Thus it is, that type of maintenance must have one whistle typical?.
All the possible information.
Thank all very much!! 
You need to be a bit careful with wooden whistles, but for other materials, I really don’t worry about it at ALL. If I don’t get a sound out of a whistle, I inspect the windway for bits of extra material in there (food morsels, pocket lint etc) but otherwise simply don’t bother.
You need to be a bit careful with wooden whistles, but for other materials, I really don’t worry about it at ALL. If I don’t get a sound out of a whistle, I inspect the windway for bits of extra material in there (food morsels, pocket lint etc) but otherwise simply don’t bother.
Mine became a bit stinky at one point, so I rinsed them out with soapy water as if I was washing dishes. Good as new. They aren’t wood whistles.
Mack Hoover gave us a good tip on the Praise Whistler’s Abroad site. In order to put dish soap in the mouthpiece to prevent clogging while playing, and also to clean it out, get those gummy (brush) toothpicks at the drug store, The soft material won’t scratch the inside of your windway, and it gets the soap right in there where it’s needed. Then play and play and play!
I’m usually very blasé about cleaning my non-wooden whistles,
but I’m starting to rethink that. I recently took some Brasso to my
brass Copeland, which made it gleam splendidly. Then I learned
from this thread:
So, I think I’ll be switching to Flitz. Less danger to my skin, too.
Also, in this thread, crookedtune received a message from Mike
Burke about his whistles. The Burkes have parts that are glued
together, and immersion can apparantly dislodge the glue. I think
this could probably be extended to other high end whistles that
use glue to create a metal-metal joint.
mmm already I see!!
Thank you very much by its aid!
It will clean with a little cotton and water to it, to avoid damages to the glue. (DixonTrad)
Mainly, I cut a piece of business card and slide it through the windway. That’s about all I see the need for. It can make a big difference in improving the clarity of the tone.
Putting soap through a brass whistle has caused a blue deposit on the brass near the windway.
Tony
With respect to cleaning non wood whistles, other than as suggested by Tony Higgins, don’t. I never touch my whistles over years (they are stored neatly and well kept when not in use) and never a problem. The one time I did try to clean out a brass whistle, I didn’t like the tone for a while.
As for the outside, patina is beautiful; but if you insist, 0000 steel wool used lightly followed by a jeweler’s cloth wipe brings brass back to new look.
Be careful with aluminum because you can remove special finishes, including that nice matte pearl grey finish on some whistles.
Metal slides - if you leave tuneables together over long periods (I tend to), slides may stick a bit. Assuming you get them apart via reverse hand twisting whilst pulling (rubber gloves can be helpful), some makers like Copeland will recommend chap stick for example to help. I tend to give a very light one swipe with 0000 steel wool even on the silver Abells just to clear the black gunk that developes and make the tolerance just right. Per Loren, don’t rub away the metal of the slide. Also you should probably avoid putting most stuff on the slides and follow makers’ recommendations.
Bottom line - with metal and plastic, just play them and tune as needed and there shouldn’t be a problem unless small debris is stuck in the mouthpiece, hence the Tony Higgins fix.
Philo
Cleaning whistles is untraditional.
Just got a Hoover Whitecap and Mack sent a couple of the soft picks with it. They seem to be just the thing for cleaning out a windway. They are soft and flexable but have rubber bristles to clean out any gunk.
Therefore, NOT cleaning your whistle is traditional.
That’s the sort of tradition I like. 
Cheap whistles get better sounding with time as gunk builds up inside, but expensive ones don’t benefit, from my experience.
Soaking for 10 minutes in a solution of warm water and “Cascade Complete” dishwasher detergent will eat up that stuff.
My brass whistles are turning all sorts of nasty colors and they tend to smell like old pennies. Not something I’d like to shove in my face. I say clean 'em if you can.
In the US there is a saying “as clean as a whistle”—I don’t know if they have that saying in other countries. I also don’t know what sort of whistle it means and why the whistle would be clean.
My maker said to mix a pretty concentrated solution of dish-washing detergent and water. I put some in a little dropper bottle and I liberally drip the solution through the mouthpiece when I am done playing. I wipe the whole whistle off with a damp cloth because some of the soapy solution gets on the outside. Then I let it stand upright and dry. The soapy solution is supposed to prevent clogging—the detergent contains an anti-surfactant. That is why, for these instructions, you don’t rinse the soap out. My whistle has stayed as clean as a whistle that way. I also drink some water before playing it so I don’t get coffee or whatever in it. My other whistle really got gunked-up to the point that it wouldn’t make sounds hardly. I guess you can wait until it is gunked-up to clean it (although you have to make sure you don’t poke with something that could damage things) or you can clean up as you go. I like the clean up as you go method myself.
Ya gotta love it. The diligent people have careful routines and the slobs don’t do anything. And they all say it works best! This is funny.
I do remember Mike Burke saying you shouldn’t overdo it with lots of water and such. I like the idea of doing as little as possible, with maybe a careful draw through with the paper or cloth. I think Ronaldo Reyburn sends out a piece of sewing sizing as a sop. i can’t remember if he recommended alcohol, tho.
My personal theory is that when the delrin loses its original sheen from manufacture, the whistle never sounds as bright. Messing with it too much hastens the process.
About a month ago a discussion similiar to this one was going on here. If I remember right, someone suggested Worcestshire Sauce to polish brass whistles. Do I remember that right? I’m trying to find something safe and effective and non-toxic for polishing brass that won’t damage the metal.
Any ideas?
HW
Ok, this is embarrassing but if it saves someone else from the shame then it will be worth it. I sometimes clean my whistles with soapy water. The last time I did this I had an aluminum Burk and a brass something in the plastic container i was using as the wash bin.
Just as I finished running the water, adding the soap and dropping in the whistles my next door neighbor knocked on the back door and i went to see what was up. The little chat turned into my helping move some things around in their garage and more chat and then a glass of water and a bit of cake as a think you and I went back to my house… having forgotten the whistles.
I eventually went back into my kitchen and found my wonderful, “silver” aluminum Burke was a dull tarnish! High school chemistry came flooding back and I had left two dissimilar metals in a conductive solution and so had anodized.
This is fixable and Mr. Burke gave me good advice on what to try to clean the tarnish off – it is a metal polish that is impregnated into a fiber/felt wadding. You pinch off a bit of the wadding and polish with it. I forget the brand. You can’t use it on the tuning slide though.
So, the lesson is don’t SOAK your metal whistles unless you segregate them by materials
My apologizes to the original inventor/poster of this potion, for I cannot recall who it is.
I have used this recipe on all my brass whistles and it works very well.
"Heat a glass or two of vinegar in a pan, bring it to boiling while dissolving kitchen salt in it to saturation. i.e. keep adding salt and stirring until the salt doesn’t seem to dissolve any more. It does take a lot, like half-a-glass of salt.
Watch out, do this soup in a well ventilated kitchen: there’s chlorine evaporating.
Let it cool outside. Pour in a bottle, slowly to leave the salt deposit in the pan. Stopper the bottle for storage.
This liquid is non toxic, use it on a rag to remove stains on brass/copper whistles (I clean my Sindt with it). Wipe dry. If you dislike the faint vinegar smell remaining, wash with soapy water before drying."
Follow with #0000 steel wool for extra bright shine.
Hope this helps.
Mike
Yo, Night Rock, where by in Wales are you?
On topic, I have very occasionally (and to advantage) cleaned out the tubes of my old Generations with hot detergenty water and a nylon bottle brush; the heads with hot detergenty water and a pipe cleaner. I also recently bought one of those small domestic steam cleaner gadgets that I have used successfully to clean (and sterilise!) a batch of second-hand plastic (mostly Aulos) recorders after afore-mentioned technique with washing up liquid and hot water and bottle brush. Did none of them any harm and some were pretty gunged up - most sounded much better after. But I wouldn’t advocate any such treatment for a wood whistle! Can’t see it would harm any of the all-metal types, though. If you like them shiny, “metal wadding” (Brasso, amongst others, make it in Britain) has already been mentioned and will do a good job - better than messing about with vinegar or Worcester sauce etc. and only negligably abrasive. I don’t think I’d risk any grade of wire wool anywhere near the tuning slide of my boxwood Swayne though. If a wooden whistle (or flute) gets gunked up, rinsing/rubbing with meths and a soft cloth shouldn’t do any harm as long as you re-oil afterwards.