Hi everyone,
the only tunable whistle I have is a Dixon w/ brass slide. I like to wash my whistles fairly often, and it’s a slight hassle to re-grease the tuning slide every time I wash my Dixon. Do all tunable whistles need this kind of maintenance, or are there designs that don’t need grease? Thanks for any info.
Aaron
I’ve never had to grease my Dixon. That must be one tight tuning slide!
The other option is you could just wash the plastic and not mess with the brass.
Redwolf
A well fitted brass on brass tuning slide should not need greasing. Never do it to any of the ones I make, and don’t recommend it to customers. Just keep the slide nice and clean. If it’s too tight, you can try “sanding” the male half of the slide carefully with 4-0 steel wool, or 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Work carefully, bit by bit, testing often for fit.
Also, it’s a good idea to store your whistle in two pieces-- moisture gets in between the halves of the tuning slide and can cause corrosion of the brass.
hi aaron,
i’d use cork grease http://www.brookmays.com/prod_disp.asp?itemnum=SS2222
Actually, I would like my Dixon tuning slide to be a bit tighter. Sometimes it even slips while I am playing it. I’ve been thinking of using a little beeswax on it. Is there any reason that I shouldn’t?
Mike
Just use the beeswax sparingly as a first try. It should make it definitely tighter with just a dab.
Hi everyone,
thanks for the replies. The tuning slide on my Dixon is pretty tight; I couldn’t put the whistle back together without grease. It’s brass-on-plastic rather than brass-on-brass, so I don’t know if that might create more friction.
The thing is, I’d rather not use grease at all! It’s gooey, sticks to things, etc.
Aaron
Will beeswax work on a PVC whistle as well? My Water Weasel A has a loose “tuning slide” as well…
The grease that comes with the M&E PVC flutes, meant to be used on the PVC tenons, is “toilet sealing gasket” which, in turn, is made mostly of beeswax. It’ll probably work fine on a Water Weasel (or email Glenn Schultz, ask him what he’d use, and post it here to let us know!).
g
Beeswax rules for all sorts of things. I use it for steel, plastic, brass… it is easy to clean off with acetone, and easy to reapply, and produces wonderful airtight seals. I don’t know any reason to use anything else!`
serpent