I’ve got a Ralph Cook PVC low E with a wood fipple plug. it sounds SO good… when it’s functioning correctly, but it doesn’t do that long enough to ever chance playing it out.
it seems to play best “cold” (non warmed up), and then will either:
-have a super delicate bell note, and and easy upper octave OR
-have a strong low end, but have a hard time getting above the high E (true pitch F#)
If it just did one of those things consistently i’d think it’s a “warm up first” issue (which i’ve tried: hand warming, blowing air with top covered).
i haven’t tried soaping the windway or any of those fixes, but any thoughts here? love the whistle… when it works.
It sounds to me like your Cook airway is set so that it plays fine when fully open and when you start playing it some moisture starts to build up in the airway and changes the airflow. A Duponol application will most likely help in this situation to keep the fogging to a minimum.
Good luck with it
Ronaldo
thanks, i’ll read up on the application and give that a try.
You can also use a very diluted solution of dish washing detergent. One or two drops in a cup of warm water. Drip it through the “window” and let it run through the windway and drip out the mouthpiece. Don’t rinse it, just let it dry. Won’t last as long as Dupanol (sp?) but it works and will tell you if that’s the problem which it probably it. You’ll get several hours of playability.
i think i’ll try that first ^^^
i appreciate the “window to beak” advice, i didn’t want soap all the way through the whistle (or just the top half, it’s tunable)
thanks guys.
Oh, let it run through. The trick is to see if you can get bubbles from all the finger holes at once…
Best wishes.
Steve
A Cook PVC Low E, that sounds like an oldie.
You might be getting expansion from the wood swelling when it gets wet. Ultimately, you might be able to get someone to make you a delrin/acetal plug for it in place of the wood.
yes, i’ve had good success with my delrin plugged whistles, no clogging.
this one looks fairly easy to change, as there are screws right on the mouthpiece that look to be mounting the plug.
hmmm, now the dilemma. shipping the whistle, getting a plug made will probably run me near $100, which could be put toward (or purchase) a nice low E.
since i only bought it used for something like $50, that doesn’t seem logical.
::sigh::
Could the wooden fipple be treated/impregnated with something to keep it from absorbing moisture? Perhaps some sort of oil, Super Glue, epoxy??
Best wishes.
Steve
Good suggestion! Super glue would be a good sealer. It only takes a very thin coating to do the job. Clear nail polish would work too, it’s cheap, available and comes with a brush. It’s basically acrylic lacquer. If you do apply one of these, and assuming you remove the plug to do it, I’d suggest you lightly sand the plug before you brush on the sealer. You want to achieve a couple objectives in this process. First ( assuming there has been swelling of the plug or raising of the grain) you want to get the plug smooth again. Second you want to try to make sure that the windway floor does’t rise much higher than what Ralph Cook originally had in the whistle so that it performs as well as it did originally. So sand a little, use a thin coat of sealer and re-assemble after it dries. Then re-treat the windway with dupanol or dish soap so that condensation will sheet away properly.
dspmusik, have you tried the dupanol or dish soap yet? That may be all you need and it doesn’t require any shipping or disassembly.
Feadoggie
I’ve done a few rounds of dish soap, and it seems to help a bit, but the bell note is just very delicate. not having the other issues though.
i probably won’t attempt taking the plug out myself and sanding and sealing, as I find it an important virtue to know what you’re not good at in life…
i’ll probably try the dupanol fix and see where i’m at.
at the very least, it’s a fun, cheap recreational whistle that will never see a concert or recording, but provides entertainment.