Taste Metal...

when i play my brass feadog D.. after i played i can sorta taste the metal… am i supoose to clean the whistle after i played it.. would it go rusty??
:confused:

Which end are you blowing into?

I never had that problem. I clean mine whenever I feel in the mood.

I haven’t experienced that with mine, either before or after changing to a Whitecap mouthpiece.

Brass doesn’t exactly “rust”, but if your lips turn green, that’ll be a clue that some undesirable chemical process is going on. Nice for St. Patrick’s Day, though. :smiley:

I made a little swab for mine by using a hacksaw to cut an inch-long slot in the end of a 1/4" dowel (14 inches long, with the ends sanded round). I wedge a little strip of cotton T-shirt material in the slot and swirl it through the barrel. I use that before putting any whistle away. (I also have a piece of guitar low E string with a hook at the end, for when the cloth comes out of the slot in the upper reaches of the barrel.)

For the mouthpiece, I use a narrow strip of cardboard with a drop or two of liquid dish soap on it. I only use that when I start having trouble with clogging.

:laughing:

Sequel: which end do you suck from?

Seriously

  1. do you tend to “steal breathes” by breathing through the whistle?

  2. If not, it may be an acidic perspiration from your fingers. Wash the whistle, spray the tube it with a household wax (Johnson Pliz rings a bell or is it strictly Euro market?) let dry a bit than polish: this will isolate the metal from sweat.

If this happened to me
I would consult my medical practitioner
or naturopath to test my copper and zinc levels .

It used to happen to me. I think it’s a matter of excessive saliva and breathing in through the whistle. Cleaning the whistle helped too.