Heads roll on Reyburn high whistles

Whistle
1

Many of you have read my review of the Reyburn high whistles on the C&F site or in the newsletter. Well the head came off mine yesterday! That is, the wooden sleeve became detached from the metal liner that also forms the blade.

Ronaldo is going to repair it, adding pins to reinforce the glue joint - something he is now doing on all new whistles, because apparently the problem has happened to a couple of people already.

In fact it has already happened to me before, on the original “pre-production” model that Ronaldo sent me for review. I wondered about this aspect of the design from the outset, surmising that the wood and metal might expand and contract at different rates. My misgivings seemed to be confirmed when, after about a month’s playing, the head came off when I accidentally twisted it at the head instead of at the tuning slide.

I did not mention this in my review because Ronaldo assured me that he was using an improved gluing process on production models. Also, after what happened to my pre-production model he told me that he tested the improved joint by deep-freezing it and then heating it and then applying great twisting force to it, without it loosening. (Ironically I suggested using pins to him, but he felt this was unnecessary.) I myself tried twisting the head on the replacement production model he sent me to see whether the glue joint would break, and it didn’t.

Well that same joint has now undone itself spontaneously, without any pressure or twisting this time. I suspect that this was caused by movement in response to humidity changes rather than temperature changes. (I have just been to Europe and back with the instrument, and we are now in a period of very high humidity after a dry spell.)

In hindsight I feel that I made an error of judgment in my review in not reporting the problem with the preproduction model. But since Ronaldo assured me he had taken the problem seriously and investigated it by subjecting his joints to extreme testing, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Ah well.

I still think it’s a very fine whistle to play, even if everyone at my local session teases me that it’s ugly. I just hope that the modifications will keep its head permanently on its shoulders.

Steve

2

Is there enough thickness of wood to use hex head setscrews instead of pins?

3

Tony, a hex head set screw would only apply pressure to the brass tube to keep it in place. I am much more comfortable with drilling thru the tube and inserting a pin which will lock it in place. As Stephen has reported, there have been only a few of the heads that have broken loose, and those and all new models have the pins installed which I am comfortable will address the issue.
Ronaldo

4

Stephen,

What kind of low life would tease you about the look of your whistle? I can’t believe humanity has come to such a thing… :wink:

5

I’ve never had the head fall off one of my Generation or Meg whistles.

6

On 2002-10-03 16:25, TubeDude wrote:
I’ve never had the head fall off one of my Generation or Meg whistles.

My Generation F whistle has come loose from it’s body. While I know that some folks do this on purpose to bring it into tune, this one was already in tune, and came loose on it’s own. Now I gotta tape it in place :frowning: