I'm fairly new to the whistle and have a couple questions.
1. I live in a tropical climate (Hawaii) and the last tin whistle I had rusted. I have a Susato (and it won't rust!), but I also have a new Sweetone. Is there any thing I can do to prevent it from rusting?
2. Where can I find good information about cleaning and maintaining a tin whistle? (Again, the Susato is easy, but I'd still like to be able to keep a metal or a wood whistle in good condition.)
Thanks.
General care and preventing rust
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BillChin
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I wash my metal and plastic whistles in warm soapy water. I haven't had a problem with rust on my Clarke, despite living in a rust prone environment. I let it dry out after playing.
If you had an expensive whistle, you could consider a dehumidifier, but it is not worth it for a $15 whistle. Maybe the flute forum would be more helpful on this question because their instruments are a lot more money.
+ Bill
If you had an expensive whistle, you could consider a dehumidifier, but it is not worth it for a $15 whistle. Maybe the flute forum would be more helpful on this question because their instruments are a lot more money.
+ Bill
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Cynth
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I have not gone through an Iowa summer with my brass (does brass rust---I think something has to contain iron to rust, like steel) whistle so I don't know if I will have problems. I don't know what your first whistle was made of.
Like BillChin I dribble soapy water into the mouthpiece and wash and dry the outsides of my whistle. I don't put it in something sealed up until the inside is dry---I did once and it looked as though some sort of corrosion (I don't know what it would be called) would be setting in . My husband said that fingerprints contain acidic compounds and they could cause corrosion of brass---so keeping it clean could be worthwhile. Perhaps I have gone off the deep end here, I don't know.
I don't know if you could let it dry and then store in an air tight container with those packets of silica gel, which they send with various things, such as binoculars, that should be kept dry. I would think you could buy these packets somewhere. I think you can dry them out and re-use them.
Maybe also you could dry the inside with a small cloth attached to something that would not scratch the metal---then the moisture would not be sitting in the inside so long.
This website:http://www.copelandwoodwinds.com/instruments.asp#care seems to have good info for metal and wood care. It doesn't mention rust though. I see I have been neglecting the bore of my whistle---I'll have to do something about that!
Like BillChin I dribble soapy water into the mouthpiece and wash and dry the outsides of my whistle. I don't put it in something sealed up until the inside is dry---I did once and it looked as though some sort of corrosion (I don't know what it would be called) would be setting in . My husband said that fingerprints contain acidic compounds and they could cause corrosion of brass---so keeping it clean could be worthwhile. Perhaps I have gone off the deep end here, I don't know.
I don't know if you could let it dry and then store in an air tight container with those packets of silica gel, which they send with various things, such as binoculars, that should be kept dry. I would think you could buy these packets somewhere. I think you can dry them out and re-use them.
Maybe also you could dry the inside with a small cloth attached to something that would not scratch the metal---then the moisture would not be sitting in the inside so long.
This website:http://www.copelandwoodwinds.com/instruments.asp#care seems to have good info for metal and wood care. It doesn't mention rust though. I see I have been neglecting the bore of my whistle---I'll have to do something about that!