Had to pick someone up at the bus stop, and got there a bit early. So, reached into the door pocket of the car, as one does, to while away the time more profitably and enjoyably than reading the news on the phone. And out came on old Generation D whistle, probably dating back to 1975 when I bought boxes of the things! Green plastic head stuck firmly on, very tarnished brass body, a few minor dings, but the “Generation British Made” sticker still intact!
And, a few tunes in, I realised why it had been banished to the door pocket of the car. It worked “OK-ish”, but not great - tending towards the dirty/harsh sound that is our topic. And a glance up through the foot towards the wide-open Australian sky revealed why - not the sliver of light we like to see, but a good solid band, maybe 40% of the windway height. Well, we don’t put up with that sort of thing these days, do we.
So, off with its head, using spirit-burner heat to soften the glue. Then lower the ramp base with the full credit card thickness, held on with rubber-enhanced superglue, using the now well-trusted forceps, rubber band and blu-tack placement method. And when set, trimming back the card protruding into the window using the scalpel. I found I needed to trim it all the way back to recover enough volume, and so had to cut away a bit of the original ramp to restore the sharp point. But it came up well. Looking up the tube now showed just a tiny sliver of daylight.
There was a bit of a surprise when I went to check the tuning, but that turned out to be operator error. I’d been investigating a 19th century flute and had left my phone tuner set to A 435! Whew!
The highly tarnished brass tube responded well to some 400 grit wet & dry paper, followed up by fine steel wool, but I had to leave some corrosion around the Generation sticker. But the tube feels smooth and good under the hands again, although Moof might have preferred the previous “guaranteed-non-slip” finish!
So interesting to be able to experience again the kind of whistles I grew up with - not as they were - unless you fluked a good one - as they should all have been! It’s really pretty good - good tuning, good voice, smooth across the range, no nasties.
So back out into the car door pocket tomorrow. And then we’ll see what happens to superglue, credit cards and blu-tack cavity filler when left in a car during the long hot Australian Summer to come! We’ve already had a taste of mid-thirties (C) heat (~95ºF), and it’s only 22 days into Spring!
If you sprained your ankle and got strapped up at the local clinic, it took days of soaking your foot in water to remove the flaming plaster without taking all the skin off with it.
!