Sorry perhaps I should ask if anyone can suggest a D whistle that is less likely to get clogged? than any other.
Is that the word to use when the notes start to squeek and you have to wash the whistle out?
P
Less likely than what?
Keep your mouthpiece warm and it’ll clog less. Cold mouthpiece + warm, moist breath= condensation. Warm the mouthpiece in your hands for a minute or two before you play. Lots of people warm it by blowing through it, which is counterproductive, if you think about it.
Mix a couple of drops of dishwashing detergent like Dawn in an ounce or two of water and run some of this through the windway of your whistle. It’ll help keep that condensed moisture from forming little droplets which clog the whistle.
I agree that whistles, and in fact all wind instruments, need to be gently warmed before playing.
If a whistle that didn’t used to have a clogging problem seems to have suddenly developed one, it might be worthwhile to hold it up to the light and see if you can see anything caught in the whistle, especially in the windway–this can cause all kinds of trouble, including clogging.
I’ve not had such good luck as some with using liquids to help prevent clogging, but what I have found that works for me is to take unscented, waxed dental floss, and carefully clean all surfaces of the windway with it. I have found this to prevent clogging and to be a treatment that lasts for months before having to be repeated.
Just a bit more on warming whistles, any whistle will sound better when warmed before playing, but some absolutely require it: Overtons, O’Briens, Susatos, and Elfsongs, to name a few, are an entirely different whistle when played warm verses when played cold.
–James
Tongue less.
Hiya Pam!
There are a few things you can try:
Have a guinness…beers have a drying effect on the salivary glands.
Swish with mouthwash…something drying like Listerine (if you have that in the UK). Same theory.
Try duponol (also sold in recorder shops as AntiCondens). It has a detergent effect: moisture sheets off rather than builds up in the mouthpiece. I got a bottle at Melody Music.
http://www.folkharp.com/advanced_search_result.php/search_in_description/1?keywords=duponol&x=0&y=0
The $2.50 bottle has lasted me about 3 years now. to use: Clean out the whistle, and dry it. Put your finger over the blowing end of the mouthpiece, drip in some duponol at the blade end until it’s full. Hold a minute or so, then shake it out. Let air dry. You can do this every 6 weeks or so.
The above is my experience as someone who clogged a lot when I first started.
(you can also do the detergent thing listed above. I don’t like the taste. Some people like Jet Dry, but it makes my tongue numb. Some people have suggested Dr Bronner’s Peppermint sap, but I haven’t tried it.)
Tounge less!!! now that is a thought. I was brought up Salvation Army and playing a brass instrument so was always tounging lots as I do on the whistle and have tried to stop so that might be why mmmmmm
I’ll let you know if you are interested
Thank you
P
Ha
Tongue less not tounge less
Is there a spell check on here
I like the idea of the peppermint thing too
P
Just a suggestion – when the whistle clogs, you don’t need to get up and go wash the whistle out. Just cover the leading edge of the window a little bit with your finger, and blow hard. If there’s nothing but liquid clogging, it will spit right out the window or run down the tube.
If this doesn’t work (but it usually does), then it might be time to rinse the whistle out. I do rinse all of mine out every week or two, and also do the dish detergent trick if I’ve been having clogging issues.
Finally, sometimes just blowing harder will resolve some clogging issues. If you’re feeling timid about your playing, you may tend to underblow, which makes the whistle play flat and clog up often. My solution is to start with quieter whistles (Dixon trad, custom quiet Hoover whitecap, Everywhistle), and play it with gusto.
These work nice. http://www.clogon.com
I find that when the last thing I’ve put in my mouth was coffee or tea, I generate a lot less saliva.
any whistle will sound better when warmed before playing, but some absolutely require it: Overtons, O’Briens, Susatos, and Elfsongs, to name a few, are an entirely different whistle when played warm verses when played cold.
I thought that plastic whistles, like Susato, do not need to be warmed up, they always sound the same
Thanks for posting that Tommy. I have checked this thread several times awaiting instructions on how to “Clog” (toe, heel, tap, shuffle, kick, shufflle…) 
Actually, this might explain the cause and the remedy.
That’s it, I think you have it. Toe, heel, tap, shuffle, kick, shuffle,… practice then up the tempo a little. Then try along with your bodhran, and tabor pipe. Oh what fun…
I have always found that the little beeds of condensation in the windway get smaller as the temperature increases. Once it reaches an equilibrium, they are small enough to blow-through without affecting the tone.
The most critical spot for clogging is at the windway exit - this is where the windstream is most sensitive - and where any treatment should be aplied most..
I have found that any sort of sugars or tannins can precipitate as coatings on the windway surfaces - that includes beers, and sweet tea - tea has tanins that cause a definite clog. Smoking is probably the worst.
Well, you won’t damage a plastic whistle by not warming it up first, but any woodwind plays better when warm, no matter what they are made of.
Plastic is, after all, just another material.
–James
So is the general census of opinion that because plastic doesn’t change temperature in the same way as metal that it may clog less?
Nobody has answered this yet?
It doesn’t matter. They all clog up. Metal will clog more if it’s cold because of condensation. Just fling your spit in the direction of your audience and they’ll love you.
I think how a whistle is voiced, and how the fipple is constructed, has a lot more to do with whether or not it tends to clog easily than do the material it’s made from.
That’s just my $.02; I’m not a maker (yet), only a player.
–James
Sometimes a maker will take great pains to reduce the problem with appropriate materials. For example, from Phil Bleazey’s site, the page on flute care contains:
“Do not under any circumstances allow oil to enter the windway of recorders or whistles. The blocks of these instruments are made of pencil cedar which is especially porous, and it is oriented with the grain vertical to enhance this property. Droplets of moisture which clog the windways of plastic and metal instruments are absorbed through the top of the block and eventually evaporate out through the ends.”