About two weeks ago I began noticing an odd problem with my Burke brass narrow bore, one of my most-played whistles. The whistle would begin to sound rattly, then asthmatic as though moisture were building up inside. However, upon examination there was nothing but the tiniest beads of moisture in the windway, and none around the voicing window. I took it apart and looked inside and again, bone dry at the fipple plug and down the neck to the tuning slide. I recently lightly greased the tuning slide and breakdown joint with cork grease, so I’m confident leaking air isn’t the culprit. I can’t seem to produce the problem on a reliable basis, even by slobbering all over it when I play it. The whistle is fairly new, purchased in May of 2012 from Mike Burke’s website. I’m loathe to surrender my D whistle, so short of having him take a look at it, does anyone have an idea as to what the problem could be? In the meantime I’m going to give it a thorough cleaning just in case that somehow solves my problem.
Yeah, it kind of killed me to do it, but I had to eliminate moisture as a variable. I suppose I could have played it in the shower (like I do with my susato kildares). Cleaning seemed to help a bit, but I"m not sure if that’s some sort of placebo effect.
Cut a strip of 3X5 card narrow enough to run through the windway and run it through a few times. That’ll likely straighten it out. A tiny bit of gunk can really goof up air flow.
If Doc’s 3X5 card strip trick doesn’t work, take a STRONG magnifying glass and carefully examine the sides of the “voicing window” near the initiating corners of the fipple. I have found with my Burke aluminum narrow bore that occasionally a “single, tiny filament of lint” such as Jerry speaks of does indeed get stuck there and it definitely affects the sound. Sometimes it’s not lint but a bit of nameless gunk. In either case it usually shows up under a magnifying glass. Use something SOFT to dislodge the offending material.
By the way, I’m pretty sure Mike Burke recommends NOT submerging your whistle in liquid.
Here’s an update on the issue. After a thorough cleaning with mild soapy water and dried with a handkerchief, the whistle played marginally better, but soon the problem returned. The odd thing is that blowing forcefully down the windway as if clearing moisture seems to temporarily restore its tone, but only for a bar or two. I’ve taken apart the whistle and looked into head and I can’t see anything out of the ordinary. My only theory is that somehow moisture is condensing in a critical area such that a very, very small amount would be enough to make the whistle sound stuffy and not play the high octave well. The whistle does have a decent patina on it, as I got it in may of this year. Would that have any effect? I’m just at a loss here. I’ve never had a problem with this whistle before, indeed it’s one of my most played, and none of my other whistles are having any such problems. The whistle has never been subjected to any amount of physical damage like falling off a table, and hasn’t been stored in dusty or otherwise dirty locales.
I know that you don’t want to have to send your whistle “into the shop”, but have you tried dropping them an email describing your problem to see what they have to say?
I’ve noticed something similar with my Burke Low F although it’s very minor and not really that noticeable until I play it for a while (many tunes without clearing). I’ve found that clearing it helps but if I take it and shake it with the mouthpiece down low, I’m able to shake water out of it. I’m curious where this water is held while I’m playing it. But my impression is that there is water that is accumulating somewhere.
Holding the whistle very vertical and putting as little of the mouthpiece in my mouth as possible seemed to help. so it’s not really an issue for me now but reading your post did remind me of what I experienced.
So try holding it vertically and see if that allows the water to drain. I’m a very wet blower. In the winter water often drips from the bottom of my low whistles while I’m playing.
Condensation is an on going issue with any whistle, but more especially those made with metal. Some designs work a bit better than others, IME. If you take some time and view enough performance videos on YouTube you will find that everyone deals with moisture build up. You just have to realize that it happens and develop plans to take care of it. Some players suck! Some players blow! (That is not referring to their playing.) Some get the shakes and so on. It’s reality and you have to deal with it, hopefully before it gets ahead of you and effects the sound and performance of the whistle. As long as your breath is warmer than the air inside and around the whistle there will be condensation. Winter temperatures make it more obvious as you have noted.
In my opinion, the Burke design works better than many whistles regarding condensation buildup. And it is one of many reasons that I continue to buy and play Burke whistles.
Just a caution if you are going to be a shaker. Watch where you point that whistle when you shake it out if you ever play in public.
I am having the same problem! I cleaned out the whole whistle, and it played like new again for about a week, then it came back. Mine is the brass session D. The problem comes and goes and the E and D notes start giving a rattle sounding buzz.
I have a hypothesis though- You mentioned about greasing it. Well, I am starting to think that using too much petroleum jelly to lubricate it is what is causing the problem for me. I am going to clean it out again tonight, and then I will reply back to see if this helped the issue.
Do you have any updates on your situation? I am going to email michael about it sometime this week if I can’t remedy the situation by a thorough cleaning and not using so much lube. I would email him now, but after sending so many emails regarding the arrival of my viper, I want to give him a rest from the emails for a little bit!
I’m really interested to hear if you fixed the problem.
My money is on condensate buildup, even the smallest amount. Have you tried the use of a surfacant to minimize water surface tension? Just a thought, especially considering your self diagnosis as a wet blower.
I cleaned mine out thoroughly, including the mouthpiece. It is less prone to doing it, but still doing it. On second thought, I think this is occurring in the mouthpiece. Hm. Perhaps there are just some bits of something in there that just aren’t easily cleaned out , and is giving the moisture something to cling to.
Does the duponol stuff work very well? Perhaps is something to try for both of us!
Well, I’ve figured out how to mitigate the problem if not solve it. I adjusted the position of the whistle in my mouth and thoroughly clear it between songs, but sometimes it still gets a little stuffy, especially on tonguing-heavy songs like Rocky Road to Dublin. I think this whistle just really doesn’t like moisture compared to the others I own.
My Busman has never clogged. Period. Ever. Even played outside on a cold day. Maybe it’s due to the enormous pressure required to actually play it, but there you are. Susatos, no problems. Freeman-tweaked Bb and A Gens, nope. Dixon? Nope. Granted, the Burke has a thick metal construction that requires a lot of warming (could I patent a whistle-warmer?), but again, in comparison to my others, it’s a bit of a fussy whistle.
