K, I bought a Gen. C a couple of weeks ago and after the fact found a little hunk string of plastic floating around the fipple that doesn’t belong so I tried the whole hot water to help me get the fipple off trick. After an hour of submerging my whistle, waiting, attempting to pull the two pieces apart and repeating the process (occasionally reheating the water) I’ve given up using that approach. Any other thoughts on how to go about this?
Funny this should come up, I did the same thing for the second time just today. I would soak it in water, place the lip of the fipple skirt part on the sharp corner of my counter and pulled down with all my weight. It just DOESN’T budge! I’m considering some sort of industrial solvent… I really don’t think it would get down deep enough to the glue though.
Any ideas would be appreciated my me, too.
of all the gens, the fipple of the C is the hardest to loosen. what you have to do is heat up the water even more, gradualy, until the fipple loosens. be carefull, if too hot you’ll destroy the fipple…be patient, it will work.
I had my water up to boiling. You can’t get hotter than boiling. The good thing is that it did not warp. The bad thing is that it still did not come off.
how long did you keep it in the boiling h2o?
Well, I would microwave a cup of water, take it out boiling and immediately stick the end in for about a minute at a time, although it only stayed boiling for about the first five or ten seconds it had to have been pretty close the rest of the time…
If you dip the whole fipple in boiling water, it is liable to warp. I did that to an Acorn one time. When I grabbed it to twist it off, I finished it off good.
I got it to work on a Gen C by putting it head down into the sink when I
was washing the dishes. I had to do it a few nights in a row. When the
dishes were done I twisted it wearing the rubber dishwashing gloves for
traction. After the third night it twisted off. Hope this helps, Lesl
Ya know…I wouldn’t immerse the entire head. Just heat the metal tube portion of the instrument immediately below the fipple with HOT running water for 5-10 minutes. Then twist like hell it should come off. I was able to budge a fairly stubborn C in this manner. Just be patient and apply a little strength, I’m no body builder but I could manage it.
OH.. try the blue tac thing, too, it really makes a world of difference for some Generation and Generation-style instruments.
Work with alternating hot and cold water, that helps for the Cs. When you do get the head off, you’ll have to sandpaper the inside of the head or the tube to make it fit again. Then you need cork grease, wax, or plumbers tape to prevent leaks.
Gen Cs respond very well to windway reduction. Highly recommended.
I finally gave up on the idea of tweaking Gen C’s and Bb’s because the only way I could get the fipples off was with a blowtorch. It kinda ruined the atmosphere with all the dripping hot plastic. Now I just play a Humphrey C and it comes to me in the mail sounding great, no tweaking necessary.
oh yeah, i remember, the blow-torch method! most preposterous tweak i’d ever heard of…
Whatever you do don’t set the whistle in a cup of boiling water fipple down and leave it for a while. I did this with an Oak and the fipple bent into an almost 90 degree angle cutting of all air flow. However a whitecap fixed it perfectly.
Ron
I found it definately helps to use a couple of the rubber grippers used to help open jars - one on the head and one on the tube.
Bob
I have used fireworks to get rid of that darn flapy seam thing on a blade once. The whistle actually turned out pretty good.
Well I just had a moment of feeling like a complete idiot. After spending that hour heating and tugging on the fipple last night and getting blisters on my palms to prove it then attempting the process again today, I remembered that I have this amazing solvent stuff called Oops at home. I put a little around the joint where the fipple joins to the metal and voila! It came right off. Oops is pretty cheap, can be bought anywhere, and is great at getting rid of stuff (warning, the fumes are bad). Just wanted to post that for anyone having the same problem.
Quick edit: It does negatively affect the plastic, be warned
I’m’a start trying nail polish remover and various cleaners… hopefully I won’t pass out! 