How to make your own pennywhistle

There are all sorts of methods to build a pleasently sounding pennywhistle for yourself. Making a concert grade instrument is more difficult, as you might expect, but once you master the basic technique you may find yourself making feadogs second to none. For these instructions however, I have tried to make things very simple and left out the fancy steps needed for a concert instrument. But don't be fooled - the whistle you make following these steps will sound good, be easy to play, and most of all - fun!

For this example I have given the measurements to build a pennywhistle in the key of C. This is easy to play. Moreover there is lots of free sheet music available online for this key. Ready - here we go:
 caliper measuring

Step One, Drill the finger holes:

 Step One is the easy part - just take some measurements and drill some holes. You will need the following parts:

  • Hollow brass rod (available in any model airplane hobby store)
    Note: Please do not use copper. Copper and saliva or persperation on hands is not good. Nano-granules of copper can easily penetrate the pores in skin and thereby enter the blood stream where they can do some rather horrible things to sensitive organs such as lungs and brain. Some people coat copper with varnish - no, no no. Varnish also has health implications in contact with skin. It also deteriorates in time and the copper can migrate through it into you. If you cannot find brass, I have found stainless steel (available from boating stores) to make excellent quality feadogs but the material is very hard to work with for a beginner. Some plastic drinking-water safe piping from a plumbing store will also work if you cannot find anything else. But if you can find brass, use it. It is easy to work with, and the sound quality is very good.
  • 1/2" internal diameter, 9/16" external diameter, 12" or longer in length
  • Calipers for accurate measuring. Get the most accurate you can afford. I found a nice electronic caliper on sale for $25.
  • One small round file, 1/8” in diameter (or similar). One small flat file 1/8” wide (or similar)
  • Drill bits 17/64”, 3/16”, 15/64”, 13/64”
  • Small amount of masking tape, pencil, good supply of lyrical Irish music on the CD player.

  1. Put masking tape on one side, along the full length your soon-to-be pennywhistle, then run a straight line along the masking tape from top to bottom (see picture).

  2. The bottom of your whistle will be the opposite end from where the mouthpiece (fipple) will go.
    Measure from the bottom of the soon-to-be whistle, and put an X on the line on the masking tape at the following intervals:

    Position #:

    6

    5

    4

    3

    2

    1

    Distance from
    bottom:

    42.5
    mm

    70.5
    mm

    92.5
    mm

    116.5
    mm

    140.5
    mm

    152.5
    mm

     

     

drilling feadog holes

  1. Drill the holes to the sized below. Hint: When drilling the holes, drill one size smaller than I have indicated, then use the round file to get rid of the burs and enlarge the hole to the size required.

Position #:

6

5

4

3

2

1

Distance from
bottom:

42.5
mm

70.5
mm

92.5
mm

116.5
mm

140.5
mm

152.5
mm

Hole Size:

17/64”

17/64”

3/16”

15/64”

15/64”

13/64”

 

Congratulations, you have completed Step One!

 

Step Two, Make the Fipple (mouthpiece):

A little theory may be useful, although you can safely skip down to the parts list if you'd like to ignore theory and get right into building the fipple instead.

Think of a typical airplane wing. The upper side of the wing is higher than the underside. When the forward motion of the aircraft forces air over the wing, the air stream splits in two. The air going above the wing must travel farther per unit time than the air going below the wing. This (the Bernouli effect) causes a negative pressure on the top of the wing, and we get lift - that is, the plane flies. The lip of the fipple works on the same principle. It divides the air into two streams. Ideally it should be shaped like an airfoil. The resulting negative pressure allows for vibration - that is to say, sound. So what we want in making the fipple, is a narrow bit into which you force air from your breath. This narrow bit should be long and ideally taper (wider at the mouth end, less wide at the lip end). This slight taper increases the speed of the air (like pinching a garden hose), which means that you need less breath to make a sound. This as you might expect, makes it easier to play the instrument. The lip should be angled to air coming out of this taper so as to split the air into two streams in just the right way. Generally this means anywhere from 60-70% of the air should go on top (out of) the whistle and the rest into the body of the whistle.

I must admit that I thought for quite a while about what to put next. There are many ways to make a fipple - everyone has an opinion. Not that it's rocket science, mind you. But making a good as well as artistic fipple really requires quite a bit of practice. I like fipples made of soapstone - you carve the soapstone delicately, adding some fun artistic decorations as you go along - much like carving a fine German pipe, now sadly almost a lost art. I love the sound of a fipple made of soapstone - it is very pure and sweet. The brass instrument with a hand carved soapstone fipple becomes a real work of art both visually and musically. But doing that takes some skill at carving as well as knowing how to sound the fipple (make it musical). Not to mention the long weeks carving it just right, then polishing the stone, many hours spent vacumning the dust off the cat, etc.

So let's do something easier for your first fipple. I thought the best thing to do would be to start you out on the simplest method I know which still results in a pleasently sounding instrument. If you follow these directions your first pennywhistle will end up with a sweet and very slightly breathy sound, the notes will be relatively pure, and your fingers will dance like magic over the notes Ready? Let's start:

Parts list:

The parts are very sophisticated an complex, but do not be put off by this vast array of expensive items - they are all absolutely necessary for a quality finished product

  • 1 piece of 9/16" dowel, 25 mm in length - $0.10
  • 60 mm piece of brass tubing just slightly larger than the body of your pennywhistle. - $0.91
    Just enough to slide off and on the body with a little cajouling.
  • A bobbin of brightly coloured thread (I use black or green or red or yellow depending on my mood). This can be had from any sowing or fabric store for about $1.02
  • 1 flashlight

Now we can start: The TOP of the fipple is the part that will go in your mouth. The BOTTOM is the part that will be attached to the body of your pennywhistle.flatten one side of the dowl

  1. Flatten one side of the 25 mm dowl to roughly 1.5 mm in depth. What we want is a trough 1.5 mm deep and 25 mm long. To do this, just gently file or sandpaper one side of the dowel. One end of this will go into your mouth when you play your flute. The other will direct your breath toward the lip (which we will make shortly). The flattenned bit at the TOP should be wider than the other end - so that we end up with a V shape with the wide part of the V being at the TOP and the narrow bit at the BOTTOM.  How wide or narrow the bottom of the V should be is a matter of taste. I make mine 5.5 mm at the TOP and 4.0 mm at the BOTTOM.The idea behind a V shape is the same concept as squeezing a garden hose - the air will come out more rapidly toward the lip, and so the effort required to make a sound will be less. Bottom line - your feadog will be easier to play.
  2. Next insert the piece of dowling part way into the TOP of the 60 mm piece of brass. Not too far! You just want to see if it fits or if you need to sand it down a little bit. When it fits snuggly to your satisfaction, remove it and lay it aside.
  3. Now cut a rectangular hole 7.75 mm x 5.2 mm (or as closely to those dimensions as you can get). The TOP of the hole should be 22 mm from the TOP of the fipple. . If you have a rotary tool such as Dremel or similar, this is very simple to do. If you are a dentist, you will be right at home doing this. Otherwise use a drill bit to make a round hole, then gently file away the extra until you get the dimensions needed. Whatever method you use, file of any burs until all sides are smooth.
  4. Put a TINY bit of non-toxic waterproof glue (hardly any at all) on the round (non-flattened) sides of the dowl, then gently insert it into the from the TOP into the 60 mm length of brass. If you have done things properly, when the dowel will end up exactly flush with the TOP, and the other end will also be exactly flush with the TOP part of the hole you just cut.
  5. Once the glue has dried, cut a pleasing angle at the top of the fipple - see the picture. Use some sandpaper and a flat file to remove all burs and rough edges. 

Congratulations, you are almost finished. Next comes the only tricky part of this enterprise - to make the lip. So pay attention and all will be well:

  1. Shine the flashlight into the BOTTOM of the fipple. Look into the TOP of the fipple. You should see a windway - a bit of space between the flattened part of the dowl and the upper edge of the fipple. You should be able to sight along it and see light streaming in. Move it around a little - you should also be able to see the BOTTOM edge of the rectangular hole you cut in the fipple. See it there? That is the bit which will make sound - the lip. What you will be doing is moving it ever so slightly so that it bisects the windway not-quite-in-half. So after the next step, when you sight down the windway, you should see light streaming in above and below the bottom edge of the rectangular hole. Okay? Good.
  2. Find something a tiny bit smaller than the bottom edge of the rectangular hole - a bit of dowling is fine, the flat part of a metal punch - whatever you have. Place it along the BOTTOM edge of the rectangular hole, and using a hammer on the other end of the punch, gently tap. Sight along the windway - if about 60% of the light comes through the fipple, and 40% from above the fipple, you can stop. If not, keep going until you have it right. Take your time, there is no need to rush. This is fun.
  3. Gently file the outside edge of the lip to a knife edge. Not sharp, just a bit. Place the fipple in your mouth. Place one hand so that it covers the bottom of the fipple. Blow very gently. You should hear a nice pure, and slightly breathy note. Blow harder without moving your hand. The note should now raise roughly an octave.

Congratulations. You have made a fipple! But... sometimes it does not always go as planned. Here are some tips:

If the sound was too breathy, try gently moving the lip up or down. That's right - gently! This is soft brass which can metal fatique if you force things.
If the sound was raspy, you may have made the flattened part of the dowel too deep. Knock it out and try again.
If the sound was too "wet", the dowel absorbed water and expanded. Wait for it to dry completely, then try again.

Step Three, Final assembly:

Parts list: A spool of brightly coloured thread - the kind used in a sowing machine. Available in any fabric store, etc.

  1. Now it's time to add the fipple to the feadog body. Just slide it on. If you have a piano nearby, a tuning fork, guitar,  a cat with perfect pich, or  whatever, then you can tune the pennywhistle by uncovering all holes and playing C on the piano. Blow into you pennywhistle - you should hear no harmonics. If you do, move the fipple slightly  up or down on the body, then try again.
  2. When you are happy that your feadog is in tune, without moving the fipple, take the spool of thread and slowly wind the thread fairly tightly around bottom section of the fipple over the flute body. Wrap between a hundred and 200 times according to your taste in the final appearance. Tie it off then put a dab of clear glue (I use wood glue) around the ends of the thread to make things permanent. I purposefullly did not add a photo of a threaded fipple because I want you to be creative - wind it in decorative patterns. The thread will hold the fipple in place and properly in tune, and really dresses the brass up nicely.

You are now the proud owner of a pennywhistle you have made yourself!
Go down to the local Irish pub and wow them with your playing and artistry at flute making!

More advanced steps:

  1. The next thing for you to try, it to get an inch or so of solid 9/16" brass and use this instead of the piece of wooden dowling. Just flatten it with files as with the dowling, and proceed as you did above. The sound quality will improve, as well as the length of time you can play since there will not be any wood to absorb moisture.
  2. Once you are happy with the results, it's time to try something yet more complex. Go to a local metal supplier (or find one online) and instead of thin-walled brass, get something with thick walls. I like a nickel/steel mix, but you can experiement as you like. DANGER - do not use copper, a real health risk. With a thick wall, you make the fipple as an integral part of the body of the pennywhistle.  You also completely eliminate the need to move the lip into position with a hammer. Instead, you file down the lip to the position you wish. This makes for a really attractive looking instrument, but it requires some practice (lots) to get it right. The entire instrument is metal, and the sound... fabulous.
  3. Try your hand at carving the fipple out of soapstone or if you are really ambitious, jade. The  final result is something beautiful to look at, and wonderful to play (I'll put some pics up of mine when I get around to it). But be prepared to put in many, many hours over several weeks to make it all come together
  4. Develop your own techniques. I have come up with what I call a "split" fipple, where the fipple is split longitudinally then acid-soldered together. This allows me to use a mold to measure against as I build, getting exactly the sound and richness of timbre I want without the guess work.
  5. Try making pennywhistles in other keys. Make an alto and a soprano. Of course the hole spacings and sizes are different, but not difficult. Do not be afraid to experiment.
  6. You can also make a chanter (a drone similar to the drone in bagpipers) by soldering two of your whistles together. I may add instructions on how to do this if enought people are interested.

But most of all, have fun. YOU can make a wonderful instrument capable of warming the hearts of listeners. Enjoy!

Let me know if I have failed to explain something properly, and I'll do my best to help.