I was lucky enough to run across two used Burke whistles recently at great prices: an aluminum session D, and a brass session C. I’m slowly being won over, and play these most of the time now, along with my Jerry Freeman “Mellow-Dog”.
After a few months of playing, I decided it was time to clean out the C, and disassembled it into its three component parts. The top (with mouthpiece) fits into the “swollen grape” middle piece, thus forming the tuning slide. That’s fine. The bottom end of the “swollen grape” fits into the barrel, which contains the tone holes. OK there too.
Here’s my question: Where the middle piece, (“swollen grape”), meets the barrel, there was a lot of black gunk, which I figured was corrosion. I sort of cleaned it off the best I could. Now I’m realizing it was probably adhesive, since the two parts are fitting far too loosely. I need to get these pieces restuck. I tried teflon plumber’s tape, but the tolerance in the joint won’t allow it. Is this joint meant to be fixed? And if so, what was that black goop?
Wow, you really disassembled it! I have two Burkes, and I’ve always considered them 2-piece whistles! I can’t offer any advice, except maybe to contact Mike and see if he will fix it for you.
Holy cow! “THREE pieces!?” I have a Burke brass D session and it only has two pieces. The whistle comes apart “above the grape”, but is not supposed to come apart “below the grape” I don’t know what that black gunk was…maybe adhesive, or maybe, just…gunk. I wouldn’t mess around with my Burke, I’d email Michael. Let us know what happens.
Good luck!
Well, I wouldn’t call it “monkeying” exactly. The reason I disassembled it was that it was already loose at that lower joint. When I went to tune it at the upper joint, the lower one opened. So it clearly had already separated.
I’m not very concerned. It’s not dented or broken. I’m just asking what adhesive was used there, so that I can reseal it in the same way.
It might have been the remains of an O-ring… or adhesive, as you
say. That part doesn’t ususally come off. You should definitely
email Mike Burke. He’ll probably offer to fix it, but if you really
want to do it yourself, I’m sure he’d tell you what to use… He’s a
regular engineering type of guy, he’ll probably be interested in any
failure points in his design.
Sorry for the double post, but an example: I had a leaky mouthpiece on a Burke Bb that had once been dropped on the mouthpiece. I sent it back to Mike, he resealed it with silicone and smoothed it, and charged me a whole ten bucks.
I only have the low D, and it at least is intended to come apart at both places. The fat section is lined with a thin nylon sleeve which has grooves to keep the o-rings (or O’ Rings as he calls them) in place. It really is a marvel of craftsmanship. I could imagine that the o-rings could deteriorate/dissolve into black gunk. He has a chart of the various sizes of o-rings required for the various whistles and you can get them from him directly or follow the chart and get them yourself.
BTW I am very pleased with the low D (“pro viper”)- I literally can’t put it down, and I have four other sizes on order. My dream would be to have about a dozen of those in various keys and sizes…
I took the suggestion to contact Mike, and got an immediate and useful response, (below). I value this whistle enough to send it along and have the repair done right!
Mike’s words:
The “black gunk” is a special cyanoacrylate with tougheners in it to
make it stronger. You could possibly reglue it with regular superglue,
but you could get a disaster for your trouble if you don’t know how to
do it. Best thing is to send it back to me with $10 to cover the repair
and postage and I will return it looking and working like new.
By the way- the names of the parts of the whistle are as follows:
Head - Has a curved- delrin lined windway and is the single most
important part of the whistle
Upper bore- contains conical edge and is bonded to the head and
slips into the top of the slide
Slide- Contains the O’ring that provides a perfect seal for the
slide- The O’ring makes is bigger than some slides, but the design is
infinitelly better than old fashioned friction slides that wear out and
leak after a while, so the bulge- which I find aesthetically pleasing
like the curves of a beautiful woman, are functional as well.
Lower bore- Has tone holes in it and may have inserts glued into it
in some models.
There are glue joints between the head and upper bore and between the
slide unit and lower bore.
I am wondering if you immersed the whistle in water when you cleaned it? (*** My note: Nope, it just came loose.)
Not a good idea. I recommend swabbing it out with a cloth soaked in
Isopropyl alcohol Immersing can do some damage and is never a good idea.
Send it back, or you could try super glue, but that is a risky thing and
you may ruin it if you don’t know what you are doing…
I can’t take credit for that. It’s been used around here for years.
Just to close out, I (predictably) didn’t have the patience to send this out to Mike and wait. I did as he suggested – the SuperGlue fix. Fortunately, I thought to tape it all off, use an electronic tuner to get proper placement, and work cleanly. SG can be runny and is completely unforgiving.
It worked out great, though, and will not be coming apart in my lifetime!
I wouldn’t mess around with my Burke, I’d email Michael. Let us know what happens.
I like it.