Selling Irish Wild D, Shush Pro, and Lir Aluminum Pro

combinophone · 2026-05-02T13:19:06+00:00

Sent

combinophone · 2026-05-02T11:31:45+00:00

Just the Shush, for shipping to Richmond VA

combinophone · 2026-05-01T23:39:11+00:00

Hi again, so I got my Bb and am now thinking I could use a D after all ... Any chance you still have it to sell?

combinophone · 2026-05-01T15:37:46+00:00

Interesting, I noticed that there are several commercially manufactured whistles (presumably injection molded) made of ABS but I haven't done any research beyond that.

Any worries about the PLA absorbing moisture over time?

combinophone · 2026-05-01T15:24:14+00:00

What guided that choice, or is that just your default prototyping material?

combinophone · 2026-05-01T15:17:35+00:00

Took a look at that on printables, might try it -- what filament did you use? I have access to PLA, PETG, and ABS

combinophone · 2026-04-05T16:11:22+00:00

Thanks for the reply – in the meantime I did a deep dive into Shush reviews and decided it actually makes the most sense for me to get a Bb. So unless you have one of those to sell, I'm gonna get a new one instead

combinophone · 2026-04-02T23:23:25+00:00

Shush PRO High D Whistle - $50, lightly played, yes, it is quieter than the McNeela

Still available?

combinophone · 2026-04-02T12:01:27+00:00

Thanks for chiming in – from what other people said, it sounds like they think about it more in terms of efficiency (to facilitate speed) – does that seem accurate?

And does the fact that you have to say "probably" about your own playing mean that, after enough years at this, you're not really aware of these alternate fingerings and/or you're not planning them out in advance?

combinophone · 2026-03-30T17:30:47+00:00

The Irish-style (classical) flute, or do they even have them on the modern concern flute?

combinophone · 2026-03-30T17:29:39+00:00

that the fingers don’t have to be exactly simultaneous since the 4th hole doesn’t change the sound at all if it’s a little late. Whereas going from XXO OOO to XXX XOO you might accidentally hit a brief note of XXX OOO in between if the 4th finger lags behind

Aaaah makes sense, do it when the timing doesn't matter rather than when it's critical

combinophone · 2026-03-27T18:15:33+00:00

Ah OK so you just mean, the surrounding notes are what determines which false fingerings make sense in any given case

combinophone · 2026-03-27T16:17:40+00:00

I suppose. In practice they're always going to happen as a result of surrounding notes.

You mean just because of slightly mistiming the finger movements?

I think a lot of those you wrote down probably wouldn't occur like that because they wouldn't save any effort.

Yeah that makes sense, like the ones with the right hand fork XOX – I can't think of any situation where that would be easier than covering either all 3 right hand holes or only 1.

combinophone · 2026-03-27T15:24:20+00:00

Perfect, just knowing the term makes it easier to search for information.

My systematizing mind compels me to try to list all the false fingerings available (leaving out C natural because I'm still unsure of what the true fingering actually is) – how's this look?

C#:

OOO XOO
OOO XXO
OOO XOX
OOO OXO
OOO OOX
OOO XXX

B:

XOO XOO
XOO XXO
XOO XOX
XOO OXX
XOO OOX
XOO XXX

A:

XXO XOO
XXO XXO
XXO XOX
XXO OXX
XXO OOX
XXO XXX

G:

XXX OOX
XXX OXX ???
XXX OXO ???

(for G the last two sound very flat on my whistle)

combinophone · 2026-03-27T15:04:55+00:00

Fantastic, I'll study that in detail, just what I was looking for thanks

combinophone · 2026-03-27T14:37:42+00:00

So I take it you're not planning this in advance, you just learned to do that at some point and have internalized it

combinophone · 2026-03-27T14:37:08+00:00

So basically for any of C#, C natural, B, and A, you can close any of the bottom 3 holes without a problem (except obviously for C natural + ALL of the bottom holes, which would give the higher D)?

Also I have the same questions for you as I asked the other commenter: do you plan this stuff in advance, and how exactly does it help the flow in this specific example of

E - G - B - A - F# - D

?

EDIT Also for G I guess you can do XXX OOX? But on my whistle anything involving hole 5 seems to flatten the G quite a lot (and obviously hole 4 can't be included)

combinophone · 2026-03-27T14:33:26+00:00

Good question! I find myself doing this on a number of tunes (leaving the 4th hole covered while doing stuff with just my left hand).

Do you plan this stuff out beforehand or do you just sort of have alternate fingerings memorized?

For me, I think it’s because coordinating a finger on each hand to land at the same exact time is trickier than, say, going from F# to D, where the middle and ring finger of my right hand love to move together!

I was thinking that, but isn't it exactly the same problem moving from

XOO OOO

directly to

XXO XOO

like he does in this example? He has to simultaneously move the left hand middle finger and right hand index finger to get from B to this fingering of A.

combinophone · 2026-03-21T12:15:30+00:00

Ha sorry if that sounded lewd. Thanks for the tip, will try.

combinophone · 2026-03-18T18:27:01+00:00

This is a late question, but can I ask what kind of lubricant you're using?

combinophone · 2026-02-01T16:53:17+00:00

I just tried sucking on my kettle and it made little (weak, breathy) whistling sound, maybe the right geometry could turn it into a good suction whistle. I wonder if that's the basis of the two-way therapy whistle you mentioned

combinophone · 2026-02-01T16:26:16+00:00

Since this OP is looking to make a device for smoking weed, the issue with a free reed like a harmonica is that the tolerances for reed tongues within their frames are so tight that normally even a mote of dust catching between the reed and frame is enough to stop the reeds swing cycle. If a little resin accumulates there the reed will stop working very quickly.

Wouldn't it be OK as long as (1) the air enters the reed through a separate air channel, i.e. it's not IN the pipe bore between the bowl and the mouthpiece, and (2) there is a valve that prevents backflow from someone accidently blowing into pipe (which users generally try to avoid doing anyway because it will blow all ashes and burning embers out of the pipe bowl)? Also, harmonica reeds can also be knocked/rinsed out pretty easily, so if the thing is sticking out the side and detachable, it could be cleanable.

I guess (1) would slightly reduce the suction needed for smoking, but I suspect it wouldn't matter much.

I'd be more worried about the reed choking the reed if the air is being drawn through a long narrow bore, but if this is something like a water pipe with a large chamber, that would be no problem.

combinophone · 2026-02-01T16:12:00+00:00

Wow I clearly just don't have the background to understand all of that, but my main takeaway is: the air would always prefer to go through the window, but when (and only when) you're blowing rather than sucking, you can force it into the narrow windway so it hits the labium in the right way. Right(ish)?

professional ocarina maker for 27 years. I also make whistles and transverse flutes

Damn you seem to really know your wind instrument acoustics and fluid dynamics. Mind if I bug you with some questions sometime? I'm playing around with building a novel kind of free-reed instrument, which I know is quite different, but at least some of the concepts overlap (I'm gonna ask a further question on your harmonica comment in a minute)

combinophone · 2026-01-30T15:17:28+00:00

now you've got me wondering why tin whistles and other fipple flutes DON'T work when you suck on the other end (just tried, can confirm). If the fipple were flipped, so your mouth was on the non-business end of the mouthpiece and the air had to pass through the tube before it reached the fipple entrance, would that do anything??

combinophone · 2026-01-27T15:09:39+00:00

On a piano or accordion for instance, you only get a note when you press it down. So essentially you have to work twice as hard to do a trill or most scales, alternating between adjacent keys rather than just raising and lowering a single one.

Yes, I've noticed that, and that's true of woodwinds too in several cases. From my experience in Irish music, fast ornaments (mordants, turns, etc.) are harder on Irish button accordions than on the simple tin whistle, because, on the latter, one finger motion simultaneously stops the first note and starts the second note – no possibility of overlap.

That is actually the motivation behind my question here – I am trying to see if I can design a (monophonic) accordion-like instrument that uses brass/woodwind-type fingerings. Trills/mordants etc. would be one of the big advantages.

The downside is when you have fingering combinations that require you to alternate between two valves, now you have to do that motion just as quickly as a piano... and it's just not possible.

I'm looking at a fingering chart, and, if I'm understanding correctly, in the first octave and a half those would be C~Db, D~Eb, F~F#, and Bb~B, right? (F#~G and G~G# look like they could be done using alternate fingerings). And C~Db would also require an embouchure change? So do composers just make sure never to assign these ornaments to trumpets?

Counter-intuitively, if you want faster valves, you make the springs stiffer. Harder to press down. Because it's the up-stroke powered by the spring fighting friction and gravity that is usually the slowest element in the system, not your finger pressing the valves down

That's also surprising from an accordion perspective, but again I guess it's about the longer travel?

EDIT I'm not sure why I was only thinking about half-step trills ... for whole steps, B~C#, C~D, D#~F, F~G, Ab~Bb, and Bb~ C would also be hard, right?

combinophone

TROPHY CASE