I’ll introduce myself, I’m new here on this board and am from Nashville, IN. Am new to whistles too, but have been interested in them for quite some time. I did buy an old brass whistle, in D from the UK. It looks to be very well made, but due to its age needs a little soldering, or repair. I’d love to be able to use this grand old instrument and wonder if anyone out there can tell me if it IS possible to repair them, or if it’s a lost cause. The damage is mostly in the fipple area where the brass has a small crack. There is no wooden piece in the wind area, as the Clarke whistles have. It is similar in construction to Overton whistles that are made today. Any advice you want to offer would be most appreciated. Thanks very much. 
Hi, Kathy.
Phil at BigWhistle forwarded me an email about your whistle. I’m sending you an email response.
Welcome to Chiff&Fipple. I grew up in Evansville, so you’re not far from my old haunts.
Best wishes,
Jerry
I was just sending a pm to katshan for her to get in touch with you Jerry, but my computer locked up. By the time I rebooted you had already answered.
Great minds think alike 
Katshan, Welcome to Chiff and Fipple.
Soldering is a difficult art to master, but repair is very possible. If you want an easy repair, I suggest using tape on the inside over the crack and filler of Superglue. Remove the tape after the glue is dry and smooth the area with a Q-tip damp with finger nail polish (Acetone). The repair will be visible but the Superglue can be removed later with Acetone when/if soldering is done.
The Fipple Plug can be made of Basswood or Balsa wood, found in most hobbie/craft stores. These woods are soft and easy to carve with a razor knife. Make a plug that will fit loose, carve a windway channel that is the same width as the window and apply a layer of rubber cement to the outside but not the faces or the carved windway channel. Rubber cement is easy to peel away when dry and will allow you to “re-do” any mistakes in placement. Here is a site with diagrams that may help…
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/6611/makewhis.htm
Insert the plug until it is just proud of the upper windway lip. viewed through the window. The slight extension of the plug will align the airstream slightly upward for proper oscillations. This can be done best by looking strait down from on top of the voicing window.
Post again if you have problems and the many “expert” instrument makers here will surely provide answers.
Thomas Hastay.
I’m just amazed at the helpful assistance here on this site! Thanks to all of you. Thankfully, I’m already now in touch with Jerry Freeman and he has graciously offered to take a look at my whistle and I’m sending it off to him on Monday.
As far as I can see it never did have any kind of wooden insert in the windway. It’s straight brass and it’s conical, not cylindrical. The craftsmanship looks very good, I think it was a very well made whistle in its day, and even in modern terms. The windway is very thin, no room for any kind of insert that I could imagine.
Again, thanks so much for your suggestions and help and getting me on the right track. It would be a delight to be able to play this great old instrument.
Katshan, Be sure to keep us posted. If you can it’d be neat if you posted some before and after photos. Jerry’s a great guy. I’ve got two of his whistles and they are superb. I’m sure he can help if something can be done. Good luck.
Well… I never took a before picture and now I’ve already got it packed up, taped up and in a container ready to go on Monday, so I won’t have a “before” picture, unless Jerry can take one when he gets it??? Maybe that’s a good idea and would be another testament to his work. I surely will take an “after” picture and I’ll ask Jerry if he would be interested in taking a “before” picture we can all see the results. Thanks for the suggestion and I will keep you all posted on the outcome! Thanks one and all.