I have an Oak C whistle that I received as a gift. Some of the notes just don’t sound right. Is it possible to non-destructively tweak this whistle?
Yes it is you might want to try the tweaking guide. From my experience Oaks are finnished very well so there is no need to look for particulate to sand down. It probly has a very stable octave switch as well. What I would suggest that you do is apply some wax to the inside of the mouthpiece as described in the tweaking guide. To fill in the gap under the blade. This should make your Oak sing like a bird. Be very carefull with rough or sharp objects though. From my experience the Oak’s mouthpiece is really sensitive to scratches and pitting. But the wax can do wonders. try this link
http://www.chiffandfipple.com/tweak.html
Paulsdad,
I have an Oak C that I’ve tweaked. It sounds great. I basically followed the instructions on this site. However, before getting to the Oak C I destroyed 4 or 5 whistles while learning how to do it right. If you want to hear how a well-tweaked Oak C sounds, send me your un-tweaked whistle and I’ll then send you my tweaked. I’ll cover the cost of my shipping just to say, thanks for trusting a stranger.
E-mail me if interested and I’ll give you my address.
Tom