Yesterday I bought a Generation Bb Flat whistle from the music store. When I got home to play it I realized that its broken. There seems to be excess plastic or something in the mouthpiece and it makes it very resistant when I blow air into it. The whistle makes sound but it’s very low and it takes a heavy blowing to play it. I have removed the mouthpeice but I don’t know what to do.
Any suggestions as to what I can do or how to clear the airway? Thanks in advance for your responses and attention.
Unfortunately, this sort of problem is very common with the low-end plastic-headed whistles.
But the bigger the whistle head, the easier it usually is to do the work. Almost all of my Generations have needed at least minor tweeking, but even in the worst cases it usually doesn’t take more than a little adjustment to make a significant improvement. (Actually, the worst cases are often the easiest - if you can SEE the problem, it’s easy to improve it).
FWIW, I think Bb is one of the better Generation keys - you’re likely to have a very good whistle when you finish.
So the best way to clear plastic is sandpaper? Is it possible to use a small knife? Also, does anyone know if changing the rectangular shape of the inside will affect the sound?
Same problem I had with my Generation G. I simply took a box cutter, and used the blade to cut off the excess. Just take your time in doing things. If you mess up…well…just don’t mess up. You should be alright.
I have extra stuff on the sides of the windway, and sandpaper can’t really
be of use there, unless I glue it to a small stick. I may eventually try an emory
board next time my wife wears one out. Use whatever you can, just go slowly.
There’s a specific problem that’s been showing up in quite a few Bb Generations lately.
There can be a sort of bump or swelling of the floor of the windway that narrows the windway inside. Whistles that have this defect will have noticeably more resistance when you blow into them than other examples of the same whistle. This is very difficult to correct. I would recommend that you return the whistle to the store you got it from and get another. (There are other things that you can clean up on a Bb Generation, but this particular issue would be very difficult to do.)
