I was fooling around, putting my Clare head on a Gen tube, the fit was snug and I heard a snap. Sure enough I cracked my Clare head where it fits over the tube, straight up till it hits the flare out before the windway ramp. Bummer! It still plays great. Do you think I can put some Superglue in the crack and that would fix it? Any other suggestions? OR… should I just buy another one?
Thanks,
Jon
It certainly wouldn’t hurt to buy another Clare ($10 for a fine little whistle)
However, I’ve had better results with model cement than superglue…
Use lots of glue in the crack and then polish with steel wool while the glue’s still “wet”, the little plastic dust gets into the cement, making a small crack almost invisible. After it’s hardened use the steel wool on the entire mouthpiece. In the case of a really wide crack, find some plastic tape and wrap the section 2 or 3 times.
Hope this helps, Scott
Another approach you could use on its own or on top of Scott’s fix is …
Wrap the outside of the socket with thread (unwaxed dental floss would be ideal, but it’s almost impossible to find nowadays). Wrap tightly, with the strands lined up close together. Carefully spread a layer of epoxy glue over the thread, letting a little go over the sides onto the plastic and working it in so it soaks the thread as much as possible. Let it set up, and there you go.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Superglue, specifically the gel kind, will work if the crack’s not too wide. Most of the gels will fill up to about .015 - you can get thixotropic cyanoacrylates that will fill almost double that, but they are really pricey. I like the styrene-dust / plastic model cement idea, but instead of steel-wooling the head, itself, get an old plastic model car or something (kit car only - the ones you buy in the toy department already made are usually PVC and won’t work with the glue) and take a fine file to it. Then mix the dust with the glue and apply it with a toothpick used like a spatula. You’ll have to work fast.
And Jerry’s overwrapping with floss and epoxy will help keep it from happening again!
There ya go! ideas galore to mix and match!
Happy Holidays, 
serpent
Get a new head from Mack Hoover. If you send him the barrel, he’ll fit it for you to perfection. My Clare went from simply a good cheap whistle to a very good whistle regardless of price.
Eric
I did Jerry’s suggested repair on my Clare today. I used regular red sewing thread and plastic weld epoxy. The fix worked great! Thanks Jerry.
Jon
The red thread and green Clare head oughta have a nice festive Christmas look to it!
Clare mouthpieces come in red too, don’t they?
Quote @ Jayhawk
Get a new head from Mack Hoover. If you send him the barrel, he’ll fit it for you to perfection. My Clare went from simply a good cheap whistle to a very good whistle regardless of price.
It also went from being a Clare to being a Hoover. 
Cran - You’re right that it’s more of a Hoover than a Clare now (not a bad trade up in quality, eh? ). As for red topped Clares…I’ve owned two over the years, and they both had green tops. They were the two part models though, so I have no idea what color top the one piece has.
Eric
Quote @ Jayhawk
Cran - You’re right that it’s more of a Hoover than a Clare now (not a bad trade up in quality, eh? ). As for red topped Clares…I’ve owned two over the years, and they both had green tops. They were the two part models though, so I have no idea what color top the one piece has.
I also have a Hoover head on a Clare (although I rotate it to a Gen Eb body), and agree it makes a great whistle. I’ve also owned two Clares and both were green topped, but I could have sworn I’d seen a red one somewhere.
Red topped Clare (though not in stock).
http://www.thewhistleshop.com/catalog/whistles/inexpensive/Clare/onepiece/onepiece.htm
You’ve got a good memory Cran. You know what else is odd - the red top seems to be on a brass tube but the green top’s tube looks chromish!
Have you seen a silver/chrome Clare? I’ve never seen one.
Eric
Yup for the green-topped Clare. The metal is nickel plate…
Cheers.
Byll
Mine’s a red mouthpiece with a unfinished brass tube. That now has red thread on it.
Jon
Some K&S brass tubing from the local hobby shop can be placed over the cracked sleeve after the sleeve is glued. By doing this, the brass tubing ring will reinforce the sleeve.
A brass ferrule!
Great idea. If you were to epoxy that ferrule on, it would be well nigh indestructable. Without epoxy, the crack might continue further up the whistlehead.
Best wishes,
Jerry
There you go Jerry. You could make a reinforcement ferrule as an option on tweaked whistles. Nice thing about telescoping tubing is that there is bound to be a size that fits - or it can sanded inside to the right fit.