Advice needed on repairing old whistle

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Fri Aug 15, 2003 5:42 pm

My newest eBay find came today. Suffice to say that I made a real find. Billed as an "old Melody Flute", it's actually an old Gen-style whistle with a lead plug. Its in pretty good shape, but the medallion or crest is lost so I can't be sure of the maker. It's also in an unusual key (stamped "B"). It appears to be nickelled brass or an alloy, being essentially chrome colored but with a distinct yellowish hint, especially where worn around the finger holes. Other than that and one small dent, it's in pretty fair shape.

Now the down-side. The plug is loose and sliding around although not quite falling out. Before I can coat the lead and play it, I'll first need to reseat the fipple plug. What I need to know is, how was this secured? Does anyone know if an adhesive or heat was used, or was it just held by lateral compression of the tube, as by squeezing it with a vise? It'll also need polishing, so can anyone suggest a good metal polish.

It also came with very old and worn cloth case that appears to be original.

Blackbeer · Post by **Blackbeer** » Fri Aug 15, 2003 8:50 pm

If it was my whistle and I wanted to play it a lot, I would take the lead plug out and use is as a patern to make another one out of wood or plastic or something. Realy not hard to do. Brasso is good stuff as far as a polish goes. Good luck sounds like a treasure to me.

Tom

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 1:08 am

1) If it was originally intended for the German market, or made in Germany, the "B" would refer to B-flat--a more common scale--while our B would be written H.
Mnemonic: we still append a rounded b (b-moll) to flatten a note, and variations of a sqared "gothic" h (#) to sharpen, or unalter it.

2) I have a similarly styled "old Generation" whistle, brass with a lead plug. It seems it was pressed in, by pinching the "jaws" of the tube left and right.
I'd follow Blackbeer's advice and remove it.
One source of plastic really easy to shape would be from those rods of clear resin; they're for the electric-heated "guns" sold for home electrics and insulation chores. I dont know their name in English, but do you get what I mean?
You can shape this stuff either cold with cutting and filing tools, or--why not?--cast it in, using an oiled spacer or some folded waxed paper to leave a windway.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 7:11 am

Zoob,

It sounds like you're talking about a hot glue gun. Are there alternative rods for it made of thermoplastic resin instead of hot melt glue? If so, that's a terrific idea, and I want to find out where to get them.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 7:28 am

Most department stores (Sears, K-Mart, etc.) carry them. Look in the hardware section.
Online:
http://www.hotstik.com/
http://www.hotstik.com/cgi-bin/cart.pl? ... Master.txt
http://www.hotmelts.com/

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 7:50 am

Tony,

I tried all those places, but all I came up with was hot melt GLUE. I was hoping they would have another kind of resin that would be harder, sandable. I use hot melt glue to fill defects in interior doors in the mobile homes I refurbish (and many other things), but it can't be sanded. I have to carve the fill instead of sanding, and I can't get a feather edge that will perfectly blend to the surrounding surface.

In looking for non-glue resin hot melt sticks, I did find automotive dent pulling sticks, which are a hot melt glue that washes off with alcohol. This is a breakthrough, as I've been trying to figure out how to pull the dents in aluminum trailer siding.

How's that for OT?

Best wishes,
Jerry

P.S. I called Hotstik.com, and they're closed Saturday. I'll try again Monday, and ask if they have a formulation that can be sanded to a feather edge. This is important to what I do, so it's worth some legwork.

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 8:52 am

Jerry Freeman wrote:It sounds like you're talking about a hot glue gun. Are there alternative rods for it made of thermoplastic resin instead of hot melt glue? If so, that's a terrific idea, and I want to find out where to get them.

Yeah, "hot glue gun" makes more sense than my pidjinn :roll:

Now, I've used the yellow goey stuff, and this is glue. The clear ones are still sold as "glue" but look more like thermoplastic to me once cold. Now, filing it, I never tried...

Tony, your second Hotstik link is a treasure: sticks in two diameters and pick your color, designed for children craft! Non-toxic, and they mention fake jewelry, etc. They even "glitter" and "fluo-glo" (I can imagine this on a whistle

). Great stuff!

Yeah... we have the wine and cheese (and bombardes!), you got real hardware stores.

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 8:57 am

Blackbeer wrote:If it was my whistle and I wanted to play it a lot, I would take the lead plug out and use is as a patern to make another one out of wood or plastic or something. Realy not hard to do. Brasso is good stuff as far as a polish goes. Good luck sounds like a treasure to me.

Tom

Thanks to those who've responded. Being a minor antique dealer myself, though, I'm a little hesitant on the subject of removing and discarding the lead plug. There are several considerations. First and foremost, in case I ever decide to resell it, that may damage its value. It's like an old piece of furniture. Wiping it down with Solid Gold cleaner to clean and remoisturize it is perfectly OK - sanding off the old finish and refinishing or painting is sacrilege.

Second, the whistle was made and voiced by a pro - I'm not sure I'd trust my ability to make it sound as good by making my own plug.

Third, as I've stated several times before, at my age and with all of the other really dangerous things in the world, I'm just not concerned about occasional contact between my lower lip and 1/3 square inch of solid lead.

In any case, thanks to an offer from another C&F'er who is more proficient at these things than me, I won't have to try to fix it myself. This is a great bunch of folks.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 8:58 am

Hi, Zoob.

Thanks for starting this line of inquiry. The dent pulling sticks are a solution I'd been seeking for awhile but didn't know were to look.

I've used hot glue sticks of various descriptions, including amber, brown, creamy and clear, and they've all been somewhat rubbery. Hard, but rubbery, which made them unsuited to sanding to a feather edge. I'm hoping some of the people in the business will have more information.

Best wishes,
Jerry

P.S. How about those glow-in-the-dark gluesticks?

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 9:03 am

Chuck_Clark wrote:I'm just not concerned about occasional contact between my lower lip and 1/3 square inch of solid lead.

It's my understanding that clean, metallic lead is less hazardous than lead in other forms, like lead oxide in old paint. However, before playing such a whistle, I would make sure the lead really is absolutely clean of any oxidation whatsoever, and I would still paint it with nail polish, which can be removed completely with acetone (nail polish remover). The amounts that can cause problems are tiny. One possible symptom of lead toxicity is depression, which can be very subtle and not easy to connect cause and effect.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 9:04 am

Jerry Freeman wrote:I've used hot glue sticks of various descriptions, including amber, brown, creamy and clear, and they've all been somewhat rubbery. Hard, but rubbery, which made them unsuited to sanding to a feather edge. I'm hoping some of the people in the business will have more information.

P.S. How about those glow-in-the-dark gluesticks?

What about making the feather edge with a guitar pick, then coating it with the resin stuff for the thick part oif the wedge?

P.S.: Glow-in-the-dark? The final touch for a rock-n-roll low Eb

PPS: This stuff also comes in black and, Jerry you say it remains pliable... I'll have to experiment it some day for cracks in wood...

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 9:32 am

Zoob,

We're getting our topics mixed up somewhat. I'm looking for a sandable-to-a-feather-edge hot melt resin for repairing defects in mobile home interior doors. I've never considered guitar picks for this application.

For fixing cracks, colored hot melt glue could be a solution.

I find that you can work the glue into a defect, let it harden and then carve off the excess down to the finished profile you want. The main thing is to use a razor sharp tool for trimming the excess glue. With a crack, which has well-defined, more or less vertical edges, the excess glue should trim off nicely and match the shape of the surface because it doesn't need to be feathered to an edge. A good application for the technique, I would say.

Best wishes,
Jerry