I have started playing an Oak nickel-plated D whistle. I’m pretty new to whistle so forgive me if this is old hat:
Anywhere my fingers touch (thumbs in the back, holes in the front) is getting discolored.
Is it me? Am I doomed to stain whistles wherever I go? Is it the nickel? Would a brass whistle do the same thing? I’d hate to (someday) buy a really nice whistle just to see it get all stained up.
Thoughts? Comments?
K
This is normal.
A whistle with a nice patina on it around the tone holes is viewed by players as being a very special whistle, because it’s the one that’s been getting all the play time.
–James
You can clean nickel with a polish if you wish, like Simichrome or Flitz polish. Just be careful, some polishes can wear through to the brass if done too often (I think those two are pretty safe). It’s better to polish it less often, but be sure to wipe it down after playing with a soft rag, if you like it shiny.
Many banjos are plated in nickel, which is the less desirable material to chrome plating. If you don’t wipe your banjo (or whistle) after playing, it will corrode and will be very difficult to remove later. As James said, many people like a played look in a whistle, others do not!
The best product I have come across to puit the shine back into the whistle is called BLUE MAGIC. Its a liquid metal polish which is safe and non-abbrassive to all metals including chrome, aluminum, copper and if you can believe this it also shines up synthetic materials.
It doesn’t have a harsh odor and doesn’t leave that black residue all over the surface.
I think I pickedit up at Wally mart (Wal-mart) for $4.00.
Good Luck.
My opinion is that a good whistle should look well played. My aluminium whistles doesn’t suffer from these discolorations though. Both brass and nickel seems to get discolored very easily. I have many Generation D’s, it’s not difficult to tell the good ones apart from the bad ones just by looking at them 
Anywhere my fingers touch (thumbs in the back, holes in the front) is getting discolored.
Funny, but copper does exactly the opposite. The finger holes/holds stay brilliantly shiny while the rest of the whistle gradually darkens to a beautiful rainbow patina (that being the major reason that I wax my whistles rather than spray-coat them in plastic).