Claudine - regarding your comment about your allergy to your Rose: I just spoke to Fred Rose and mentioned your allergy in passing. He said on no account put lacquer or clear nail varnish on it (as someone suggested) because it’ll ruin the wood. He thinks it more likely to be the cedar plug than the blackwood, and has natural finishing sealant that ought to seal it okay. If you want to post the head back to Fred he’ll do it for you; it would be best to get it done right, that way you’d be able to re-sell if you had to, whereas with the lacquer you wouldn’t.
Thanks for your help, Nick. I would love to play this whistle again and would really be happy if a solution could be found. Nevertheless the allergy comes from the blackwood as it appeared after I had played my new blackwood flute for 2 months.
Wish you a merry christmas!
Even so, still send it back to Fred and he’ll do his best to seal it for you. If you want his postal address, mail me separately and I’ll send it to you. Merry Chrissie