Re-voicing Copeland whistle

[SeattleBruce]

My Copeland D whistle, after 20 years of excellent service, now has a less bright and fuzzier tone. Any hints as to what needs to be done? Cleaning, or re-voicing / repair?

[Lars Larry Mór Mott]

I'd start by cleaning it. Put it head down in a glass of body heated dishwashing-water and afterwards run pre cut pieces of paper (calling cards or cut up matchboxes work well for me) through the windway. I did this with an old Overton, and finished of with a toothpaste buffing and the difference was pretty drastic.

[MTGuru]

I agree with Lars; start with a good cleaning. The fairly large (tall) windway of the Copeland makes it pretty easy to get in there.

I had Michael revoice my Copeland D a few years ago, and he did a fine job. But I'm not sure he's taking on that work nowadays.

[brewerpaul]

Pay some attention to the blade too, upper and lower surfaces. Small amounts of shmutz there can make for a fuzzy tone.

[ecohawk]

Small amounts of shmutz there can make for a fuzzy tone.

Schmutz…that's yiddish for an amalgam of beer, sunflower seeds or peanuts, tobacco, saliva and an assortment of other organic matter.

I'd agree with Lars, remove the entire head and let it soak in the solution for a few minutes, then use a bent pipe cleaner or small brush to scrub the blade - top and bottom< and fipple area around the window. A folded business card works well scrubbed back and forth through the wind-way. Rinse it well since some soaps might cause discoloration issues with the brass is you don't.

ecohawk

[Latticino]

Another non-destructive cleaning possibility would be to take it to a jeweler who has a ultrasonic cleaning bath and have them give the whistle head a good soak with a light cleaning solution. Should work like a charm and get into all the crevaces without leaving behind any debris from the cleaning tool (business card...). Be sure to relubricate the slide afterwards to prevent galling the newly cleaned surfaces.

Good luck

[Steve Bliven]

I'd .... remove the entire head and let it soak in the solution for a few minutes, then use a bent pipe cleaner or small brush to scrub the blade

I'd caution against the use of a pipe cleaner. Their core is twisted wire and might harm the sharp splitting edge of the blade. For that reason I've always used strips of business cards or a similar paper product.

Best wishes.

Steve

[benhall.1]

Lightweight webbing, as used by dressmakers, is good.

[ecohawk]

I'd .... remove the entire head and let it soak in the solution for a few minutes, then use a bent pipe cleaner or small brush to scrub the blade

I'd caution against the use of a pipe cleaner. Their core is twisted wire and might harm the sharp splitting edge of the blade. For that reason I've always used strips of business cards or a similar paper product.

Best wishes.

Steve

Steve,

I agree complete that I'd use something else on a wooden whistle but I've been carefully using good pipe cleaners on metal whistles for years with no harm. If, as Paul suggests, there's an accumulation of "schmutz" it can be pretty defiant to scrub loose with paper. Of course if someone didn't want to take the risk I'd understand that too. But thanks for the warning as one can never be too careful with nice instruments.

ecohawk

[cboody]

Small amounts of shmutz there can make for a fuzzy tone.

Schmutz…that's yiddish for an amalgam of beer, sunflower seeds or peanuts, tobacco, saliva and an assortment of other organic matter.
ecohawk

Put there no doubt by some schmuck....

I think ultrasonic might be the best way to go. Better cleaning, and none of the issues of stuff left from the cleaning (cards) or chancing damage (pipe cleaner). I believe some instrument repair places have ultrasonic cleaning equipment (in addition to jewelers.

[MTGuru]

A few completely naïve questions for those suggesting or recommending ultrasonic cleaning.

It does sound like a good idea. But is there any risk that the agitation / cavitation might move the fipple block with respect to the blade? The tolerances of a fipple's geometry can be very small, on the order of micrometers, and it might not take much movement to change the voicing. Of course, the same caveat applies to the physical pressure exerted when sticking a cleaning thingy through the windway. And maybe the cavitation simply doesn't exert enough force. But a few minutes of buffeting at 100 kHz might make me nervous. And jewelers wouldn't normally be concerned about those kinds of tolerances in the pieces they clean (though watchmakers might).

Also, and just thinking out loud ... With certain fipple block designs, a bit of accumulated schmutz might help to seal the space around the block, and actually improve the voicing of a played-in whistle. I know, yuck. But removing that dirt could change the voicing, no? Whereas a hand-cleaning could target the problem areas, like a dirty blade or windway or bore.

Finally, has anyone here actually tried ultrasonic cleaning on a whistle, and can report the results? I think I'd feel less nervous with a successful cleaning on the record, indicating the specific whistle (and thus whistle/fipple design) involved.

[MTGuru]

Also, a yet-unasked but obvious question for SeattleBruce, too, if you ever return to your own thread.

Are you one of those whose usual habit is to play your whistle, shake it out a bit, and put it away until next time? Or do you take it apart periodically for a cleaning, lube, bore scrub etc. now and then? Or are you somewhere in between like most of us?

If the first, then even a very basic, quick cleaning could make a big difference, and problem possibly solved. If the second or third, then more thorough measures may be in order. But right now, we're just guessing.

[Latticino]

While I think it is extremely unlikely that ultrasonic cleaning would have any effect on a well constructed metal/delrin whistle (as opposed to an original Clark with wrapped tin and wood fipple) I have never used one on a whistle. This process is used for musical instrument and watch cleaning as well as jewelry, and uses very tiny bubbles imploding on the surface of the object to be cleaned rather than directly agitating the object with an ultrasonic transducer (see Wikipedia and here for more detail: http://bluewaveinc.com/ultrasonic-cleaning-101/.

I used to have a cleaner that I picked out of a dumpster from the Polaroid company some 35 years ago and repaired (only needed one solder joint, go figure), but have misplaced it as the years went by, so can not check. In any event I'm not lucky enough to have a Copeland whistle to try it on in any case. I would guess that the occasional tooth impact or transportation bang would have a far greater effect on the microadjustment of relative fipple position than use of an ultrasonic cleaner, but certainly you are using one at your own risk. The cleaning out of a lifetime of grease and gunge (and potentially loose glue fragments depending on construction) would be a lot more likely to change the sound of the whistle IMHO, but hopefully this would bring it back to where the manufacturer intended...

On a lighter note, are you sure it is the whistle? After 20 years my ears are not what they used to be as regards the higher frequencies

[trill]

whatever you do
don't harm the metal
don't harm the shape

don't scrape it
don't file it
don't gouge it

Be gentle
use soft materials
(fabric, fiber, &cet)

Be warned
the fipple gods are merciless

If it played well before,
it will play well again.
Just clean it.
gently.

don't scrape it
don't file it
don't gouge it

[ecohawk]

Also, a yet-unasked but obvious question for SeattleBruce, too, if you ever return to your own thread.

Are you one of those whose usual habit is to play your whistle, shake it out a bit, and put it away until next time? Or do you take it apart periodically for a cleaning, lube, bore scrub etc. now and then? Or are you somewhere in between like most of us?

If the first, then even a very basic, quick cleaning could make a big difference, and problem possibly solved. If the second or third, then more thorough measures may be in order. But right now, we're just guessing.

Thanks for reminding us about forum etiquette and rules MTGuru. For the record, I've never had to clean a whistle of my own using any of these methods as I take all instruments that I'm playing regularly and rinse them thoroughly once a month using warm water, then I pull a flute swab through. I also shake them out after playing and keep them standing vertically all the time unless I'm carrying them around. I do the same to wooden whistles but then I oil them inside and out with almond oil twice a year. In five years of daily playing I've never needed anything else.

I have bought, or traded for, used whistles which were pretty funky though. I did try to use ultrasonic cleaning on an old non-tunable Goldie high D, to no avail. Didn't harm anything but didn't do much either. I soaked it for 30 minutes in a clean pan of dish soap and water, the same strength and temperature I'd use for washing dishes. Then I used a flat wooden coffee-stirring stick, sanded even thinner, with a tiny bit of toothpaste on it, to burnish and clean the windway and a thick pipe cleaner bent in half to scrub the top and bottom of the blade. Plays as good as new. Did the same to a Sindt Bb a couple of years ago bought from a guy who smokes heavily. That required an extra soaking but otherwise came out good as new.

Back to the original OP's original question. I'd be surprised if your Copeland needs re-voicing unless it has been damaged or has never played to your liking which doesn't seem to be the issue. I have a few Copelands and they are pretty durable as whistles go. I'll bet if you cleaned it inside and out as carefully as possible it would be fine. If you're worried about harming the blade edge, use a soft wooden stick like I've described above with a bit of cloth folded over the tip to scrub the top and bottom edges.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

ecohawk