How to remove a C Generation mouthpiece ...

Whistle
1

For some reason, the key of C Generation whistleheads are difficult to remove without damage. It took several years for me to work out a reliable, easy way to do it.

Very simply, you combine the traditional hot water method with the Joanie Madden smackdown method:

  1. Get a key of Bb tube

  2. Heat a pot of water to simmering

  3. Immerse the mouthpiece of the C whistle in the hot water for ten seconds or so

  4. Quickly remove the whistlehead from the water, put the bell end of the C tube into the Bb tube and throw the C whistle into the Bb tube with as much force as you can so the whistlehead impacts the top of the Bb tube.

Do this many times in a row, and you’ll notice the whistlehead moves. Eventually, the thwacking sound becomes lower and more hollow. At that point, you can usually pull the whistlehead the rest of the way off by hand. Or, if you miss the point where the whistlehead is ready to come off and you thwack it again, the whistlehead will fly across the room and the C tube will fly out the bottom of the Bb tube. Either way, you’ve successfully removed the whistlehead without damaging it. It usually isn’t necessary to heat the whistlehead more than once.

Now, theoretically, you have a tunable C Generation whistle. However, you’ll never be able to put the mouthpiece back on the tube without reaming the inside of the whistlehead socket.

Good luck!

Best wishes,
Jerry

2

In my experience, only step 4 is needed.

FYI.

3

You can do it that way. It’s a little easier if you use the hot water. I routinely do ten or twenty in a batch, so I’m in more of a hurry than I would be if I were just doing one.

4

Thanks, Jerry. I didn’t know that the Gen C had this reputation, but it definitely explains some things. :wink:

5

For what reason, I wonder. There’s nothing inherent in the materials - plastic, metal, adhesive - that would make the C any different from the others. Is the C head just molded to be tighter on the tube?

6

They got the socket bore a little tight when they made the injection molding tooling. They’re rather variable across keys, with C being the tightest, F being next tightest, D and Bb about the same and G the loosest.

7

Thanks, Jerry. :slight_smile:

8

I thought it might be worthwhile to make a thread about this, since it comes up once in awhile, with a title that would be a likely search result.

9

:blush:

10

Over ten years later, thank you - this was exactly what I needed. Although I should have searched before shredding my hands on the apparently infamous C whistle, but I had been lulled into a false sense of security with the relative ease of Bb, Eb, and F. Great resource!