My Water Weasel has developed a crack

[Stumpy]

Gah! I learned two horrible things today.

I learned that Glenn Schultz died back in 2005. RIP mate, and thank you for the beautiful whistles and being so patient with a whistle rookie. I will never forget your kindness to me when I first started playing.

I also learned that my treasured low G Water Weasel has developed a vertical crack on the mouthpiece bit, where it slides over the main tube. What is the best way to go about fixing it? I treasure it more than my low D Copeland, and I really want to fix it.

Thanks in advance.

[Feadoggie]

I also learned that my treasured low G Water Weasel has developed a vertical crack on the mouthpiece bit, where it slides over the main tube. What is the best way to go about fixing it?

Sorry to hear about the crack in your Weasel. Is the crack at the tuning-slide end of the head? If so you may be able to seal the crack with CA glue. I can think of a couple more complicated ways to make a repair as well. Or is it up at the top of the head? It's not a simple task to re-make the main tube of the head. Glenn was a very talented whistle maker.

I was faced with a similar dilemma regarding my Water Weasel low A a while back. The outer part of the mouthpiece beak developed a crack. I made a replacement piece from pipe similar to that used by Glenn.

Feadoggie

[KittyR]

I'd like to chime in with the same problem, if that's ok. I have a C Thin Weasel that has developed the same small crack. Or rather, it already had the crack back when a friend gave it to me as a gift.

Is there anything I should do to keep it from progressing? I don't have the means to make a replacement part.

[Feadoggie]

I have a C Thin Weasel that has developed the same small crack. ...... Is there anything I should do to keep it from progressing?

Yeah, I would try to see if the crack would take some this CA glue. Once set I would then file/sand any excess glue down to the original surface. Oh, and the usual warnings about super glue apply here too. Take the whistle halves apart before you apply the glue. Go easy on the glue. Protect the inside of the whistle too, maybe insert a dowel wrapped in wax paper into the tube to keep the CA from dripping through the crack. And let things dry thoroughly before you mess with it.

In an extreme case you could reinforce the tuning joint with a brass ring like the bottom whistle joint shown below. But that takes a little work.



Feadoggie

[Stumpy]

Is the crack at the tuning-slide end of the head? If so you may be able to seal the crack with CA glue.

Feadoggie

Yes that is exactly where it is, at the back of the tuning slide end of the head. Is CA glue the right stuff to fix it? I had considered two part epoxy or even the blue stuff that plumbers use to seal PVA water pipe joints. I even considered getting a bit of PVA pipe, cutting it into a C shape, fine sanding the edges, and glueing that onto the back where the crack is. This whistle must be preserved at all costs!

How much would a brass ring reinforcement cost, and who would take on something like that?

[ecohawk]

This is a calamity. I'd be devastated. You should just sell it to me to relieve your heartache.

The CA will work but I'd use the gel formula so it doesn't run. I've used it before on whistle heads and it works really well.

Or you could just sell it to me...

[Feadoggie]

Ok! I'd think CA would be fine. Others here may have differing opinions. Just don't use a polyurethane glue like Gorilla Glue. Those seem to be hydrophilic(?) and foam up wherever there is moisture and that's not good in a whistle. I like CA because it comes in a variety of thicknesses and curing times and it is generally available.

The brass ring is elegant and solid. The example I showed is on a high whistle the sixe of KittyR's C Water Weasel. But you have a low G so that's going to be difficult to find the right size brass tubing. There are two ways to go about it - one simple one more elegant. The simple way is to find a tube with an inside diameter like the Weasel's outer diameter. Then just slip it over the cracked tube and spot glue it in place. You know the Weasel is made from CTS (copper tubing size) pipe, so you could just slip a 3/4" copper water pipe coupler over the cracked tube to reinforce it. Here's a photo of whistle made from similar pipe that has a copper coupler as a tuning sleeve - not particularly attractive.



The more elegant way is to actually cut the outer tuning slide off the Weasel and graft a replacement slide onto the original tube using a brass outer and CPVC inner wall. You could probably do the first repair. Any decent woodwind repair shop should be able to do the later. I'm personally not set up to repair other folk's whistles. It's one thing if I mess up my own whistles but another if I mess up someone else's whistle.

Alternatives: You could simply wrap tape around the outside to keep things from cracking further. Or you could bind the outside of the joint with string and coat it with CA like a ferrule would be tied on a fishing pole or like a cane Shakuhachi might be bound.

Feadoggie

[killthemessenger]

Another option which works, although it's not elegant - but it has a certain "the music is what counts" cred - is to tighten a hose clamp over the cracked part. I have done this with a couple of recorders which developed splits a year or so ago, and it works. And as I said, it gives the instrument that warbaby cred.

[brewerpaul]

You could wrap the area with silk thread, then impregnate that with cyanoacrylate glue. Do this while the head is OFF the body, or you may glue it on permanently

[skyspirit]

Alternatives: You could simply wrap tape around the outside to keep things from cracking further. Or you could bind the outside of the joint with string and coat it with CA like a ferrule would be tied on a fishing pole or like a cane Shakuhachi might be bound.

Feadoggie

Just my two cents. Bamboo can crack easily. So, I have used ca (gel) in a crack and then bound (shak) using techniques that Native Americans used for binding. I use sailing thread. Once bound you can cure if you want with ca. I think the binding instructions are on this site. www.flutopedia.com

bthe way, Feadoggie is a very knowledgeable resource. My opinion anyway.

[KittyR]

...it gives the instrument that warbaby cred.

Ha ha!

[Denny]

bthe way, Feadoggie is a very knowledgeable resource. My opinion anyway.

shared by quite a few

[Stumpy]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. As appealing as a hose clamp sounds (it will match the industrial aesthetic of the product code numbers running down the front), I think I will try the CA gel as suggested.

It never ceases to amaze me that I have a bag of Sindts, some Copelands, and others, but I keep coming back to this bit of old water pipe. It just sounds so good. Glenn, you made some great whistles my friend.

[AvienMael]

Unfortunately, PVC is what it is, and it does get brittle over time - especially if it is exposed to sunlight or other sources of UV radiation. It is also less stable than some other plastics, with regard to the effect ambient temperatures can have on it, so freezing temperatures can have a very adverse affect on it and extremely warm temperatures (over extended periods of time) seem to affect the composition of the plastic in a way that I would describe as, "drying it out".

What I'm getting at here is that you will want to reinforce the joint in some way. Simply gluing it won't be enough and when that repair fails, you will already have added material into the defect, thus compounding your problem. Any of the methods that have been suggested here should work fine. The idea is to stabilize the female part of the tuning joint without altering it in a way that will stress the tenon of the joint. If you decide to wrap it, then you will want to keep this in mind, and not wrap it too tightly.

[highwood]

I've had experience with a cracked socket (details: D whistle - four piece - takes apart into three equal length parts I designed and made it - top part is is two pieces - I did not bother to take it apart one day, stuck into my pocket, it caught on something as I sat down and cracked the socket near the top). I tried CA glue (definitely the glue to use - and I have tried others) - it did not hold, so I reglued and strengthened by wrapping with some nylon thread (thread that I use to wrap oboe reeds) - this worked. As several other people have suggested this would be a good way to fix your cracked socket. Eventually I just remade the piece it was not too hard to reproduce (it was not the mouthpiece) - in fact I think I spent less time making the new piece than it took to glue and wrap the old piece! The whistle is still one of my favorites and is almost always in my pocket, though usually taken apart!!

Perhaps a more elegant way would be to make a sleeve of the same plastic tube longer that the present socket to fit snuggly over the tenon, then cut off the present socket, turn down the head - on a lathe - to the same diameter as the tenon and glue on the sleeve thus creating a new socket - this is what I would do to fix even if it was a whistle I had made if it was a mouthpiece that I particularly liked, since even if you copied the mouthpiece 'exactly' it would probably turn out to play slightly differently.

Bill