I bought a spare Generation Brass D at the weekend, and as usual had to unglue the head (via the hot water dip) to put it into tune. Alas, while removing the glue, some of the coating on the brass came off too, slightly spoiling its looks.
And then I thought, why do they glue the heads on at all? It’s not like the heads wobble about and fall off without it - all the once-glued heads on my whistles have been unglued, and the fit is tight enough to prevent undesireable head wobble or loss.
If Generation, Walton and other “glue-happy” companies stopped doing the glueing, they’d save themselves money, and the whistling community the time & effort of unglueing again.
Or is there a secret (masonic handshake) reason, such as a tax on musical instruments that have moveable parts, and the glue gets around import/export duties, or somesuch?
It would be an improvement if they (Generation) would at least glue the D head in the right place on the shaft. This would make the glue-dissolving operation largely unnecessary.
Has anyone a recipe for getting the head of a C Generation? Ds and Bs are a cinch, but I find the modern Cs won’t give up their heads without an ugly battle with vice grips, which leaves them either cracked or scarred. I’ve not going to attempt it again, unless someone has a better method.
Or is there a secret (masonic handshake) reason, such as a tax on musical instruments that have moveable parts, and the glue gets around import/export duties, or somesuch?
Kendra, have you been eating cheese late at night, again?
Maybe the glue thing is for safety reasons, especially if manufacturers expect their whistles to be played (and swallowed) by small children? Just a thought.
If they didn’t glue them on, then you wouldn’t have all that fun trying to get them off!!!
(I agree with Gen-C superglue problem. I practically wore blisters on my hands trying to get that thing off, and it took me a week to get it jammed back on all the way…)
On 2002-04-29 12:07, StevieJ wrote:
Has anyone a recipe for getting the head of a C Generation? Ds and Bs are a cinch, but I find the modern Cs won’t give up their heads without an ugly battle…
Have you tries freezing it before you do the hot soapy water bath, Steve? I’ve gotten some very stubborn heads to come off by doing this.
I,ve experienced the C gen problem and longer immersion of the complete fipple in near boiling water eventualy did the trick.Chilling the barrel under ice water before immersion to counteract expansion helps with realy stuborn ones.Boiling the fipple as a last resort can be desperate option but a cracked fipple due to shringage is the sad outcome.The brass ones seem give up there heads the easiest I have found. Peace, Mike
I used “Goo be Gone” on stubborn glued whistles before putting the head in hot water. “Goo be Gone” is an anti glue/gum liquid that can be found in craft shops and some hardware stores here in the States.
Does anyone know for a fact that Generation actually uses a cyanoacrylate glue (aka Superglue)? If they do there are superglue “unbonders” that will soften the glue. I do not know if the unbonder will attack the plastic of the head though.
geeeeeez I must have a defective generation…the head just came RIGHT off. I didnt get to do ANY of those things!!!. Of course, my tweaks never help ANYWAY
On 2002-04-30 19:33, dd wrote:
geeeeeez I must have a defective generation…the head just came RIGHT off. I didnt get to do ANY of those things!!!. Of course, my tweaks never help ANYWAY
My good friend dd:
Please, if you have a self esteem problem, get help. Shifting the blame to your whistle will not solve the problem. It will only result in both of you feeling miserable.
Remember, if you or your whistle need any help, I’m always here.
On 2002-04-30 07:04, jmssmh wrote:
I used “Goo be Gone” on stubborn glued whistles before putting the head in hot water. “Goo be Gone” is an anti glue/gum liquid that can be found in craft shops and some hardware stores here in the States.
Thanks Joe but on the C generation I don’t think it’s a glue problem, assuming they use the same glue as on the Ds and Bbs. I can get the head of a new D after literally only 3 seconds’ immersion in hot water, not anywhere near boiling. And I do this as quickly as possible to avoid the problems I have encountered with the collar shrinking with the heat.
With the current line of Cs, I think the fit between collar and barrel is much tighter - it’s as if the collar is shrunk onto the shaft. It looks tapered. The wall of the collar is also quite a bit thinner than on a D.
So I think superglue softeners are not the answer. I haven’t tried freezing. I just wanted to know if anyone had managed to get the head off a current C, and if so how!
Funny. I always wondered why the darn things weren’t glued on in the first place…and then I found one that was glued on and was thinking how sensible that was. My other whistle wasn’t glued on, and the head would be easily turned. It didn’t come off on me ever while I played, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if it did decide one day to come off. The one I have now is a Sweettone, and that one’s glued on.
Peace, Mike