Following an unfortunate incident with my Generation Bb, my 21 month old son and an oil heater, I now have a whistle that breaks octave very easily and is squeaky on low notes unless you breath very softly.
The result:
Is there a way to repair a dent like this? I was thinking of sliding a piece of heavyweight tube or metal section inside it and tapping it out panel-beater style.
Or do I face the fact that my whistle is cactus, salvage the head and find a new body?
I’d try a dowel first…
I’ve had good luck pounding out dents with broken drum sticks on a sax, with a rock as a hammer…
I had a somewhat similar dent repaired by a local music dealer who had a specialist in band instrument repair. He did it while I waited and didn’t charge me either.
Best, John
Are you sure there isn’t something else that’s changed about the whistle? I’ve seen lots of whistles with more impressive dents that still play just fine.
You might look and see if there’s anything in the mouthpiece. A bit of lint (even very tiny), hair, loose plastic (sometimes the sharp edge at the end of the tube will scrape off a shred of plastic inside the mouthpiece socket), etc.
It’s even possible that there was already something loose inside the whistlehead, and the mishap simply jarred it into a position where it affected the performance.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Amen, Jerry…Ya beat me to it…
Best.
Byll
I agree with Jerry…
Case in point:
this Sweetone plays just fine, surprisingly. 
I did think of that, but the mouthpiece doesnt have any loose pieces or blockages, nothing I can see about the mouthpiece differs. It did play MUCH better before the ding.
I’ll see what I can do…hmmm…maybe a similar sized dent on the other side will provide laminar flow once more…where’s that kid??
Thanks all.
Jim
Have you removed the whistlehead and looked into the socket where the tube goes in, or only looked into the windway from the end you blow into?
Best wishes,
Jerry
The whistle head has never been off the body. I tried, but I cant get it off…the ‘mug of hot water’ tweak trick doesnt work…keep trying I guess.
You need to look elsewhere on the whistle for whatever is changing it’s playability.
To fix the dent. You need a steel rod that fits inside the whistle. Then, you need a wood dowel that has a round cutout or arch chopped out of it.
Mount the rod to vise where it is sticking out horizontally.
You put a piece of paper towel over the dent on the whistle.
Play the dowel over the whistle (perpendicular) so that the arch fits over the whistle.
Rub this up and down along the whistle with pressure applied to it and you’ll iron out the dent.
Some music instrument repair shops have dent balls for fixing instruments, however the repair could cost as much as this instrument or more.
You call that a dent? Sheesh.
My genny Bb is flattened on the back side for about three inches below the fipple. It sounds/plays great. I speculate it’s something else, or else your dent occurred at an important harmonic node. (Trying to sound scientific. Do whistles even have harmonic nodes?)
Good luck with it!
It should come off. I’ve never encountered a Bb Generation I couldn’t get the mouthpiece off.
When I make whistlehead tea for the children, I bring a pot of water to boil and then turn down the heat enough for it just to simmer. Then I take 20 to 40 Generation whistles of various keys (mostly D), and one by one, steep the whistleheads in the water for maybe 10 or 15 seconds at a time, holding the whistle by the tube so the plastic head is completely immersed without touching the pot.
In between steepings, see if the whistlehead has loosened enough to remove with a firm twisting and pulling. It may come off after the first steeping, or you may have to steep it two or three times. The whistlehead has to still be hot to come off, as the loosening happens by heat expansion of the plastic. This always works on every key of Generation whistle except C and F.
Then I offer the whistlehead tea, thusly prepared, to the children. For some reason, they always decline. Oh, well. They seem to enjoy watching me prepare the whistlehead tea, but for some reason, they don’t care to try it.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Thanks Jerry, I’ll try that tea recipe with the Gen tonight and see if I cant remedy my problems.
I’ve tried that with my Walton C and D with ablsolutely no luck after multiple dip-and-twists. Darn things.
This is most interesting.
I’ve never had any trouble at all getting whistleheads off any of these whistles. After thinking this over, I believe I’ve determined the source of your problem.
The water in Australia is different from the water here in the United States. You see, here in the United States, water boils at 212 degrees. However, in Australia, water boils at only 100 degrees, which isn’t hot enough to remove the whistleheads. If you like, I can send you a bottle of U.S. water. I believe that will solve the problem. Let me know.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Seriously, though, the only thing I can think of is that you might be waiting too long after taking it out of the water before you try to remove the whistlehead.
You have to move very fast. Even a few seconds cooling will make the whistlehead tight again on many of these whistles. Also, don’t let the hot water inside the whistlehead drain down the inside of the tube when you take it out of the water because that will heat the tube, causing it to expand and tighten.
Best wishes,
Jerry
This may not be a realistic option, but I assure you it really works.
Turtle
Just how did you manage to do that to a Sweetone 
?
I was walking into the post office carrying a big box, and I put it in my front pocket (see, I learned by sitting on Clarke Originals at 12 bucks a pop). Did I mention it was a big box? Wo I couldn’t see anything below my chest. Ended up walking right into a “guard rail” at the doorway (whose purpose I still cannot divine) which was right at thigh-height…squish. 
I didn’t see the real method used to repair tubing, what I’ve done a thousand times with bent trumpet, cornet, trombone parts way back when I worked at McLean’s Band Shop in KC:
To wit: Go to your local machine shop or automotive supply or Tractor Supply Company, and locate a ball bearing that fits snugly inside the tube. Push it in past the dent, then back out again. You will have to remove the head via Jerry’s method to do this, or have someone braze or weld a short length of thin steel cable to the ball.
If the ball bearing is the correct diameter, it will re-form the tube such that you will barely be able to see where the original dent was.
Cheers,
Bill Whedon
Serpent Music (almost ready…)
I dont think a mere bottle of US water will do, I believe I require a US thermometer as well, so as to obtain 212 degrees, rather than our mere 100 degress.
That or work faster. I did think of putting it in the fridge first, to cool the body, but after seeing what happens to a cold glass marble in hot water, I thought better of dropping a cold plastic fipple into it as well.