Hello, first post here. Ive been playing a Clarke D (the original one) for a few months now. I was reading the guide to inexpensive whistles and I saw a statement from Clarke about why they created the Sweetone: “It also needed to be one without a wooden fipple as children tend not to take care of their instruments…Nothing ruins the wooden fipple more than being blown soon after eating burgers or drinking coke”. Now I am no child, and I don’t drink coke, but sometimes I do drink a couple of beers before playing. Would alcohol have any detrimental effects on a whistle with a wooden fipple?
As a general rule, I brush my teeth before playing if anything besides water has been in my mouth.
I don’t play my clarke too often, but the whistles I make use wooden fipples. The current one I’m using I have been using pretty solidly for the past 2 years. It is a knock-a-bout sort of thing, and I’ve played it after drinking and eating __________ quite often. I’ve not noticed much change in the wood, still plays fine, but looks a little groty. I can’t imagine that al-kee-hawl could do too much more damage to a wooden block over time than a player’s own moist spit. That is to say, that you are not blowing liquid through the fipple 
What if you brush your teeth with beer?
I doubt its going to be much of a problem really.
But beer flavored spit sounds like a prefered meal for smell making critters.
I clean my instruments regularly… and rinse my cheap whistles.
The alcohol will probably be less a “hazzard” to your whistle than the sugars left in your mouth from the beer.
A good rule is not to eat or drink while playing (other than water) if that can’t be done, then be sure to wash your instrument thoroughly, often.
I don’t have a whistle with a wooden fipple, but with harmonicas with a wooden comb, alcohol tends to dry out the wood and cause it to split over time. I’d rinse my mouth with some water and swallow or spit prior to playing. But that’s me (shrug).
I have heard that if you drink much Beer and play the tin whistle, you can to touch like Kevin, Carlos and Paddy fused; that is to say, you transform into the God of tin whistle xDxDxD 
Apotheosis by beer is so sublime that it would go unnoticed by anyone but the drinker, though. 
best practice-but beer is no big deal -me , ,myself when the whistle is dry i soak it in almond oil, it tightens up the spaces, quiets the whistle and water proofs the plug---------once a couple of months what i mean by soaking is dip it into a shotglass of oil and shake it out and let it dry upside down for a couple of hours-it also looks nice deep honey brown
It is not so much as to what you eat or drink before playing an instrument. Anything other than water is going to affect the instrument. The sugars will cause a lot of damage and invite little ants. It will also corrode the metals. Probably not affect plastic. The alcohol will affect other parts of instruments, notably, the wood and leathers. It will dry them. I know from playing wind instruments for over 35 years and teaching music. Also, being in Law enforcement, I know that substances will be in the breath for up to 15 minutes after ingestion. Now, the simple whistle probably is not going to be affected over several years, with good cleaning, compared to a very expensive wind instrument that is not as replaceable. But your good wood whistles and flutes and on up will be affected. Your choice.
I have the sense that the Clarke warning has far more to do with marketing than it does with much else. Residues of food and drink harbor bacteria, and nobody wants their kids sticking dirty things in their mouths. Plastic mouthpices seem more sanitary and are probably more appealing to parents, the plastic being, of course, easier to clean. But both wood and plastic are breeding grounds for bacteria if a nutrient source is present. These same bacteria could decompose the wood, and that is probably part of the Clarke reasoning as well.
As for alcohol affecting the wood, I suppose that if one were to soak the wood in relatively pure alcohol there might be a problem, but as for alcohol on the breath doing damage, I doubt it. Think about it a minute. The alcohol we’re talking about is a vapour on the breath. It’s volume is insignificant compared to the amount of water present. It is also transient. I can’t speak to complex instruments with leather components (the only one I can think of would be a bagpipe), but the simple whistle and keyless flute don’t seem to be a problem at all for me. Even for a bagpipe, I would think that the constant wetness inside the bag would affect the wood and leather far more than a tiny amount of ethanol on the player’s breath.
I’ve been playing the same wooden flutes and whistles for 17 years. I drink whiskey when I play, and I’ve been known to dip the mouthpieces in my glass to ‘sterilize’ them if a friend wants to try them. (It really doesn’t do anything, as there’s too little alcohol in whiskey and the contact is too brief, but it makes them feel better about it.)
As for anything but water affecting the wood, nothing could be farther from the fact. Wooden wind instruments are oiled regularly throughout their working lives to protect them from the one great killer: water. Keeping just the right amount of water in while keeping excess water out is the constant struggle of the woodwind player. While it is true that alcohol can have a drying effect, the swelling effect of water is far more prevailent. Whatever little drying the alcohol might do in the brief moment it is present is infinitely small compared to the constant effects of water.
In the case of metal whistles with wooden plugs, it’s almost always swelling from excess water rather than drying that is the problem. I oiled the plugs on my Clarke and Shaw whistles for the first couple of years before I upgraded, but I never had any problem with swelling, drying, germs, insects ( bagpipe specific problem?), or anything else all the while I used them. I still have them in a bucket, and they’re perfectly fine today. The fipple plug is a solid chunk of wood, not a thin-walled tube. I think that probably makes a difference.
Personally, I say keep your whistles clean, drink your drink, and play like all get out! 
When I did my master’s thesis on the health effects of wood dusts, I came across a paper that stated that wood was 60% water soluable by weight. The author didn’t state whether he was referring to green or dried wood. In any case, it seems like good sense to clean, dry and oil wood whistles when they are exposed to either water or alcohol.
Cavefish mentioned almond oil…is canola or olive oil okay to use?
olive is fine it just does not last as long as almond there was a chart i will try to find on oil viscosity -this is test that has many factors density, vapor factor and i believe something to do with a residue factor of some kind ,you can test this by placing a heavy dot of each oil on a slanted board and watch them flow, anyway almond and walnut where the best -olive will evaporate fastor than almond , almond faster than walnut , and so forth leading on to Pure tung oil ( which you do not want to use) because is it not a boat-----the reasoning in this is -you want an oil that keeps the wood satisfied and does not ask for more, more meaning water, air etc. ----wood hollowed out has different humidities on the outside as it would on the inside-----------water evaporates faster than oils so as the constant evaporation of a wet/evaporation/wet/evaporation inside piece of wood it stresses the wood and constantly asks for more–it will dry out from the inside and crack and or tighten on the inside which will cause warps, oil keeps the water out and satisfies the wood so it equals out the humidities level inside to outside-----------------now the thickness of oil needs to be observed---------thicker oil is not better, wood needs to breath,on instruments, so a thinner oil will simulate its natural ways-also it will not have a chance of build up or "guking’ up if the oil is thin, but you dont want it too thin as it needs some staying power-----------as a whole, olive , sweet almond, walnut-they are very close -walnut being the most exstreme------water the weakest—due this as needed 3,4,5 ,6 times a year on the thinner oils (at room temperature)–the outside well thats easy you can use mahoneys oil finish a combo of walnut and beeswax and polish it off orany other natual wood polish/preservative–its used for cutting boards-----------great stuff
Good info, cavefish. But just to mention that there are some fluteplayers who prefer to use camellia oil, which is comparatively thin. I may try it some day myself. I’ve used almond, olive, and even corn oil one time in a pinch. For now I use a walnut/sandalwood oil combination. No reason for the sandalwood other than for the scent, and the unproved guess that it aids in cleaning due to its being an essential oil.
I’ve noticed that almond oil with a bit of vitamin E added as a preservative is commonly recommended, but I’ve always used commercial woodwind bore oil. Rather than mess around with something that could potentially turn rancid if I didn’t add enough preservative, I go with the commercial preparations. There are those who claim that bore oil is bad for an instrument, but I figure that if it’s good enough for a $30,000 bassoon, it’s good enough for my whistles. After all, if Herco bore oil destroyed musical instruments, they’d have been drummed out of the business long ago. And they’ve been around since Aristotle was a cheerleader.
A friend of mine who runs Bellwood Violin and is an excellent craftsman has recommended walnut oil as it is a drying type of oil and will no go rancid after it has dried. On the other hand almond oil does not completely dry out and can get funky.
For whatever it’s worth
Ronaldo
I use walnut oil for what its worth.
Not a good idea if you have a nut allergy.
how is sandlewood -i love it in general -did you check out the properties-usually the oils that are used on you skin and bodies is good for the wood----------do the oils mix well-sounds like a nice combo–i know it cost money for the real stuff-sandlewood is a essential (non rancid) oil but is usually mixed with jojobo oil or another base --------jojoba has natural wax so it might get 'guky"–most of the best oils are carrier oils--------but need to be thin because they will get rancid if left in thick wet environment-----------used as a bore oil your fine ----------just dont over oil
i beg to differ --now i usually use sweet almond oil ------and it dries and these faster drying oils yes they will not turn rancid-the heavy oils might because they take longer to dry and pick up bacterias and things–but as you can see oil is the key --almond and sandlewood sounds very nice but i need to do research on the properties of sandle wood ------------what ever oil we choose its needs to be a pure essential or carrier oil not a candlemaking or aromatic , or aromatherapy oil or frangrance oil----------keep in mind these oils have shelf lives up to a year -they last alot longer but when not in use refrigerate and then use warm ( room)