Any help would be appreciated. I recently noticed that my Feadog D, which is my first and still favorite whistle, was accumulating a lot of “crud” inside the tube, so I gently washed it inside with a soft brush (a handy piece of my brewing equipment), warm water and a mild detergent. The crud came out easily. But since drying, I’ve noticed a distinct new rattle in the upper register. This is particularly annoying since I’d finally managed to produce a nice tone in that range consistently.
Any suggestions for remedying the problem? Or perhaps just some direction to a site with some general tweaking directions? I see references here to such a site, but haven’t been able to find it.
Thanks.
Phoebe, you may have knocked some crud loose without fully removing it. Check the windway with a cardboard matchstick or something like that. Its surprising what a little tiny bit of muck can do to a whistle sound!
Also, on the main Chiff and Fipple site there is a tweak link that may give you some thoughts too.
As a matter of curiosity, did you also clean out the whistlehead?
Best wishes,
Jerry
there are a few old threads concerning this problem do a thread search
and while you are at it do a search for the hair spray tweak I think this will resolve your rattle
I did try cleaning the head, but have not tried removing it to do so. After finally realizing that the main website had some of the info I needed ( 
), I am a little more confident. I will try removing the head and cleaning it separately. Also, I’ll look for that “hairspray tweak.”
Thanks!
Feadogs respond well to the blu-tack tweak (poster putty filling the cavity under the windway). You might try that before the hairspray tweak. My question is, if the hairspray tweak doesn’t work, how do you remove the hairspray? I’m thinking alcohol would probably do it. Nail polish remover (acetone) would ruin the whistlehead.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Good ol’ soap and water will get Hairspray out usually. Try the Blue-tweak before the hairspray as that does not sound likeyour problem, which is the tone is lost after cleaning that does not sound like what your problem is.
I tried the beeswax technique tonight, mainly because I had the ingredients on hand, and it worked! The funny rattle is gone and the Feadog sounds better than it ever has before. Better tone overall, but especially in the upper register. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Well if that is the fix it was probably air leaking out of it.