My favorite whistle right now is the Burke C Brass Pro. To me, it has a full round tone, slightly flutey sound, is easy to play, and has just a tiny bit of resisitance (unlike the DAN) that allows for some expressive playing.
Just one problem. It’s made of brass. Has anyone come across a whistle in the high keys that has similar playing characteristics but is made of something else?
Thanks for any suggestions.
Here’s a recomendation, however please check it you with your whistlemaker first to make sure this is okay for that kind of whistle.
There is a brand of spray on clear shellac. It’s what I use on brass whistles. Shellac is one of the oldest clearcoating materials around, it’s also one of the least toxic. In fact, there is a confectioners grade shellac that is used in candy. Shellac has been used to spray wood that has been burn, it seals out the odor.
First, clean the whistle well with alcohol or acetone.
If you spray a whistle with it, you’ll need to spray inside the bore as well to seal out the brass smell.
Then let it dry thoroughly. After that, you can put the whistle on a stick or dowel and spray the exterior. The coating goes on better if the whistle is warm. You can heat it up with hair dryer. Be careful to spray it away from flame. Shellac is alcohol based. If you mess up, you can clean it up with alcohol.
You might want to put a piece of paper down in the windway to protect it from getting shellac in it.
Note: The brass finish will keep a lot longer with the shellac on it as well. You might want to shine it up before you spray it.
When I saw the title of this thread, I thought maybe someone was telling me to switch to a better brand of anti-perspirant! 
Daniel: Thanks a lot. Sounds like it will help. A few questions.
There is a brand of spray on clear shellac.
–Can you suggest a brand and do you get it at the hardware store?
Shellac is one of the oldest clearcoating materials around, it’s also one of the least toxic.
–My memory of shellac from the old days is that it has a strong smell itself, but maybe they’ve made some advances now or the smell wears off?
First, clean the whistle well with alcohol or acetone.
–OK to use rubbing alchohol?
Muchas thank yous!
BrassBlower: I only hate stinky brass. Stinky brass blowers are da bomb!
Boo
Doesn’t Burke make the same whistle in Aluminum? That might be your best bet, and you could sell the brass one.
If you have a good woodwind repair shop near where you live, they might be able to spray the brass whistle with whatever it is they use on trumpets, sousaphones, etc. This might be more durable than shellac. Ask them to use masking tape on the whistle blade as lacquer on this area might affect the tone of the whistle
Thanks for the repair shop suggestion, Paul. The Burkes are a good case of where material matters. I have a D alum. and tried a C composite. The DAN is brighter, more focused in tone; the composite was more reedy. Both are nice but the brass and this particular model alone seems to have that mellower tone and that bit of back pressure I like. Up 'til now, I haven’t tried to match this whistle in tone, but have tried to find another C I liked as much or better. I just keep getting drawn back to this whistle and lamenting its high stinky factor.
What if you got Mike to send you a new mouthpiece with the delrin tip. It takes the brass out of your mouth. I have a black tipped brass D and it tastes fine to me.
At the risk of being politically incorrest, I use Brasso to clean my brass Burkes. Reminds of me of when I was a lot younger. I found that my old M-16 rifle cleaning rod and patches are the best way to clean all my whistles.
tjs
I haven’t extensively tested this yet, but I did polish a Chieftain Gold(brass) high D, and then put a beeswax mixture on it, and it hasn’t tarnished in a month. I haven’t played it either, but it’s not slippery, and might be an alternative.
You also might try a canauba wax like they have for classic cars, but I would check the ingredients if it’s made for cars, for suspicious additives.
Cascade complete cleans the interior crud from whistles well, and might alleviate some of the smell for you.
What does it do to the finish of Brass whistles?
Hi John,
If it’s an uncoated brass, it will just shine it up a bit. It has enzymes that work on organic material. If you have a shellack finish over the brass, it might remove some of that, but I haven’t tried it on a coated brass yet.
If you really want to get that brass looking and smelling clean as new, follow these directions from our old friend Zub:
Heat a glass or two of vinegar in a pan, bring it to boiling while dissolving kitchen salt in it to saturation. I.e. keep adding salt and stirring until the salt doesn’t seem to dissolve any more. It does take a lot, like half-a-glass of salt.
Watch out, do this soup in a well ventilated kitchen: there’s chlorine evaporating.
Let it cool outside. Pour in a bottle, slowly to leave the salt deposit in the pan. Stopper the bottle for storage.
This liquid is non toxic, use it on a rag to remove stains on brass/copper whitles (I clean my Sindt with it). Wipe dry. If you dislike the faint vinegar smell remaining, wash with soapy water before drying.
I use it on my Sindts and it works great!
Mike
The Shellac spray is: Zinsser 12 Oz. Bulls Eye® Clear Shellac Spray Item #: 185436 sold at Lowes stores.
Parks also makes a Shellac spray. It works as well, but I don’t know what stores Parks is carried in now.
Shellac Info: http://www.zinsser.com/pdf/TDB/BE_SprShell.pdf
Use a two or three coats applied with a bit of time between each.
I would be very careful about subjecting a brass or aluminum whistle to Cascade. I have, in my younger days, put items of both brass and aluminum into a dishwasher with Cascade, and it ate the hell out of the aluminum and seriously discolored the brass. I can also recall watching industrial strength aluminum pans dissolve away to nothing when washed repeatedly in a dishwasher. Maybe the stuff is milder now, a kinder, gentler Cascade, but I personally wouldn’t put anything I cared about in a dishwasher.
Of course, I don’t have a dishwasher, but if I did, I wouldn’t put a brass or aluminum whistle in it, if I had a brass or aluminum whistle.
Thanks a lot for the additional info and tips. Very helpful! 
This sounds like an incredibly abrasive substance. You say you have done this to your own whistles? For how long? And they don’t have any extra wholes in them yet?
This sounds like an incredibly abrasive substance. You say you have >done this to your own whistles? For how long? And they don’t have any >extra wholes in them yet?
It shouldn’t be abrasive: you leave the excess salt crystals behind. It’s also a chemical action, so you shouldn’t really have to rub much at all.
Paul is correct, this is not abrasive. You don’t really rub it at all really. I use a cleaning swab to spread the solution on the whistle and on the inside of the barrel and fipple, letting the excess run out the mouth piece.
It takes seconds for it to work. Then I rinse everything thoroughly.
One thing I did that I don’t think is in the directions for amking the solution is to run the finished product through a coffee filter. Actually I used three seperate filter.
A nice cheap solution that really does work. And for some reason, the brass doesn’t tarnish so fast. Not sure why, just doesn’t.