Before I bore myself by trying to search the 50 million posts on “tweaking”…
bit of quick advice here?
for some demented reason, I decided to put some blue-tac, and got the durned head twisted about a quarter turn, then that’s it. It is so stuck.
My husband says he will get the wrench if that’s what I really want, but we have both tried and can’t get the head to budge. And it was a fairly good Oak, too.
We’ve tried hot water, and cold. I have never had this problem with any other whistle.
Whatever possessed me? Now I’m committed, b/c I can’t play it the way it is
I’d poor boiling water over the neck. Where the whistle meets the tube. Careful dipping it in boiling water. I dipped one in boiling water once, and when I grabbed the head to pull it off, it had softened up enough that I warped the windway. Way warped.
Take the head off anyway you can. Then replace it with a Hoover whitecap or black cap. Then it will become something special.
BTW VB that is how I bought my whitecap. I foolishly let the whistle set in the cup of boiling water on the beak. It resulted in a 90 degree bend. So I emailed Mack.
this has happened to me with Brass instruments (not like a Sindt, like a Trumpet) I used hot water on the female end and after a few minutes of running hot water on it it came off. That is my advice.
No, don’t ruin the Oak head. I had that problem too once.
What I did to help with the grip, is wrap rubber bands around the tube in a long enough of a line to make a rubber handle. It really helped me twist a sticky Oak head. It takes maybe six or eight rubber bands, triple or quadruple wrapped. One around the head might help too, but i didn’t need it. You can use this in conjunction with the hot water technique, but don’t use boling water.
I think I will try the rubber band thing, if I can scrounge up enough of them.
Yeah, I am not into ruining my OakHead, I like the Oak. I actually may be one of the few people on the planet who is not particularly taken with the Whitecap… (don’t flame me, I’ll cry)
While the hot water trick is usually used to melt the glue, I don’t think that the glue is your problem since you moved the head already. In my opinion, it would logically make a lot more sense to dip the metal part of the whistle in ice-water to “shrink it” instead of expanding it with hot water. Metal being a good heat conductor, if the tube shrinks by even 1/1000 of an inch, that should in theory provide less pressure on the head, which being plastic and not exposed to the direct cold temperature shouldn’t shrink at all.
I like both the Oak and the Hoover. But they’re not the same at all. They’re not interchangabe. The Hoover has its uses and the Oak, its uses. I really like playing the Oak at session.
my husband thought of cooling it, too.
I gave him the whistle, and he tried a few things, including putting it in the freezer briefly, but short of grabbing the wrench, he couldn’t get it to move, either.
Anyway, I’ll see what I can do with it after work today.
I’m off!
And regor is correct, the Oak heads aren’t glued. Ice water on the tube will shrink it the teeniest bit.
There is a tiny flair on the end of the tube, that you could file off if you wanted to make the head easier to get off in the future. Mack Hoover actually turned mine on a lathe or something when he fit it for a Whitecap.
If you get to that point, use vicegrips instead of a wrench. Wrap the head with a little bit of washcloth, then adjust the vicegrips to fit tightly on the part of the head that covers the body. Take one of those rubber jar openers (a small rubber circle you can get in the kitchen tool isle at Target or the grocery store), and grip the body close to the head. Pull before twisting.
I tried (and failed) to get the head off an Oak D that played too sharp, even when cold. I managed to move it about 1/4", enough to bring it in tune, and left it at that. Aren’t these marketed as “tuneable”?!!?
My husband wrapped black electrician tape all over it, held the head over a flame, then used two wrenches to pull and twist at it, and it finally came OFF!
I put some blu-tak, coated it with grease, and stuck the head back on, and now it is stuck halfway on, won’t go any further!!!
But at least the head is lined up with the holes.
It plays flat, but with a nicer clearer sound, just a twee bit less raspy.
I am going to be happy with it as is… I won’t be playing it with others, anyway.
Why oh why didn’t I file the little flange off as suggested? (probably b/c we don’t have a tool for that)
I actually am not a fan of the Whitecap myself. I prefer some hting with more volume and I think that the Whitecap had more back pressure than my Bleazey and it cloggs easily. I have heard Feadogs and Oaks have the same manufacturer and Feadogs are know for having tight heads.
My Oak cracked and is now ruined. It started at the bottom of the head, which I taped, and now it’s up into the blade. Now I need to get another, then pry off the head, then tweak it…
I went through a lot of the same stuff with my favorite Oak. I finally got the head off, filled the cavity, and while trying to get it back on the tube, the fipple got a hairline crack in it. So I sanded the inside of the fipple so it wouldn’t be so tight, but now it’s tight when it first slides on the tube, but then gets looser when it slides further onto the tube where it’s in tune, so it moves in and out of tune if I’m not careful. All worth it, because it’s a great whistle. It gets played as much or more than my Sindt, Humphrey, or Burke. I have two other Oaks, they’re not quite as good but still very good. They’re by far my favorite cheapie, I love the pop and the bright, clear tone, and of the three I’ve bought, all are keepers.
I’ve also cut a slight bevel on the lower edge of the windway exit, it seems to help strengthen the lower notes, which is the only weakness I can find in the Oaks. This bevel idea came from a post by Gary Humphrey, who suggested it as a way to strengthen the bell note. It seems to have worked, but it’s a delicate operation. You need a long, thin exacto blade to do it.
(don’t flame me, I’ll cry)
