Rusting in whistles

Whistle
1

Hi all,
A few days ago, I looked at the inside of my whistle from the key holes and I discovered that there are tiny little bits of what seemed to me as rust in it. Does it happen after some time? Is the rusting of the interior of a penny whistle normal? IS MY WHISTLE OKAY ?!? As far as I can tell, there is nothing wrong with the sound.
:confused:

(For the record, I use a Clarke Sweetone.)

Glad if you can help,
Yavuz

2

I havenā€™t had any problems with my Sweetone rusting although Texas is a dry climate. The Sweetones appear to be plated metal so they could possibly rust if the plating wore off but that seems unlikey inside the whistle.

Iā€™d try cleaning out the whistle with a cotton swab and take a closer look at the ā€œrust.ā€ It might just be gunk collecting in the barrel. Your breath condenses inside the whistle when you play and the moisture picks up all sorts of dirt and dust floating around in the air. (If you play you whistle after eating without brushing your teeth, you will add to the gunk by blowing tiny food particles into the whistle!) The inside of the whistle should be kept reasonably clean, as a heavy build-up of gunk will affect the sound.

If it is rust, I wouldnā€™t worry about it as long as the whistle sounds OK. Just shake or blow the moisture out of the whistle after you play it (a good idea anyway -see above).

3

Your whistle is fine. Because they are conical, Clarkes are hard to
swab out, so living with rust is common among SweeTone players. It
wonā€™t affect the sound, though in 20 years time, you might have to
shell out $8 for a new one when the metal structure becomes too weak.

SweeTones are not coated on the inside as well as they are on the
outside. They can and do rust, especially around the toneholesā€™
edges and the whistleā€™s seam, where the coating either wears off
quicker or was not applied thoroughly.

4

Hmm, i see. Thanks a bunch!

5

I think rusty Clarkes are cool-looking as long as the part rusted isnā€™t the part you have to put in your mouth. :stuck_out_tongue:

6

20 years time ? ;x
my sweetones wear out after about 4-6 months of playing :stuck_out_tongue:
rust, dents, the fipple wearing out,ā€¦
but who cares about investing 10-20 dollar every few months :stuck_out_tongue: