MK DESIGN BLOG
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.
Limited Edition Blue Pro Ds
We have a small batch of limited edition Blue Ds available here. This is the second batch of blue Ds we have ever made – so they are pretty rare!!!
New Pro A
While it had always been my intention that the Low G would be the next key to follow the Low D and the F, it is in fact the A that has come to fruition first. The G remains very close, but it still needs that little extra something to give take that final 1% to being absolutely ‘there’. The A definitely is that- those who have played the prototypes seemed to consider it to be best A they have played. I’m certainly happy with them and I hope you like them also! They are currently available to buy on this page.
Notes: The new As feature a slightly different tuning slide to the brass slides as used on the Ds and Fs. They are still low profile, but use a low friction plastic lining instead of brass. They are also available in a satin plain aluminium finish.
Update on New Keys
I’ve been answering a lot of emails recently about when keys of whistles other than the D and F are going to come to fruition. I thought I’d provide a general update here. Though I had envisaged the G would be the next key, and we have taken a substantial number of advance orders for these, it is in fact probably the A which will be ready next. Those on the waiting list for the Gs (some of which have been waiting for almost a decade!!!), will be given first offer on the As. In a best case scenario we would also see both the G and the Eb available before the end of the year.
The Perfect Whistle
Having spent a large part of the last few years trying to keep up with orders a large component of what I’ve been doing is to work out nice ways to make things – to both maintain quality and not be too time consuming. It has been a real challenge – far harder than working out how to make the first MK Whistle. In fact all that hard work that goes into perfecting those first few instruments comes back to bite you on the bum, simply because the higher the standards you set the more difficult it is to maintain them. I could never have imagined it would have taken so long, and on reflection, had I not been absolutely clear on what I set was setting out to – to make really good quality low whistles available and affordable – then it might well have fallen flat on it’s face!
That process is almost at it’s end – with the exception of one stage (which remains horribly time consuming) I can look at the way each process is done and say it feels right.
This will allow a little more time to getting some of the other keys sorted out. The Low G is close, and Low A not far behind …while the High D still has a bit to go. In addition to this though, I would like to return to making custom and one-off instruments. I’ve had time (10 years) to mull over the original Mk Design, and it does seem there’s space for improvement. Even if some of the crafting processes involved are time consuming – surely they are justified in the quest to find the perfect whistle?
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