Recently got a new Clare two-piece whistle. I wanted to remove the head to clean out some extraneous bits of metal (in the tube) and plastic (in the head). For those who have removed the head, what technique did you use? This one doesn’t seem to want to move with simple twisting by hand.
Thanks and best wishes,
Steve
‘Throw’ it a few times into the tube of a C whistle. That will do it.
Yes that worked for me too, but, I don’t think my Clare head was fastened too tight to begin with. Twisting by hand did not work but gentle dropping into the C tube did work. I kind of like the Clare whistle especially for the current price.
Well, that ain’t working for me. Must be some new glue that Mr. La Bas is using. If I keep it up I’ll soon have a C# instead of a C whistle as the receptor…
Best wishes.
Steve
That’s odd. I have yet to meet a whistle that wouldn’t submit to perhaps three or four attempts at that treatment.
Time to bring in the blowtorches?
Could it just be the shorter “throw” and the smaller tube mass of a 2 part whistle (only using the top section I would have thought).
Yes, I thought that as well. Or considered it at least. For it to work there needs to be a certain amount of force and the short distance and lesser weight of the half tube will impact that.
Potential thesis material ?
Best wishes.
Steve
Newton’s second law of motion 332 years late.
My suggestion would be to contact Clare Whistle for advice. They are on Facebook. However, I would note several points. Sadly, David Le Bas is no longer with us. His death notice can be found here: https://notices.irishtimes.com/death/le-bas-david/41222542 . I am not sure who is currently the acting principal of the manufacturing concern. It may be his widow, Olive.
For myself, I am using beeswax and petroleum jelly to allow for some adjustment of the joint to give a little tuning scope. I have not attempted to break the bond of the whistle head itself.
Bob
Sorry to hear of Mr. Le Bas’s passing. The Clare Whistle web site hasn’t been updated and still lists him as living in Dublin. Hence the confusion on my part.
To get to A=440, I need to move the head about 3/16". I can do that at the joint but it begins to get close to where the parts will separate. I figure there is more scope to move the head—if only I could move it. I sent a note to the company and am awaiting a response.
Best wishes.
Steve
For those in future generations reading this thread seeking enlightenment, none here (yet).
Got a response from Olive Le Bas at Clare Whistles who offered the following, "We don’t use glue to fit the heads, they are just slipped on to the brass barrel.
“However, some fit a little tighter than others, and don’t adjust too easily. Usually running it under hot water expands it enough to be adjusted. You could try it again until the plastic mouthpiece becomes quite warm and try to move it then.”
Didn’t work the first couple of times. I’m wondering whether heat just makes both the head and the barrel expand a bit, getting things even tighter. So I’ll try the refrigerator first and then maybe the freezer. I’ll probably end up ordering another whistle when I destroy the head on this one. Live and learn.
Best wishes.
Steve
If you look it up (as I did once), ABS plastic expands more than brass when it is heated. Therefore, no, the head wouldn’t become tighter because of the expansion of the brass.
Edited to add:
Here’s the post where I mentioned it.
https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/tuning-the-untunable/99966/1
I was wondering whether the expansion of the plastic head would make it grip the tube more tightly…
Best wishes.
Steve
It’s a common misconception, but, no, it doesn’t work like that. When you heat a ring of solid brass or ABS plastic, the diameter increases. The diameter of the ABS plastic ring/sleeve will increase when heated, and since it has a higher expansion coefficient (4 to 5 times) than brass, its grip on the brass tube will lessen.
One factor I (and I suppose “we”) don’t know is how hot/warm the plastic heads are when the are put onto the brass tubes.
Hmm. I recall a demonstration at school where we were challenged to determine if a slightly oversized ball could fit through a thick metal ring, if the ring was heated (when cold it could not). It was a trick question of course, all of us knew hot things expand, but the point of the question was to show us that expansion is equal interior and exterior, so the ball still could not pass through (i.e. yes, the outer diameter increases, but the interior diameter decreases). If anything, freezing it would be the better option, but the risk of cracking may not make this worthwhile.
Perhaps plastic is different, but I think the temperature of the head only affects the glue present on other whistles.
Sorry, but you’re wrong. The internal diameter of a metal ring will get larger when it is heated. Every arc of the internal face of the ring will increase in length. You have misremembered the lesson, because what you propose is that metals shrink when heated, which is precisely the opposite of what actually happens. ABS plastic also expands when heated, and like metals, this does not decrease the internal diameter.
What I was wondering was how warm the heads are when put onto the tubes, if warm then they would shrink onto the tube. I know it’s commonly stated, but, personally, I’ve never experienced Generation whistle heads being glued (tubes lacquered, yes), and I seem to remember Jerry Freeman at some point saying that they’re not glued.
(Just removed a couple of heads … lacquer, but no evidence of glue).
Fun, totally irrelevant story. We had to fit a nickel 5 inch bearing into a stainless steel housing. The bearing, about 7.5 by 18 inch outer diameter was machined to an interference fit to the housing. That is the outer bearing diameter was too large to fit into the bearing housing/sleeve. I cannot remember the exact interference, but greater, I think than 0.040 inches. We dunked the bearing in a pail filled with liquid nitrogen. We topped up the pail a couple of times as the nitrogen furiously boiled off. We slathered up the interior of the bearing-housing with Syl-Glyde lubricant and played a propane torch on it until the housing/sleeve started to smoke. Using a crane, standing well back, we lifted and then slipped the bearing into the housing. It readily slid into place. It stood in the corner of the shop, loudly ‘singing’ and groaning for several hours while the temperatures equalized and the two pieces ‘married’.
Bob
As an update on removing the head on a Clare two-piece whistle. I just firmly grasped the head and the upper tube and twisted. Came right off. Note to Steve Bliven: You might try using ‘gripper gloves’ or, since I’m a geezer and have them on hand, a couple of those rubber thingies to grip and loosen stubborn twist bottle caps.
Now you must understand I am not a tremendous fan of the sound of the Clare fipple head. Just a little too unfocused and airy. But I did have a Freeman Tweaked Eb that I cut down and tweaked into an E whistle. I think it was a Blackbird whistle head, but at any rate it was black. Since it was sized to an Eb brass tube, it was a perfect fit for the upper tube of the Clare Whistle, and I now have a delightful addition to my whistle quiver: A Freeman Tweaked two piece D pocket whistle.
Bob