While waiting to save up enough dough to buy a more manageable low whistle for my small hands, I decided to put a temporary lip on the E hole of my Dixon Aluminum Low D in a way that does not injure the whistle.
I stripped the plastic off a twist tie (like on a loaf of bread) to get a very thin wire. Then I pressed one fingertip into the E hole while bending the wire around the fingertip to get a rough circle. Then I took a piece of blue painter’s tape and pinned one edge of the wire circle to the hole edge. Using my thumb nail, I slowly pressed and shaped the wire circle to the edge while also pressing more and more of the tape down to hold the circle as I completed it. After the circle was down I used my thumb and nail to make adjustments and squeeze out any trapped air. Finally I removed all the tape that was over the hole making sure no bits were stuck to the hole wall or hanging over the new lip. You’ll need something sharp and you’ll have to go slow to not injure the hole walls and edges. Xacto should be fine.
I posted a couple of pictures here (I hope this works).
http://web.me.com/joe.mccormack/Site/Whistle_Thoughts.html
I don’t know if the tweak will last, but I can now practice the scales without the frustration of trying to hit the E perfectly to seal it. This is not a wonder cure. You still have to land the E pretty good and pretty flat to avoid that awful warbling. But I now hit the E most of the time doing scales (provided my lips don’t screw up).
I still have trouble going F# to D. But I believe that is because I cannot maintain the stretch between my bottom two fingers when I move both at the same time. This feels like something that will improve with time. My R3 is very weak (I’m left-handed).
I got this idea from the gentleman who found an old military whistle that had lips on the holes and he said it helped with sealing. Have any of you metal workers tried something like this on a more permanent basis?
Joe