I carefully tried to make my “D” Oak whistle(black plastic mouthpiece, shiny tube) "tunable’ but never could get it the mousthpiece off and instead ruined the mouthpiece so the entire whistle is no longer playable..appears the mouthpiece started separating around the window. -->> QUESTION: Anybody know where I can buy JUST the plastic Oak mouthpiece? Have an e-mail into Whistle shop. Figured I could saw off the old mouthpiece and put on a new mouthpiece understanding it might change the key, etc. Hate to waste it. This Oak was my first pennywhistle…while I didn’t particularly care for the sound, I hoped by making it “tunable” I could improve the sound (it sounded like a bad/cheap recorder). Any ideas on supplier for Oak mouthpieces in the U.S. ? Yes, I’ll buy another one (thinking of the CLARK original) but would like to re-use the bottom of the Oak…it’s brand new and barely used. Any suggestions appreciated.
Thom may suggest using a Little Black Whistle mouthpiece. It’s better than nothing, and has been known to work pretty well.
Don’t saw off your old mouthpiece. Since it’s already destroyed, just immerse it in boiling water for awhile. It may melt, but it’ll come off.
I also tried to loosen the fipple on my Oak D to no aviel. Now mine was about 25 years old and maybe they have changed glues but it was impossible to remove. After the fipple became usless I went ahead and boiled it to try and remove it. No luck. I finaly broke it off with my hunting knife. The fipple from my Walten fit with one or two raps of teflon tape and the whistle sounds great. I believe the Whistle Shop sells fipples that may fit. If not Mack Hoovers` White Cap fipples will fit. The Oak is worth the hassel.
Tom
THANKS EVERYBODY for the great advice ! Will do.
Maybe I’m missing something here, but…
Don’t new Oak whistles sell for less than $15?
Why not just replace the whistle?
–James
http://www.flutesite.com
On 2003-01-20 13:14, peeplj wrote:
Maybe I’m missing something here, but…Don’t new Oak whistles sell for less than $15?
Why not just replace the whistle?
–James
http://www.flutesite.com
James,
I got a new Oak a couple of months ago. It came with that vinyl-smelling head that everybody has been complaining about. I replaced it with a LBW head and it works great. I think Thom sells them for about $3.50 so it’s an economical solution too.
Mike
James, not a monetary issue.. I just don’t like to have any musical insturment sitting around that doesn’t work/I broke and minimal expense/time to fix and even if I don’t care for sound can give away for someone else to enjoy.
UPDATE: GOT PLASTIC MOUTHPIECE OFF: FINALLY got the (damaged) black plastic mouthpiece OFF of my Oak pennywhistle in D I put a tin can (all paper labels taken off of course) with about 3" of water water in it inside of a small saucepan with about 3" deep water. I put the whislte in the tin can, with the mouthpiece down. Then, heated water in the saucepan to just below boiling, and the damaged plastic mouthpiece easily came off. (I did this so if the mouthpiece really melted down, it would be inside the disposable tin can, not my good cooking pan). Trick was to submerge the mouthpiece about 1 inch above the mouthpiece/tube junction.