Let me know if this post isn’t whistley enough or should go elsewhere. I play a batch of O’Riordans and a low D Burke, but recently bought a vintage one-key English Flageolet. Fipple, 6 top holes, looks like a whistle for people with really long arms. It’s probably a high D, hasn’t been played in decades, has no cracks in the rosewood, and has dried out enough that the plug is loose. Does anyone know a source of information on restoration, slowly adding moisture, proper placement of the block (it will slide back & forth now) or whatever so I can try this thing out? Thanks.
To re-hydrate it, get a Tupperware/Rubbermaid container and go to a cigar shop and get a humidifier and hygrometer. Put some distilled water in the humidifier, and put it and the hygrometer in the tupperware. If the humidity is 50-70%, put the flageolet in for a few days and begin playing it 10-15 minutes once or twice a day. (If not, you may want to play with the humidifier, putting more water in if it’s too low, leaving it out in the open for a few hours if it’s too high.) If it’s above 60-65%, be very diligent about taking the whistle out every day – mold grows fast, and it’s gross.
Another way to make a humidifier is to make a saturated solution of table salt. But it’s important that it’s saturated: too much salt and it’s a dessicator, too little, and it’ll make the humidity close to 100%.
As for block placement, it should be somewhere close to flush with the upstream edge of the window. I would position it and play a little, leaving it where the tone and intonation are best. It’s important to get the flat/open part of the block parallel/symmetric to the blade It can be held in with a pin, glue, or hopefully just the pressure.
Let us know how it goes.