Removing mouthpieces from inexpensive whistles HELP!

[Flywhistler]

I removed the head of a Walton's LBW using hotwater. I ran some hot water through my coffee maker. I stuck the the head of the whistle in the hot water, heard a cracking sound (the glue seal breaking) and was able to remove the whistle head. Since putting another LBW head on (there was nothing wrong with the original; long story...) I haven't been able to get it off. You do want to be careful about that aluminum tube; you can bend it with your bare hands. Just make sure you hold the whistle near the head when you pull. Personally, I wouldn't want to risk the damage to a rare instrument like a Golden Tone. Good luck!

[CPA]

[Thread revival. - Mod]

Hmmm. I've completely failed to get the head off a Feadog. Hot water...brute force. Nothing works. And I've done lots of whistles bofore, and helped others when they had difficulty. But this one has me beat.

Today I encountered the same difficulty: it seems that the mouthpieces of the Feadog whistles are chemically fused with the metal.

[CPA]

My Feadog was tough to defipulate also.

What I ended up doing was to put it in the freezer for 10 minutes before dunking in hot water. That worked. Gotta move quick tho - before the temperatures equalize.

With my LBW a long hot soak did the trick - but the paint went gooey as well - so now its a LBPSW (partially silver). I also filed off all the corners on the fipple - it looks faster but plays just the same.

Did you put the whistle in the freezer to make the metal retract and then dipped the plastic of the mouthpiece in hot water to complete the detachment?

[CPA]

Hmmm. I've completely failed to get the head off a Feadog. Hot water...brute force. Nothing works. And I've done lots of whistles bofore, and helped others when they had difficulty. But this one has me beat.

Hurray, cheer, cheer! I succeeded right now but in a very drastic and risky way: I brought the temperature of the whistle to -18 degrees Celsius by leaving it in the freezer for 10 minutes, then I immersed its mouthpiece in boiling water for 3 seconds, with the help of a cloth I gave a very strong twist to the mouthpiece (my hands hurt!). I had to repeat the short immersion of the mouthpiece two more times and twist the mouthpiece with great force, to make it detach from the tube. In the end, with great effort and attention, the desired result was obtained but the blade had become dangerously soft (luckily it did not deform or break). Returning to room temperature, the mouthpiece has maintained its exact original shape. The only problem is the sliding of the mouthpiece on the tube: the mouthpiece slides badly and I don't know whether to sandpaper its inside or the outside of the tube in the sliding section of the mouthpiece. I will probably sandpaper the inside of the mouthpiece so as not to compromise the uniformity of the tube: I do not want to modify its natural resonance (perhaps it is better to thin the plastic which is musically more refractory material).

[Mr.Gumby]

A simple search would have shown you a better option. The subject has come up very often in tyhe past.

From an old post :

Best option is to shun the hot water (heat also softens the plastic of the head) and just 'throw' the whistle with some force into the tube of a wider whistle. Forces will only move one way, along the length of the tube, and heads come off cleanly in a few goes (depending on the amount of force used).

This method hasn't failed me yet.