My goodness. I got a METAL AND PLASTIC 20-or-so-year-old whistle on eBay. I kid you not - when it arrrived, it had 20 years of crud, muck, DNA and grime filling its interior. Some of the finger holes were playing with different diameters than intended, as they were filled with crud. The windway was visibly clotted and the entire tube looked full of yuck. I had to soak it and SERIOUSLY clean it before putting it in my mouth. I cannot believe that someone would sell a whistle in that condition. It takes all kinds, I suppose.
Wow. I couldn’t handle that either. I’m not a germophobe or anything but that sounds pretty nasty. I’ve bought a few second hand whistles in my time and I always sterilize the heck out of them regardless of their appearance. Luckily I haven’t had a whistle come to me yet that had things growing on it 
No, no, don’t break the chain!!! You’ve sanitized the tradition!! 
Ish! That’s really sort of disgusting. Maybe if a person had never played the whistle she might not realize where all that stuff comes from, but I would be seriously grossed out. Sadly, I have no trouble imagining that someone would sell a whistle in that condition.
I read a quotation once that I think was attributed to Winston Churchill but I’ve not been able to confirm that he said it. Anyway, it goes:
“It doesn’t take all kinds, there are all kinds.”
I thought that was a pretty good summation of the general predicament.
You may have killed the germs but also may have killed the value of a potentially historic piece (I watch Antiques Roadshow)…that whistle may have had old sod from the Ould Sod in there or even original snuff (that could explain the DNA).
Actually, eBAY has guidelines for laundering garments, etc but apparently none for tin whistles.
If he bought to play with, it did what any player would have done…
I haven’t written to the seller. And I haven’t left feedback. I couldn’t leave positive feedback without mentioning the crud, but that would be pretty negative.
It was the dirtiest whistle I had ever seen.
So, how did you clean it? What’d you soak it in? Are there some cleaning fluids that could be harmful?
And to everyone…if you are in a music store and allowed to try out whistles, would you bring along something to at least wipe off the mouthpiece with before and after? What would you use?
The only individual we can demand live by the standards we impose is ourself. We can only be hopeful of the rest.
Perhaps think of it as a restoration project or an archeological find.
At least you have a new whistle. There may just be a treasure waiting to be discovered.
I soaked it in hot water with liquid soap. I cleaned it with paper towels and swabs. I soaked it over and over, and I cleaned it over and over. The “nickel silver,” which is actually a white brass, did get some surface tarnish from the soaking. I was able to wipe that off easily with an impregnated polishing cloth.
But eeeeew!
Jessie- Just think of it as preparation for what you’ll find in your kids’ rooms in a few years!
Ammonia cleaners and plain old bleach (Clorox here in the States) are both excellent germ, mold and fungus killers. I doubt either of them would hurt the metal or the plastic on whistle but you can dilute them and still have a very effective disenfectant. Rinse off the whistle before you play it though you needn’t get anal about it. When I was overseas in the 70’s, we regularly added a tablespoon of Clorox to a gallon of drinking water to kill the bugs. The worse that happened to me was I grew up to play the whistle.
Sanitizing Wooden whistles from eBay – any thoughts on this? I wouldn’t want to boil my second hand Abell or soak a Fred Rose in Clorox. Any good ideas?
how about a before and after picture?
Anti-bacterial dishsoap and water, used on the mouthpiece and windway should be fine. The same solution on a damp rag should be no problem for the vast majority of wooden whistle bodies.
Loren
Oh man, if that sort of thing bothers you, don’t EVER take up the Highland Bagpipes. It’s not umcommon for a pipe major to take someone’s reed out, lick it, pinch it, blow on it, place it back in the chanter and then play the pipes, then hand them back to the player without a blink. And you don’t want to even ask what is inside the bag of most highland pipes…there’s a reason why pipers drink…it’s to kill the mold.
eeewwww…
Dave