Winter is approaching, and as I currently live in Japan, my only heat source is a kerosene heater, which I cannot leave on while not present in my apartment. Therefore, there are massive fluctuations in temperature throughout the day. I bring this up because I recently purchased a Weltmeister whistle at a local department store. Lately, the extreme cold, dry temperatures in my apartment have caused the head to become loosened from the body of the whistle to the point that it is impossible to play. I've tried wrapping the whistle in layers of bedding to insulate it, but to no avail.
My question is this - will the temperatures changes cause harm to my whistle, and if so, is there anything I can do to counteract this? I know the Weltmeister is not terribly expensive as whistles go, but as I have both a Rose and an O'Riordan on the way, I want to find these things out ahead of time! Also, this is my first wooden whistle, so I have no idea how to care for it. (My brass/nickel/copper whistles, which are legion, are mostly unaffected by the temperature.)
Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer help/suggestions!
You should protect wooden instruments against extremes of temperature, especially very dry environments.
I would think humidity was the first thing to worry about. Get a humidity indicator - you can get cheap electronic temperature/humidity indicators these days.
I don’t exactly what humidity level is best for woodwinds, but for violins the ideal is 50%. If humidity drops below 10% there is a very real danger of violins cracking.
First, you should oil your instrument copiously with sweet almond oil or something suitable: there were many discussions about this on the old board - search the archive.
You might try to think of some way to humidify the apartment. Here in Canada the hardware stores are full of humidifiers for the winter, that work by boiling or creating a mist using a ultrasonic device. If you had radiators, which you don’t, you could leave wet towels or even pans of water on them.
Third, keep your instrument in a case or box with a damp sponge wrapped in a plastic bag with some tiny holes in it. In music stores you can buy special little sponges called “Dampit”, which come with a useful little card humidity indicator.
As for the temperature fluctuations, they may not be that bad for the instrument, provided that they are not too sudden. Can someone else confirm this? Keep your baby well wrapped is all I can suggest. Perhaps you could you keep it in a cupboard with a low-wattage light bulb permanently lit to maintain a warm stable temperature.
Hope this helps. Others may have more specific knowledge of woodwinds, but this is what I do to protect my fiddles. It’s really sickening when they crack.
[ This Message was edited by: StevieJ on 2001-11-22 07:05 ]
Not familiar with a Weltmeister in particular, but care of all wooden whistles/recorders should be similar. It’s an especially good idea to warm a woden whistle before playing it-- just carry the head of it around in your pocket ( no keys or coins please!) for a while before playing. Dry the bore after playing- I use a cloth bandana twisted through. I like to oil the bore once in a while with a 5:1 mix of light olive oil and almond oil with a couple of drops of vitamin E oil ( recipe courtesy of Glenn Schultz of Thin Weasel).
As far as your loose head, that depends on it’s construction. Is this a wood to wood/cork connection? Brass?
With regard to wooden instruments and extremes of temperature and humidity, here’s what I have from the fifing community where nearly all the available instruments are wooden.
As has been stated above, one should warm a wooden instrument before playing it. Reenactors will put the thing up a coat sleeve for a while, or under the vest. If this is not done, the warmth of the player’s breath will heat, and therefore expand, the interior of the wooden bore. Because wood is a fair insulator, the exterior won’t expand and may therefore crack.
Our house stays at about 65 to 67 degrees F during our Illinois winters, but that means the humidity can get very low. I keep my fifes well oiled ( 90% Almond, 10% Olive ), but my two-piece ten-hole fife noticeably changes dimension. The ferrules are only pressed onto the ends, and they loosen in the winter if I don’t keep a humidifier going. If it can be managed, it’s a good idea.
All good advice. I’ve been told to
keep my blackwood flute humidified
at between 60 and 80. A good flute
case, which would be able to hold
several whistles and a humidifier,
is helpful. These typically have
a hard plastic outside and a foam inside,
and look a bit like a small briefcase.
With the Rose and O’Riordan, a good idea
is to contact the makers directly about
the conditions where you are and ask
their advice. Blackwood instruments
are easy to screw up and it’s definitely
worth avoiding. Also different makers
appear to have different recipes for
what to use to oil the instrument.
Concerning the whistle you now have,
taping the part that fits into the head
will probably make the whistle playable–
to point out what is doubtless already
obvious to you. Also, as low humidity
due to the kerosene heater
may well be a big part of the problem,
the idea of an apartment humidifier, suggested above, may be a good one–plus a
small humidifier in the case. You might
check to see what the humidity is
in your apartment. Obviously one
swabs the inside of the wooden instrument
to remove moisture each time one
plays it, too.
If you have a moment, will you tell
us what the music scene is like in
Japan? Are you it, when it comes to
whistles? Best wishes.
First of all, thanks to everyone for the replies! I now have some ideas as to correcting the situation. I really appreciate all who took the time to offer advice and suggestions! :slight_smile:
I am aware of basic instrument maintenance, as I also play oboe, guitar and violin (classical not Irish style - yet) but I'm not used to thinking of the whistle as a high maintenance instrument!
Now, at the risk of beating this topic to death, the Weltmeister has a wood-on-wood headjoint, and it seems to be coated with some sort of wax (for ease of tuning?) so obviously I can't oil it, or can I? Is there a way to remove the wax?
**********
You could try a bit of cork grease on top of whatever the wax is, although if the whistle is already too loose, that may not help matters. See if you can locate some Teflon plumber's tape and wrap some of that on the male end of the connection to make it a bit tighter. Good luck
This is guesswork, I admit, but I suspect that the wax is used not only to lubricate the joint, but to seal it. I wouldn’t remove it myself, unless I found out from the manufacturer what it was and could replace it if need be.
It may be possible to tighten the joint using Teflon tape, but I’m not familiar with your brand of whistle. What I do suggest is that you be very careful in any attempts to do so. Wooden instruments have to be handled very carefully in this respect, because too much internal pressure will cause them to crack. From the discussion, I have the impression that your whistle is not particularly thick-walled and this may therefore be a serious problem.
Fifes are plugged at the embouchere end with a bit of cork, and there is considerable skill necessary in shaving the cork to the proper diameter so that it will seal the wooden tube without cracking it. It is generally considered to be a job for someone very experienced.