I have my first whistle with an aluminum mouthpiece (first whistle with any kind of metal mouthpiece) and as soon as I touch the whistle to my lips my mouth floods with saliva. Is this just me or do others have this issue? If so is there anything that can be done about it. (For reference if I put a metal spoon in my mouth the same thing happens.)

Some people have sensitivities to different metals. If you experience this and can return the whistle I'd return it. If it was a gift or you are sure this is the best whistle ever and can't live without it you could attempt to coat the metal with something like clear fingernail polish. Depending on your level of sensitivity it may not be enough though since you can't coat the inside.

A friend of mine found he had a sensitivity to brass and asked John Sindt if he could make a purely delrin mouthpiece on a whistle. That was is very nice and solved that issue.

But there are a lot of great whistle makers who don't use aluminum. So you will still have quite a number of choices.

Some folks who's bodies don't like aluminum don't seem to have an issue with brass, while some do.

I have a nickel allergy and break out if I play nickle silver flutes for any period of time but do fine with brass or sterling. Though I've never been tempted to try aluminum for other reasons.

People with allergies to certain kinds of woods get relief by painting the areas around the mouthpiece of wooden flutes with superglue (cyanoacrylate).

I would think you could do the same to a metal whistle mouthpiece if you cleaned it well. You'd need to be careful not to get any CA in the windway or near the blade. If the problem is the metal rather than the smoothness, this should definitely do the trick.

_________________
Charlie
Whorfin Woods
One cat short of crazy.

The only aluminum whistle I play is the Shearwater. John Bushby of Shearwater uses delrin for the windway with the roof being aluminum so I don't salivate overmuch. When I did play a whistle with an all-aluminum windway, I tended to produce more saliva, which clogged the whistle quickly. This isn't scientific, but it makes sense, I think.

I had the same reaction to one of the whistles I made myself with an all-aluminium mouthpiece. But it was only in the beginning and stopped after a few days. At first I thought it might have to do with the building of the oxide layer on top of raw aluminium (not anodized). But that usually occurs rather quickly. So maybe it's a matter of getting used to having a piece of metal in your mouth.