So for a while now, my main travel whistle has been a jerry-tweaked sweetone. I play shows most weekends, when I use a whistle it is that one. For such a low price, it is a great whistle for what I needed. Now the bad news…last time i was putting it in it’s case, i must have shup hte case on the end of the whistle, because its somewhat crimped now. It doesn’t effect the tone all that much, but it still makes me sad.
Oh dear. There was a thread once about people who actually broke their whistles when they got mad. I just could not imagine doing violence to any musical instrument. They just seem like special things. I’m sorry for the accident to your whistle. I suppose if it still sounds okay then you can think of it as a scar from a battle that your whistle fought in valiantly and won. It was an accident, so you can just learn from it and let it go. I think your whistle forgives you.
I have extra Sweetone tubes. PM me your mailing address, and I’ll send you one.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Jerry is the winner of the 2006 Fipplie award for general sweetness.
I confess I have broken two whistles but neither on purpose.
Walton’s LBW’s are SO fragile!
I crimped the end more times than I can count by mistake and accidentally folded it in my pocket three different times.
With great care and effort (on a 5 dollar whistle) I was able to repair all these things every time, but the third “fold” split the whistle into two irreconsilable pieces. VERY upsetting end to my first whistle…bought on vacation in Ireland.
If those spare tubes from Jerry don’t work, I was able to fix crimps with a small diameter pen or wooden spoon handle. It has to be small enough to just slip inside the tube. If it’s bigger, the end of the the whistle ends up looking like a horn…or a blunderbuss. For crimps further up the tube, I found a pair of tapered chopsticks that were just the right size to corkscrew in and return roundness to the flattened tube. Enjoy your instrument.
Cheers,
Walter
As much as I like the LBW and it’s now tragically discontinued counterpart, the mighty Goldentone C, they really are TOO fragile. It’s a problem.
But since they are aluminum, when they get all bent out of shape, you can stick them in the dirt to hold up your pothos without fear of rusting.
Sweetones in general are a bit weak in strength. My two year old son has managed to destroy three of them, but the Oak he plays with is indestructable.
If it doesn’t affect the playing, it isn’t a defect. Consider it a war wound and be proud! Scratches, mended cracks, dings and the like are signs of a well loved instrument.
A friend has a low D Shaw with some major war wounds that he says have made it sound even better.
Hmmm… “well loved”… hmm… or, in my case, middle of the late night jam distraction… my high G Gen has that ‘well loved’ look… but it really is a story I can’t even remember, let alone relate. 
Of course, I suppose there’s always the not altogether impossible prospect that someone took extreme exception to my playing it and unprofessionally ‘tweeked’ it …
I suppose using a whistle in a bar fight is out of the question? 
Oh… Well, I wouldn’t say so. And I have the perfect suggestion:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=31011
YEAH, BABY - THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ ABOUT!
You will have to add to the review after you’ve actually used it, if you know what I mean! 