For the twentieth time, cursing under my breath, I plunged the head of a blue top Gen D into the scalding water. This was to be my final attempt, and the water was perilously near the boiling point. A few minutes later, vividly visualizing success (a mental trick which always worked for removing lids from pickle jars), I plucked it from the water and optimistically commenced with the extraction procedure. Aaaarrrggh! Once again, the refractory fipple adamantly refused to yield.
Days passed, and this gleaming, blue-topped demon of obstinacy began to disrupt my customary tranquility. I could not even play the accursed thing, for if I tried, it would superimpose a victorious crowing descant on even the mildest of airs. I began to have dark visions of a potential tyranny of whistle over man, with concomitant feelings of desperation.
Finally, I could stand it no longer. This beast must be decapitated even if it necessitates major, possibly mutilating surgery. I carried the whistle into the operating room (kitchen), and with trembling hand I reached into the cabinet under the sink for the container of acetone. Yes, this will surely penetrate the adhesive. Unfortunately it also dissolves plastic. The head could be destroyed. I decided to make one more non-destructive attempt before resorting to the acetone.
Perhaps if I reduced the surface tension of the water… I half filled a measuring cup with water, added a generous dash of dish detergent, and nuked it until it was approximately 90 degrees Celsius. Then the all-too-familiar ritual commenced. After sixty seconds, I removed the whistle from the water and gave the head a tentative twist. Did I detect a slight angular displacement, or was I hallucinating? Quickly I glanced around the room, on the alert for dancing teakettles and such. Everything appeared normal. Thus reassured that I was in an unaltered state of consciousness, I turned my attention back to the whistle and proceeded to slip the head off the tube with great ease.
Unfortunately, I shall probably never know with certainty whether my success can be attributed to the detergent.
Goll, I never had any trouble getting Generation heads off. Then again the tapwater in London is so chlorinated these days, maybe that’s the secret!
My oddity is this weekend was that I tried to put an Oak head back on, as I’ve been using a Feadog head on an Oak body for ages. The durn thing seems to be too small to fit! I got it on about 5 millimetres with a struggle, and had a tentative toot. I preferred the Feadog head, so back it went.
I might try this with the couple of obstinate Generations I have. A while ago, in increasing frustration, I actually broke the head off a red-head Gen C, and only narrowly avoided having the sharp plastic edges slice my own hand in the process.
A palpitating tale! Getting the heads off a C Gen - I don’t even try any more. For the Ds though, I generally find that 10 seconds in hot but not boiling water is quite sufficient. Perhaps your use of boiling water and long soaking times caused the head to shrink and thus grip the shaft more tightly.
What is it about he Gen Cs? Ds and Bbs are easy. But the good news is that the Cs seem to be going very strong at the moment, I picked on up the other day to test the StevieJ Meltdown Tweak® but I will not touch it: It sounds so beautiful and fine the way it is.
The few Cs that I have decapitated I subjected to rigorous sandpapering to make the heads fit back onto the shaft (those heads I didn’t crack, that is).
I’ve managed to remove a blue ‘C’ a blue ‘Bb’ fipple and a couple of red ‘D’ fipples but have had no luck with my blue ‘Eb’. I’ll have to try the detergent trick and report back.
I heard last week on the radio that coke is good for loosening rusty bolts. Maybe that would work.
Try this: Light a candle and heat the whistle between the Generation decal and the fipple. Turn the whistle occasionally. Hold the whistle above the flame, not in it. When smoke comes out of the fipple hole, you’ve melted the glue.
This always works for me (and looks VERY wierd on stage!), except for, you guessed it, one very stubborn C whistle.
I have a nice Sweetone which plays quite in tune…except that it’s 20 cents sharp across the range. I’ll have to try some of these suggestions, since even going to the extreme of freezing the whistle and then dipping it into fully boiling water has had absolutely no effect.
Freeing Firmly Fastened Fipples. What a tongue twister except I read the first letter wrong on the last word. Delicate parts dropped into boiling water. Whatever was Chiff and Fipple coming too! I need my bed or new glasses.
