make use of a neck strap. The lightest woodwind to sometimes make use of a neck strap is the clarinet which typically weighs around 0.8 kgs or 1.7 lbs. Many heavier woodwinds though, don’t have much opportunity for additional support. A Trombone, which is typically ten times heavier than a low D, has no opportunity for additional support.
mk Pro D – 240 grams / 0.5 lbs
mk Midgie High D – 63 grams / 0.13 lbs
Overton low D – 190 grams / 0.4 lbs
Typical wooden flute – 560 grams / 1.2 lbs
*Clarinet – 800 grams / 1.7 lbs
Typical silver flute – 440 grams
**Typical Alto Saxophone – 2.5 kgs
Trombone – 2.7 kgs / 6.1lbs
Tuba 15.8 kgs / 35 lbs
* Sometimes used with a neck strap
** Typically used with a neck strap
Royal Mail Cyber attack update
On top of the many issues faced with international delivery currently, the Royal Mail, who are the UK’s national mail service, has had a cyber attack on its IT systems. For the last week international mail has been suspended from the UK via Royal Mail. Our ‘Standard’ and ‘Economy’ shipping options make use of this mail service, but not ‘Express’ mail. We have delayed dispatch of international orders this week. Those orders that have been delayed we will to upgrade shipping to Express shipping free of charge. An update on this can be found here .
Postal Strikes and Shipping Delays
In recent times, pressures have been mounting on delivery networks and shipping carriers. Covid, Brexit, labour shortages, rising prices and the Christmas surge have all played a part in making delivery more challenging. In December the situation was escalated when workers in our national postal service in the United Kingdom – the Royal Mail – went on strike. Unknown to us, during this time, the Royal Mail prioritised domestic mail, which has caused long delays on international mail leaving the UK and difficulties in the tracking systems i.e. limited or no tracking. This has meant a number of our customers have packages that have been severely delayed.
We have greatly appreciated all of our customers patience through this time. We understand it is annoying and extremely awkward when you have counted on an instrument arriving in time for Christmas or for a performance or rehearsal. Not to mention it is worrying when it doesn’t arrive and tracking isn’t working – leaving us with the thought it’s lost. Many of these packages have been arriving and will continue to do so …so if you are still waiting please hang in there we believe packages are making it through and at the time of writing we are not aware of any that have been lost or gone missing. For customers that have waited patiently for packages that have finally arrived – thank you for your patience and we hope you will get many years service from your instrument.
Please be aware postage is insured- we make sure you will receive your instrument. In fact we have never not delivered an order, but we do have to work with the postal networks and whatever economic, political and logistical challenges are being faced.
At this time everyone is doing everything they can to restore the delivery services. We are constantly testing shipping carriers for reliability. In order to relieve pressure from Royal Mail we have momentarily withdrawn our economy international shipping options. Please be aware there may be delays on express services also as all networks are under pressure. Whichever delivery service however, please bear in mind packages are making it through to customer even if they are delayed.
Brass Tuning Slide Tension Adjustment
Note: this applies only to brass tuning slides.
If you find that your brass tuning slide is a little loose you can tension it to exactly how you would like it…
To adjust tuning slide tension you are looking to gently squeeze the brass slide at the end.
If you have access to a vice, this is usually the best way of doing this (with some folded paper or paper towel to protect the brass/slide from the vice jaws). It doesn’t have to be a vice but it is the most precise method, so we would suggest visiting a friend with a vice before trying to make do with an old set of pliers, although wide jawed pliers should work also.
We usually recommend squeezing the sides rather than top and bottom – top and bottom would loosen it if you happened to over tension it. Best to start gently and try the slide after each squeeze to check tension. The first few times there may be no difference – but that’s fine – better to under-do it and build up than over-do it. You should be able to get it really nice and some slide grease should help make the seal at the end.
On mk pro whistles the brass tenon protudes from the bodytube on D, E, F and F# whistles, and from the head of mk pro G whistles.
mk whistle tuning slide being gently squeezed in vice to adjust tension.
Low Whistle Clogging
Clogging can be an issue for some whistle players. Because of this we have spent a lot of time creating whistles that are as ‘clog-free’ as possible. Even still, it can occasionally be an issue for some people – please get in touch with us if this is you! Everyone carries moisture in their breath, but some more than others, and this can condense in the airway forming moisture droplets which interrupt the air-stream and cause air noise.
How do I know the issue is clogging?
Usually it develops over the course of a few minutes after starting to play. So if the whistle plays fine when you first pick it up, but then you start getting air-noise after a few minutes, then this is almost certainly because the moisture has been building up. Temperature may also have an affect. If the airnoise is more consistent i.e present every time you blow from the moment you pick-up the whistle, then the source of the issue may lie with something else.
What can I do about it?
The good news is that there are a few things you can try. A watery solution that we can provide, called ‘anticondense’, can be sprayed onto the surfaces at the end of airway (please see photo). We don’t have this available to buy at the moment but please get in touch ( info @ mkwhistles.com) if you would like some. This causes the moisture to form in a thin layer, rather than a droplet (for those with technical know-how this is releases the ‘surface tension’). It should be applied when the instrument is dry and then allowed to dry before playing. In most cases this does help a good deal, and it is worth experimenting with.
The problem may improve over time
Do bear in mind that some whistle makes are better than others for clogging – so it may be with experimenting. It’s also true that players tend to push more moisture through the airway when they are in the early stages of learning. We have worked very hard to make mk whistles free from clogging – with clever design of the airway. If you do still get clogging issues then please get in touch ! It is so rarely we come across someone with clogging issues that we’d love to hear from you and work with you to resolve the issue.
Small Hands & Stretch to Reach the Fingerholes on a Low D Whistle
One of the questions we’re asked most, is about making the stretch to reach the fingerholes on a Low D whistle. There’s a lot of good news here – we offer a full money back guarantee if you can’t make the stretch after a while and, in the last several decades, we could count on one hand the number of people who have made use of the guarantee because they couldn’t make the stretch to reach the fingerholes.
This question is more commonly raised by women, who understandably feel that because they have smaller hands – and, let’s face it, the majority of items in this ‘modern’ world are designed for men and man sized hands – that they are more likely to have issues trying to play a Low D whistle. However, in reality gender has very little influence; for whatever reason, women generally carry a lot more joint flexibility than men. Making the stretch to play a Low D is nowhere near as hard as adapting to doing the splits, but it is similar. Women are typically much better at stretching than men.
The fact is that anyone who picks up a Low D initially will not find it comfortable at first. This is true irrespective of age, gender or hand-size. Playing musical instruments of any kind does involve developing strength and suppleness. Part of the beauty of learning to play an instrument is, in fact, seeing yourself develop; revelling in finding something easy to do that was once difficult. Whether it’s ‘developing your chops’ with a trumpet, forming an embouchure on a flute, playing stretched out chords on a guitar or reaching fifth position on a violin, there’s some patience, discipline and play-in time required. Perhaps because it’s a whistle and whistles are, quite rightfully, known to be accessible instruments to play, this can come as a little bit of a shock to someone who expects it to be easy from the outset.
With a little practice over the first few weeks, it is very easy to adapt to playing a Low D whistle. In fact, it can be said that if your patience doesn’t stretch to this then you probably aren’t made for playing a musical instrument! Any stretch requires a little work, whether it’s touching your toes, doing the splits or putting your foot behind your head, although stretching to reach the fingerholes on a Low D is certainly not as difficult as some of these.
Exceptions
In a very, very small number of cases we have found, even with some practice and patience and communicating with a customer, we can’t quite get it to work. Of the many thousands of instruments we have made for musicians around the world these cases could be counted on one hand – literally less than 0.01%. This can occur where several factors combine. For example, old hands that also carry some form of injury. That is not to discount older people who carry a hand injury of some kind, because in nearly all cases it’s worth trying and it is remarkable what people can overcome. If this applies to you, we would happily refund you the full cost of your purchase, including any postage costs incurred and offer you a discount on a smaller or different key for your efforts.
Technical notes/further info:
Blayne Chastain’s video on the Piper’s Grip.
You may also find Cutie Pie’s video on the pipers grip and stretches useful.
Cleaning kit
We have recently released a new cleaning kit designed specifically for low whistles which is available to buy through Amazon in the UK, EU and US. If you are visiting this page, it’s very likely you have already purchased one!
Here’s a brief summary of the contents of the kit and its uses:-
Modular cleaning mop – this is a unique extendable cleaning mop developed by us for cleaning tunable and non-tunable low whistles. The head is replaceable and the handle should last a life-time.
Wistol cleaning and sterilising solution – a spray-on solution for cleaning and sterilising. Generally we would recommended using a spray on solution like this, which can be applied to the cleaning mop, cotton buds, or directly to a surface, instead of submerging ant part of a whistle in a liquid (e.g. soapy water). Water can promote biological growth, whereas a sterilising solution has the opposite effect.
Cotton buds – for cleaning the inside of the mouthpiece in conjunction with the cleaning solution
A tube of tuning slide grease to keep the tuning slide lubricated and moving freely.
A simple yet innovative tapered felt pull-through for clearing the airway. After playing for a little while, the narrower end of the pull-through should be threaded through the airway, and run backwards and forwards along the length of the felt. A little Wistol cleaning solution may also be used – apply by spraying at a close distance onto the felt.
If you’d like to see a video of us demonstrating how to use the different parts of the cleaning kit, then let us know by leaving a comment below. We also welcome feedback to info@mkwhistles.com.
Faulty Wistol Container
For those that have purchased one of the new cleaning kits, a small number of the bottles of Wistol are defective. If you are one of the unlucky people to happen to have received one of these, please don’t hesitate to get in touch to get a replacement!
Kelpie F to be discontinued
As we make way for new whistles and keys in 2021, we will be discontinuing the Kelpie F for the foreseeable future. If you want one of these, then the last few batches are becoming available as we put the finishing touches to them in the workshop. Please keep an eye on the online shop or email us [info@mkwhistles.com – stock info] for an update.
To our EU customers…
As in times gone by, we will not let temporary political situations affect long-practised cultural and social collaboration and exchange. As ever, we are committed to offering our customers in Europe an excellent service. With this in mind, we thought we’d take this chance to explain pricing changes for our EU customers.
When the UK was in the EU, we had to charge VAT to all our customers in the EU (including Britain). The VAT was passed on to the UK government, then distributed to the EU accordingly. Since leaving the EU, EU customers no longer pay VAT when purchasing from us. This means that someone in the EU ordering a whistle from us will pay 20% less than someone ordering from the UK at the point of ordering. Instead of VAT, any taxes/customs charges will be due when your package enters your country. Some packages may have no charges applied -usually applicable for packages under €150] -, but if they do, the customs charges are likely to be roughly equivalent to VAT charges paid previously. We certainly understand that having to make a second payment for a customs charge can be an inconvenience, but we hope you see it in perspective compared to getting a great instrument and the long life it will have with you.
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