Corrision in the Fipple--

[ElementalWhistle]

Chieftain V3, purchased pre-owned, totally corroded in the windway, fipple, etc. How do I clean this out? Tried the hot water and soap trick. It's all still there. In all serious, do I need chemicals to take care of it? And, would those damage any part of the mouthpiece? Whose had this problem and how have you fixed it? Cheers!

[facet]

Several of my used whistles have been found in that condition. Primarily for deep cleaning to get all the cooties out, I bought an ultrasonic cleaner. These machines are reasonably priced these days and are quite handy to have around. A dilution of dishwashing soap or straight Simple Green in the tank has removed the crud and corrosion and made them as clean as factory new.

[ElementalWhistle]

Thanks for this tip! Could you post a link to an example of what you are referring to? For example on Amazon, or wherever you purchased yours?

[facet]

There are numerous sources with low prices, one being Harbor Freight. Walmart has a small unit for jewelry around $30. You don't need a large tank but it should be deep enough to submerge the fipple end of a whistle.

Google dump...
https://tinyurl.com/yxjvavmv

[chas]

Several of my used whistles have been found in that condition. Primarily for deep cleaning to get all the cooties out, I bought an ultrasonic cleaner. These machines are reasonably priced these days and are quite handy to have around. A dilution of dishwashing soap or straight Simple Green in the tank has removed the crud and corrosion and made them as clean as factory new.

Warning: don't use simple green in a sonicator with aluminum. The simple green will etch it.

[facet]

Good point, Chas. I’ve experimented and it seems to be a time thing. So far, whether aluminum and SG handshakes depends upon the alloy and how it has been anodized, and how long it’s in the tank. When observing the cleaning process you can see the crud float off of the object at around 15 seconds. Aluminum has shown no visible changes at that point. After three minutes, some aluminum has darkened slightly with a grey hue, and some hasn't. After five minutes, I’ve not seen pitting or etching but there has been some froth created which indicates a chemical disagreement. So, for aluminum use caution with SG. There are specialty ultrasonic cleaning solutions, and if I had a nice Goldie or similar I would be looking into them.

Brass and nickel, Delrin and plastic don’t seem to be bothered by SG. The plastic heads of Dixons, Susatos*, and Generations do fine with three minute sessions in the tank. My second-hand brass Burke, which had been laying around for years, got two 30 minute cleanings with no negative effects.

*Keep the painted gold lettering out of the water.

[stiofan]

Another option would be to send it to Colin Goldie for a cleaning/overhaul, though I'd check with him first to see what his turnaround time would be, since he's always busy making whistles.
https://www.colingoldie.de/services.31.html