Couple of months ago I purchased an Mk Pro low D whistle after hearing great things about it, including that it doesn’t clog as easily as other low whistles. My experience, however, has been the complete opposite. My Mk Pro usually clogs after less than one minute of playing. This is the case even if the whistle is properly warmed up when I start playing. Now, I am a newbie when it comes to whistles and wind instruments but I don’t experience similar clogging issues with my Kerry Optima. My question is, is it normal that an Mk Pro (or any whistle for that matter) clogs so quickly?
Also, are there any remedies for this issue or should I just get another whistle? I find the toothpaste and waxed dental floss tricks to be impractical and I’m not sure how much a metal whistle likes to be dipped regularly into a glass of dish soap water.
Whats weird is mine are also immune to clogging. I’ve had moisture issues with Kerry’s and Goldies.
Try washing the windway with toothpaste. You can use a piece of cardboard to push toothpaste inside. This could do 2 things. Toothpaste seems to make a sort of non stick coating that water is less likely to accumulate on. also, it will just clean it, so if there’s anything water is clinging to, it could get washed out.
when you get moisture issues, where is the water? Is it on the bevel or inside the windway. Or both.
Thanks for the reply! The moisture is usually in the windway. I did the toothpaste trick today and afterwards the whistle didn’t clog as easily. We’ll see how long lasting the effect is, I’ve got my fingers crossed. It did however result in an altered tone. It added a bit of an unclean sounding rasp to the sound of the whistle (there might be some residue of toothpaste in the windway from the treatment).
huh if it changed the tone, definitely wash it out more. Make sure you toothpaste the bevel where the water is accumulating. Clogging is so weird because on my Goldie and Kerry’s they would always get moisture there. and cleaning was only a temporary fix. My MK just doesnt have this. Or My burke. My Reyburn did have 1 bevel spot it accumulated on but that seems to have gone away or I got used to it because it was minor. So I really dont get why some do and some dont.
You might try a product containing Dupenol. I am no chemist, but I know it is different from soap. It causes ‘sheeting,’ in liquids. One product containing Dupenol is Jet Dry, for dishwashers.
Whistle players over the years have explained different ways to use it. Some literally bathe the whistle in a dilute solution, containing the Dupenol. I take a bit from the bottle, and mix it with water in a paper cup. I dunk the mouthpiece in the liquid, dry the outside of the mouthpiece, and let the whistle sit for awhile. In any of the methodologies, the key is to not wash the instrument after applying the solution. Let it air dry, inside the mouthpiece…
In very hot outdoor Celtic festival venues, and inside over-air conditioned auditoriums, the material works for me. A small bottle will last you a very long time.
I only use the product on high whistles. I have never had any trouble with my MK low D or F, clogging.
On this note, I never wash any of my whistle mouthpieces. And they still dont clog. I only run water over them, and will wipe off any mouth gunk from the outside. I may run some water through the mouthpiece but thats not a true cleaning. So whatever is keeping my whistle from clogging or having buildup isnt changing.
I too have a bit of a problem with blocking (I play a Howard low D). I’m a relative novice, and I also have to practise in an unheated room at about 15 degrees centigrade at this time of year, so condensation comes into play.
Sodium lauryl ether sulphate (SLES) helps, but as it’s freezing outside I’m still trying to avoid pieces with a lot of top Gs and As because I know I’ll struggle to get all the way through. If I really want to learn something with a lot of upper register, the best solution is the antifog spray I use on my swimming goggles.
This stuff isn’t meant to be ingested, so I wouldn’t use it on a regular basis. I make sure I rinse the head really thoroughly after allowing it to form a film, and wipe the mouthpiece well with a tissue before leaving it to dry naturally.
On my plastic head it works far better than anything else I’ve tried, and it lasts quite well. It’s probably better to work on improving my saliva control than improvising slightly dodgy solutions, though …
Just to add, as a beginner I had a problem with almost all my whistles clogging and it eventually stopped with all of them.
I’m pretty sure it was nothing to do with the whistles directly, but something to do with my technique improving subconsciously eg me becoming more efficient with my breath/using my wet tongue less etc etc
Your optima will be less susceptible to clogging in general as it has a plastic (warmer) head, where as the mk pro, like Goldie’s chieftains etc, is metal and hence breath condenses faster on it.
Go ahead with the above tips, but (if my case is common) it will simply start clogging less the more you play it due to micro improvements in breath efficiency.
Yep, I second this. When I first picked up the whistle I was playing with my lower jaw fairly slack and only my lips closed, which tended to make me salivate – it’s hard to describe, but I was almost blowing from the back of my throat. I quickly learned that making a tighter embouchure helped in every aspect, including the fact that it doesn’t encourage salivation in the same way.
The other thing is the upper register. I suspect many beginners have more of a problem with blocking when they’re playing high notes, specially if they’re starting out on the low whistle as their first woodwind instrument. I saw definite improvements in moisture control within a few weeks as I learned to focus the air flow, and stopped feeling as if I needed to go at a top G like a bull at a gate.
I still clog it to some extent, specially as I tire and start to lose focus, and condensation in winter does make it worse, but I expect I’ll continue to get better as I learn to play a bit.
Some of us (myself included) are simply wet blowers. It may also have to do with temperature and humidity conditions where you are playing.
That being said, experiment with how you are positioning the whistle in your mouth and your actual mouth position, as recommended above. I also have reduced instances of clogging after modifying how I position my mouth. I don’t get as many clogging issues as I used to.
Some types of whistle also cause me to salivate a lot when I put them in my mouth. I find that this gradually decreases over time as you get used to it. It seems that swishing and drinking hot water before playing can help.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that some of the whistles that clog even after I’ve warmed them thoroughly in my hand and by blowing through it will stop clogging after I’ve played a few sets of tunes on them. This is the case with Löfgren whistles for me. I warm them in my hand and blow air through them and they will still clog at first, but after two sets of tunes I can play it for a long time with no clogging whatsoever.
Another thing that can be done is to suck in on the windway when you take breaths while playing. Some people find this gross, but I don’t give a float. If you start getting a clogged sound in the middle of the tune, this is an instant fix, though it takes a bit of practice to do it without getting thrown off. I have noticed more than one well known whistler do this during performances with harder blowing Goldies.
Whats so weird is this is how I feel when people would try to give a fix for Goldies clogging. Never worked for me. But my MK is immune to moisture issues. It makes no sense. I’m convinced my MK is just from a really good batch lol.
If someone could now invent an add-on whistle mouthpiece heater that works to keep the whistle mouthpiece so warm that clogging
is effectively eliminated, especially with the metal-mouthpiece whistles, they would provide a great solution. It’s too simple of an
idea. Imagine a mesh of wire in a flexible band that attaches to the mouthpiece, an On-Off switch and a AA battery holder just below, and your whistle
won’t clog again.
Funnily enough I already have a couple, the only drawback being that they’re currently stitched into my £200 heated mittens and I need them to stay there for now (I’m a disabled birdwatcher with destructive hand arthritis, and my fingers lose their blood supply when I’m sat in my powerchair in a stiff easterly). But one of them is bound to fail eventually, and I can then dismantle the still-working one to remove the rechargeable heated panel. Perfect!
A simple solution is to take one of those cloth rice bag things that is heated in the microwave to use for a sore back. Just put your whistles on it and fold the other half over them. They will all be warmed up and ready when you pick them up. This could be helpful if you’re using different keys of whistle for different tunes.
I had gone through several Goldies- hard blowers, soft blowers, medium blowers… they all clogged for me a lot more easily than most whistles. I haven’t played one for a long time, so I’m not sure if they would still clog so easily for me. Strangely, my Löfgren whistles are of a very similar all-aluminum construction and do not give me clogging issues.
I have had clogging issues with whistles that people claim do not clog, and I’ve had whistles that people say clog easily, without experiencing clogging issues. I really don’t have any such issues with any whistles I own anymore, provided I blow them out between sets. I would be interested to revisit Goldies eventually.
I do wonder if part of it has to do with how smooth the surface texture of the windway interior is, and this varying from whistle to whistle. I think some just aren’t as smooth inside and it allows the moisture to bead up more easily.
I got a chance to try an MK Pro for the first time today at a mate’s house. Lower register’s gorgeous, but blimey they’re heavy, and it’s like trying to hold onto a greased snake when you’ve got arthritis.
It did block slightly after a few minutes, but to be fair it was freezing cold when I picked it up (didn’t feel quite right to yank the head off somebody else’s whistle and shove it down my bra band to warm up), and the clogging was fairly slight. One thing I noticed is that clearing it by covering the ramp with a fingernail and blowing sharply does expel the drop of moisture very cleanly, which doesn’t work nearly so well with a plastic head.
He offered me the loan of it for a couple of weeks as he’s got his head down composing for a show, so I’ll see how I get on. For all it’s a beautiful whistle and I’d love to get to grips with it, I’m quite glad I didn’t choose it as my first. I’d have found it hard work compared to my easy blowing, light-as-a-feather Howard, and initial progress would have been slower because I can’t hold it for as long.
I totally agree, the smoother the better, I’d say. The aluminium may well also further oxidise, and make a windway less mooth, and tighter too. Sometimes smoothening it with the use of 1200 grit metal sanding paper, folded a few times to suit the windway height, may be a good thing.
Heh heh, Hans, I’m contrasting your “1200 grit metal sanding paper” with my hot-off-the-lathe experiments in Delrin, where the remaining spiral groove from the cutting tool is still visible and tangible. I guess I should at least move to round-tipped tools, even for experiments! Sigh, back to the grindstone…
Now, I must say I’m still struggling a bit to imagine the workings of these new-fangled whistles like the Mk series. I’ve not seen one in the live (it’s been quiet down here in Australia lately!), nor have I seen a decent close-up image (that might be my fault - please feel free to point me at one!).
Am I right in concluding that we have two sections, a head and a body, and…
The head has:
an outer cylindrical shell, in pretty-coloured anodised aluminium, with an elongated D-shaped slot to reveal the window, ramp and some of the inner shell. It’s inner surface forms the ceiling of the windway?
an inner aluminium cylindrical shell which forms the bore, the sides of the windway, the window and the ramp. It’s wall thickness therefore being fairly important!
a stopper which plugs the front of the inner shell, forming the floor of the windway, and
a socket at the other end to receive the tuning slide? Brass-lined, or just bored into the aluminium?
And the body has:
the same outer cylindrical shell, in pretty-coloured anodised aluminium, to maintain the same outer diameter?
the same inner cylindrical shell to continue the bore at the same diameter?
a brass tuning slide set in which then engages with the head socket.
That more-or-less correct or have I missed something important?
That would seem to make the wall thickness of the body relatively thick, which we’ve seen with some wooden cylindrical whistles tends to exacerbate the flattening of the top notes. That an issue with these whistles, or have they found a sneaky work-around?
I don’t see any obvious way that the head parts are held together (say unlike the pin through the mouthpiece end of the Killarney). Can these be disassembled for maintenance, or do you have to work with what you’ve got?
an outer cylindrical shell, in pretty-coloured anodised aluminium, with an elongated D-shaped slot to reveal the window, ramp and some of the inner shell. Its inner surface forms the ceiling of the windway? Yes.
an inner aluminium cylindrical shell which forms the bore, the sides of the windway, the window and the ramp. It’s wall thickness therefore being fairly important! Not exactly. The double layer of aluminium appears to be just the mouthpiece, windway and ‘frame’ of the window; lower down the head, the end of the aluminium liner presumably buts up to the start of a brass liner that engages with the tuning slide.
a stopper which plugs the front of the inner shell, forming the floor of the windway Yes.
and
a socket at the other end to receive the tuning slide? Brass-lined, or just bored into the aluminium? Yes, brass-lined.
And the body has:
the same outer cylindrical shell, in pretty-coloured anodised aluminium, to maintain the same outer diameter? Yes.
the same inner cylindrical shell to continue the bore at the same diameter? It’s hard to see. The top of the inner shell is the brass tuning slide itself, which continues down into the body; however, when you look at the toe end of the whistle it looks like a single thickness of aluminium (and it is thick, it’s a heavy beastie). It must be an outer and a liner that are fused together by some witchcraft or other, as it doesn’t look as if the whole body is brass-lined…however, I suppose it’s possible it is, and the brass is painted the same colour as the aluminium.
a brass tuning slide set in which then engages with the head socket. Yes.
If that makes any sense, it’ll be a miracle! I’ll take some photos tomorrow, when it’s light.
As for the top notes, I’m having a bit of trouble getting it to sing—but I’m a novice who’s not been playing long. It’s a breathy whistle that somehow also manages to have a lot of volume and focus at the bottom end, but the top end just sounds breathy and a bit unsatisfactory when I play it. It does take some filling for a beginner.
Bravo Moof for those confirmations and corrections - very helpful. I look forward to any images you can manage.
And thanks for your early impressions! It will be interesting to see if anyone has a dramatically different reading on it. I’m particularly interested to know how the wall thickness impacts the tuning. Sounds like it does impact the weight. Lucky it’s aluminium and not copper! Still, saves on all that time at the gym…
I’ve got a green low D MK whistle here, on loan. Don’t know if it is called a “Pro”. I am not too keen on some of the aspects, but I can observe the physical thing:
Window width is 12mm, window length 9mm (quite large to my standards), block protrusion 1mm, chamfered, a windway height of more than 1mm, 1.2 or 1.3mm I’d say. The labium is curt very steep. This makes it an easy blower, and it needs a lot of air for the upper second octave IMO.
I won’t describe the various tubes, all well machined. But I see that the head has a bore restriction, similar to Overton whistles, without it having a squashed body. At the window the width of the bore is the same as the window width, the window extends with straight flat faces downwards to the bottom of the tube. The bottom of the bore at the window is curved, but the sides are flat, making the bore much thinner at the window end. This restriction is extending further southwards than the labium, all together from the block to about 20mm. It looks that this is part of the aluminium block design, so that the block is cut originally 20mm longer, then a slot with the width of the window is cut out, so that this part of the block extension serves as a bore restriction, no doubt for octave tuning.
(I hope this describes the head bore restriction with enough accuracy, it is pretty impossible to take a photo of it).
