Necessary to completely seal Clarke Original wood fipple?

headwizer · Post by **headwizer** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 4:40 pm

Hi everyone,

I tweaked my Clarke D Originals weeks ago (black and natural). The surgery was a success. I was able to narrow the windway without causing the sides to bow outward. Recently, I held the whistles up to light - with the fipple end away from me. I looked in the other end and could see some light coming through between the wood and the tin.

On one whistle, there are only one or two spots of light visible. On the other, the seam between the wood and tin is more clearly delineated. So, neither whistle is air tight in this respect.

Do these seams need to be sealed more tightly? There is virtually no room in the seam on either whistle to stuff any wax - though I suppose I could just spread a light coating of melted wax over the seam.

toughknot · Post by **toughknot** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 7:33 am

It's not necessary but wont hurt either.It might reduce the breathiness or air requirements a bit but probably wont make a significant difference.Let us know how you make out whatever you decide to do.

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 12:39 pm

Mine had fairly large gaps (1/64"-1/32") all around after tweaking (smashing, that is), so I dripped birthday candle wax into the gaps and all over the outside surface of the fipple. I kept the flame close to the wood, so it ended up with a nice, smooth surface that feels nice.

After tweaking, the fipple would slide around a bit while dry, so I was soaking it a bit before playing, but I finally found a setting I liked and used a dull nail to put dents on each side to hold it. However, it was still a bit loose, thus the wax.

I must say it's gone from my least-liked whistle to one of my favorites--and it was just $6.00 from the Whistle Shop "Garage Sale". It doesn't quite have the plaintive sound of the Burke DAN, but it's about as easy to play.

I'm finding that ease of play counts for a lot. I want to concentrate on the music, not on the whistle.

waltsweet · Post by **waltsweet** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 12:55 pm

It still amazes me that a leaky fipple (block) just doesn't matter, except they may add some hiss. Other leaks are deadly (head, joint, body, etc), and need to be sealed.

headwizer · Post by **headwizer** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 2:04 pm

Well, my solution was to use Chap-Aid from Walgreens:

This Chap-Stick lookalike has a high Carnauba Wax content - second only to Camphor in the ingredients list. Chap-Aid was soft enough to "seep" into the cracks between the fipple and the tin and sealed the tin-wood seam.

Did it make a difference? I honestly can't say.

But emotionally, I feel better knowing that the seam is sealed.

toughknot · Post by **toughknot** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 9:06 pm

Then all is well.

Thanks for letting us know how you made out.I use Lip Medex and or Carmex lip balms on the end of the wooden fipple.If it doesnt help to seal the end grain it at least tastes better.

headwizer · Post by **headwizer** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 11:50 am

I wanted to say that I could not determine if sealing the fipple made a difference because I ended up tweaking the Clarke some more after the ChapAid. I can say that the Clarke (natural) is now less temperamental during warm-up, but I don't know whether to attribute this to the ChapAid or tweaking.

BTW, for owners of Clarke whistles in the natural finish, I highly recommend polishing the whistle with NuFinish car polish. This polish has no wax and leaves a protective coating. Before I started using NuFinish, the tin would discolor and lose its luster within a few days of handling. With NuFinish, the discoloring is much slower and the whistle keeps its shine much longer.