Chiff and Fipple Forums

If you’ve played a Clarke, no doubt you got a groove in your thumbs from the seam's flange. The protrusion appears to be left over from the tube's rolling process. Draw filing with single-cut flat file will remove the flange and leave a surface adequately smooth for new paint. I didn't want to paint the Sweetone’s entire tube, so everything was masked except the bare metal.

I think I remember hearing that electrical tape along the seam also smoothes it & makes it more comfortable to play too.

I think I once read a suggestion to fill it in with wax? Unfortunately, I can't recall if this was something like orthodontic wax, or if it involved rubbing a candle along the seam or something...

I tried the tape fix and it just made the flange feel larger and more annoying. Filing it down took about ten minutes, the metal is soft.

Certainly the most elegant solution. They should make them like this straight from the factory.

Sedi wrote:They should make them like this straight from the factory.

I wonder if they could put the seam on the side where most people wouldn't touch it. Or am I missing something?

david_h wrote:

Sedi wrote:They should make them like this straight from the factory.

I wonder if they could put the seam on the side where most people wouldn't touch it. Or am I missing something?

It's probably too late now as retooling would cost a small fortune. Though I do wonder if the designer was thinking the seaming of the metal would be too complicated if it were close to the holes. They are likely stamped with the holes before they are rolled and seamed.

If you imagine a clark or a sweetone unrolled you get hole pretty close to the edges near the bottom notes. There might not be enough metal to work with there if the holes were not on center.

busterbill wrote:... It's probably too late now as retooling would cost a small fortune.....

Modern machinery could roll the tube and produce a crimped seam like a tin can in one operation. There are also machines that could start with a seamless straight tube and stretch-form, or spin the taper. It would certainly be difficult to justify the tooling change as long as the whistles keep selling as is. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Their unique vintage funkiness does add a bit of character.

The seam didn't bother me other than it was noticeable to the touch. Didn't effect the playing of whistle at all.

ytliek wrote:The seam didn't bother me other than it was noticeable to the touch. Didn't effect the playing of whistle at all.

Yes. Since the whistle just sort of sets in my hands I don't notice it much myself. Some people to prefer the death grip though.

I had a teacher years ago who told me to hold the whistle with only enough force to keep from dropping it and finger and ornament with the lightest touch possible.

I have to admit I've not noticed it either, but I don't always have the most highly-sensitive skin (the princess and the pea I am not).

The original question is for the Sweetone, which I've not played. I have an Original model, and don't find the seam an issue, maybe because the paint is quite thick and fills in the ridge, or the seam produces something of a convenient and smoothed angle that helps grip the instrument (or both).

I wouldn't try adding wax to the outside of any whistle, that could produce unfortunate guckafrux on the fingers as it warms up, and then smears all over the third verse. For the Sweetone, why not get some kind of presser set up where a metal arm goes into the body of the whistle as a base support surface and then a roller runs along the outside to smooth out the seam? It has a separate plastic mouthpiece added later in the process, so there ya go. The paint used on the Original seems durable and thick enough, is the paint on the Sweetone a super-thin layer?

If I had to fix that myself, I think a couple coats of that model toy paint would do the trick quickly.

Nice fix, I used plastecine on mine way back but it eventually just fell out. I'll give it a go with the file now.

For anyone curious, I surfed across this construction video showing why the Clarke seam exists. It's about their rolling mandrel....

https://www.facebook.com/DiscoveryUK/vi ... 654801269/

facet wrote:For anyone curious, I surfed across this construction video showing why the Clarke seam exists. It's about their rolling mandrel....

https://www.facebook.com/DiscoveryUK/vi ... 654801269/

That was very interesting! Thanks for sharing it facet.