Blue Tac or Better?

[David Cooper]

Well, having suggested epoxy, I thought I ought to try it myself, so I just had a go at it on a Bb generation whistle using Craft Resin (food-safe, non-toxic epoxy). I ran it drop by drop down a narrow steel rod (2mm diameter narrowing to a rounded spike at each end - 22cm long, and while I've no idea where it came from, it's one of my most used tools), so the drops went in through the window without touching the sides, then I occasionally tilted the whistle it to measure the depth when running it into the cavity to be filled. Being transparent, it's hard to see the surface without touching it with a pin. Anyway, it's now full and standing vertically to set for 8 hours, so it should be ready to play tomorrow. Really easy process, but will be less easy on each subsequent whistle as I go up through C, D, Eb, F and G. Assuming that it really makes a useful difference to the quality of notes, I'll do it to them all and let you know how it goes.

[David Cooper]

Okay - it's set now and it's an invisible modification until you drop a ball bearing down the tube and watch it sit level with the window instead of disappearing into the cavity. I don't hear any improvement in note quality, tuning, or anything else, although I can't compare it with how it used to sound other than by testing it against my C whistle. It certainly hasn't made it worse though, so I'll go ahead and put resin into the C next, then compare the two again. (These are old Generation whistles.)

[Latticino]

I have successfully used Polymer clay (Fimo, Sculpey...) from a hobby shop or art supply store for filling the cavity in the past. I would definitely avoid baking it to set the clay, and haven't seemed to need to with my whistles, but also see that it now is available in an "air-dry" form as well. I also recommend you first make your whistle head removable (as noted in other posts on tweaking whistles) as that makes the filling and tamping process easier.

[David Cooper]

That's the C whistle's cavity filled with Craft Resin too, but again I can't hear any difference. The modification is invisible as the surface of the epoxy is as smooth as glass.

There are other modifications I'd like to try out though, so how hot can you go with the water for heating the glue in the head to remove it without risking warping the plastic?

[pancelticpiper]

I've always used beeswax.

The problem with that is that if the whistle gets too hot it will turn into liquid and run wherever gravity takes it.

So I don't leave those whistles in a hot car.

About the face of the "block" you're creating, I've noticed that my old Clarke has it at an angle, and I do the wax at a slight angle too.

About what it does, for my trusty old Generations and Feadogs it raises the pitch of the 2nd octave a bit, and very slightly reduces the whistle's volume and brightness.

[David Cooper]

Well, the difference must be subtle - I might have been able to pick it up if I'd had two identical whistles for proper comparison, but I'm pleased that it didn't spoil them, and filling that cavity provides less lurking space for spiders, so it makes it easier to check before playing.

Something that does make a clear difference though is putting blu-tack on the outside of the ramp, and a thin layer with a well shaped leading edge makes the second octave notes a lot more attractive. Using resin for that would be another invisible modification, so I'm tempted to try that (and it can be shaped just like blu-tack while it's setting), but it may be better to build up the inside of the ramp instead with the superglue and credit card method. Again that could be tested using blu-tack initially before making a decision as to which way to take it. I'd need to take the head off first to get at the inside of the ramp, but I should do that anyway to make the whistle tunable.

Another popular modification I've seen is thread being wrapped round the bottom of the head to make it more resistant to cracking, but this too would be better done with a layer of resin which would be invisible. To apply it you'd need to rotate the whistle with a motor (8 revs per minute) to get an even thickness of resin all the way round and a smooth finish.

[pancelticpiper]

...put blu-tack on the outside of the ramp, and a thin layer with a well shaped leading edge makes the second octave notes a lot more attractive.

Interesting! I've not seen that, that I can recall.

What do you mean by "more attractive"? More in tune? More volume? More pure? More character?

...it may be better to build up the inside of the ramp instead...

That's what Jerry Freeman does, though he uses very thin sheet plastic, extending the blade to reduce the distance between the edge of the blade and the end of the airway.

This brings the pitch of the two octaves into line more than filling the cavity does. (I accomplish this by more violent means: sawing the head in two right through the window, filing away as much material as needed, and gluing the head back together.)

...thread wrapped round the bottom of the head to make it more resistant to cracking...

I only care how my instruments function, not how they look, so I bind the socket with strong carpet thread, then soak the binding with super-glue.

The result is a rock-hard extremely strong socket can't split (unless you stomp on it).

Here's my modified Generation Bb head. Visually it's a horror show but the result is the best-playing Bb Generation I've ever owned.

To strengthen the glued-together head I have brass rods lashed on with carpet thread, soaked with super-glue.

BTW the glue that works best for gluing Generation heads back together is now illegal in the USA. I bought a tube literally under the counter in an old hobby shop.

[David Cooper]

What do you mean by "more attractive"? More in tune? More volume? More pure? More character?

What I'm doing with blu-tack on the outside of the ramp should have the same effect as your sawing - the main effect of building up the ramp is to shorten the window a bit, though the exact shape of the ramp won't be retained as Generations have a more steeply sloped last mm. What's happening to the notes though is that I can get the upper octave to sound better at reduced volume as I don't have to blow so hard, and the ugly hiss an octave down which accompanies second octave notes is massively reduced. The lowest note of the first octave is also reduced in volume a little, but it's a good compromise to get a pleasant second octave.

[Torrin Riáin]

A couple years ago I had Jerry Freeman take a look at a couple vintage Generations that I have. He filled in that space with something new he'd been experimenting with, which was several pieces of coffee-stirrer straw clipped with scissors that were then glued together. Something about wanting to fill that space, but to have the filler material have as little mass as possible to keep the cavity as resonant as it can be. I'm not sure if this is still the method he is using or not, but they play just fine after this mod. I haven't A-B'ed them with blu tack whistles, but I'm sure that he did.

All the discussion about using resins, hot glues, epoxies, waxes, sounds like a whole lot of extra effort and risky work when blu tack does the exact same job and is incredibly easy to put in, adjust, and remove. I use a mixture of blu tack and kneaded eraser as a tool for many, many purposes.