Whistle Surgery 201 Question

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 7:29 pm

Forget the tweaks - I need to do major reconstructive surgery.

Found and old Walton Mello-D in a junk bin at an antique store - head shows many undersized tooth marks. I tried to voice it and screwed it up even worse - now it barely whispers.

I think I need to actually build the blade back UP, instead of taking any off of it. Anyone know a way to do this.

Do NOT suggest a Whitecap - I am not gonna spend twenty bucks on a whistle I gave a quarter for. 'Sides, the regula D whitecap would never fit this oversized tube anyway.

vomitbunny · Post by **vomitbunny** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 8:05 pm

Do a search for the guitar pick tweak. Or tweaks done by Freeman. He is without a doubt the master of this sort of thing. I spent hours and hours searching through the forum gleaning what I could from post by him and others. Out of about two dozen cheapo whistles, I have yet to find one that can't be made to be not only playable, but downright nice sounding.
Beware. Tweaking is as addictive as both whoa and playing combined.

Find a thin bit of plastic, about half as thick as a credit card. Cut it into a small rectangle that will cover the old blade. Stick it on with blue tac. (just a tiny bit!) Now, a hair at a time, slide it into the windway, until it hangs over past the edge of the old blade. Slide it back and fourth until you hit the "sweet spot". Don't be afraid to experiment.....a lot. You may want to sharpen the edge of the new blade. Or just sand on it a bit. Or do nothing.
Keep at it. The sweet spot is there, somewhere or other.
That old whistle is probably not only playable, but pleasant sounding as well.
You can also do this tweak by sticking the new blade underneath the old blade insted of on top. It's a bit trickier. Depending on the whistle you have, it may work better though. Same thing though. Slide the blade until the new edge replaces the old one.
Experimenting with different thicknesses of plasic is recomended too.
I feel bad about telling you this. I should have just offered you something less addictive, like some crack or heroin. Say goodbye to your old life.

Steven · Post by **Steven** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 8:06 pm

Chuck--
Here is a quote from the C&F Tweaking Page:

More advanced tweaking involves laminating a piece of something (soda bottle plastic, guitar pick, etc.) to the ramp to create a completely new soundblade edge. This can produce an excellent result, but it's tricky to do and is very hit or miss. I've developed an improvement on this technique, where I laminate a new soundblade edge underneath the ramp, inside the whistlehead, but it's technically demanding, and I wouldn't try to coach someone through it.

There might be more there, but I didn't read it very thoroughly. The idea is there, though -- try making a new blade out of a piece of plastic. Some folks seem to like using pieces of guitar picks, but you have to get the right thickness. Sorry, I don't know what that is. But hopefully this'll get you going in the right direction.

Have fun with your tweaking toy!

Steven

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 8:27 pm

If you are going to replace the blade, the thickness of the guitar pic does not matter as much as the bevel you put on it does. I use Jim dunlap Tortex red or orange (.5 mm or .6 mm).

Vomitbunny has it about right, but I recomend cutting the old ramp away a bit first. Also, remove the bump if you have on on the blade (DON'T CUT YOURSELF DOING THIS, it's tricky).

Bevel the pick from one side only and install it with the pointed side underneath. Sight through the windway to get the new blade alined just over the floor of the winday. When you try, try both octaves and pay particular attention to the notes above high g. Something that doesn't seem to affect the lower octave can make a big difference up there.

And don't worry, it's not hard.

vomitbunny · Post by **vomitbunny** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 9:11 pm

Yeah, you might wanna file down that old ramp a bit, unless you'r putting the plastic under the old blade. Similar tweek. They both have thier place.
The important thing is, put the new blade on with slow drying glue or blue tac. You want to slide the new blade back and forth as needed. Probably gonna wind up 1/16 inch past where the old blade ended, but may be less or much more. You CAN make that old whistle sound good again. Very most likely.
I learned how to do this after ruining several whistles by sanding on them. Every one is still playing to this day.
Lets see. YOu said it was a Mello D. The one I got I tweaked by putting a this plastic shim under the old blade and sliding it forward a bit. Putting the extra plastic underneath seems to preserve the original volume better than putting it on top. It can be tricky though. I use a small electronics screwdriver to balance the shim on and carefully guide it up into the mouthpiece and under the old blade. I've gotten to where I just plain white glue until I am absolutly certain that I have it right. And it dries slow. YOu can reposition it many times befor it dries.

ONE THING I forgot to mention. If you have tried and tried, and tried again, and can get good sound, but not as good as you think possible, you can take the blade out you made, scrape bevels (small) into the end of the windway, and start all over. I've had a whistle or two (the Clare comes to mind) that I couldn't seem to get a very pretty sound out of. I pulled the blade out, cut some bevels in to change the wind a bit, and started over. One way or another, you usually will be sucessful one way or another. BTW, the Clare did finally turn into a halfway respectable whistle.

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 2:44 am

Or get a Feadóg C -- same tubing.

Daniel_Bingamon · Post by **Daniel_Bingamon** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 5:57 am

You could use an epoxy mixture to repair it.
On Clarinets, there is this epoxy called "Jet Black" that is used to fix broken tenones and all kinds of assorted break in wood and plastic instruments. In fact, you get those epoxy seat repair kits at Walmart and similar stores and they come with coloring and you can have it match the fipple. Build it back up in layers, you'll run into problems if you try to build it back up in one shot.

Monster · Post by **Monster** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 10:04 pm

A few months back, I tossed out 5 or 6 Gens that I had ruined, aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghh, tha agony of it all, mostly because I couldn't find the right glue for the guitar pick tweak. At the time I was probably thinking White Glue=kindergarten. For some reason I was thinking white glue bad, expensive glue=good. I have learned from my mistakes and will never throw another junk whistle away ever, really not ever, well except for maybe a LBW I might possibly throw one of them out.

Thomas-Hastay · Post by **Thomas-Hastay** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 5:00 pm

I suggest sliding a used clarinet reed down the ramp. You will have to trim it so it doesn't protrude too far into the bore, but the thickness will increase as you slide it downward, adjusting the window gap. Bamboo clarinet reeds are easy to trim and sand and they will take thinned varnish after you have the perfect "set". You can also sand the tip, like sharpening a chisel, for the correct tip bevel.

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 6:06 pm

Well. the guitar pick thing worked pretty well. Not having blue tack (and being to lazy to find out what/where it was, I used Duco plastic adhesive and it worked just fine - stayed tacky log enough to position a pre-cut piece of an old guitar pick.

Now I'm messing with doing the same thing to a couple of el cheapo wood souvenir whistles with wood putty. We'll see.

vomitbunny · Post by **vomitbunny** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 7:33 pm

It's fun aint it.
Never throw out any old whistle. I have a LBW and a tin Cooperman that both place just fine that I could have thrown out. Never throw any whistle away. Throwin' a whistle away is like....uh....like gettin' served.
Did anyone see the last South Park besides me?

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 2:48 pm

I've been playing it for two days - and I love this thing. It's better than any other Walton or any other cheap plastic headed brass factory whistle I've ever played. I'm tempted to go out and deliberately ruin a couple of other Waltons so I can fix them as good as this one.

Good thing I sold off all my Gens - they'd already have been mutilated.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 9:26 am

Chuck_Clark wrote:I've been playing it for two days - and I love this thing. It's better than any other Walton or any other cheap plastic headed brass factory whistle I've ever played. I'm tempted to go out and deliberately ruin a couple of other Waltons so I can fix them as good as this one.

Good thing I sold off all my Gens - they'd already have been mutilated.

Great! Thanks for reporting back. Apart from repairing/improving whistles, I think this sort of thing really makes you understand something about how whistles work.

vomitbunny · Post by **vomitbunny** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 10:52 am

Hey, ruined gens are great to tweak. the best.