stuck mouthpiece on generation

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 4:02 pm

monkey587 wrote: Since I'm an atheist, people could just paypal me some money to cover a replacement if they don't want to offend me with their prayers. $12.06 .

Dude, it's not the money you should b e worried about. It's the difficulty of getting a decent Gen.

monkey587 · Post by **monkey587** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 4:20 pm

FJohnSharp wrote:Dude, it's not the money you should b e worried about. It's the difficulty of getting a decent Gen.

Which is useless to me if I can't play it at a session. Besides, I have a couple of gens that are pretty decent after the basic tweaks described on the main C&F site. 15-20 minutes of work would probably make any gen playable... assuming you can get the head off.

I've made an oak C, two feadog D's, a gen D and three Bbs all playable with about 5-15 minutes of work each. Of these, only one of them was playable immediately upon purchase. A good out-of-the-box experience is a great thing, but I think most of the issues with cheap whistles can be dealt with with a little wax and sandpaper.

Skyclad01 · Post by **Skyclad01** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 7:49 pm

FJohnSharp wrote: Dude, it's not the money you should b e worried about. It's the difficulty of getting a decent Gen.

I've got a Gen D, Eb, and G, and with a little hot water, adjusting the mouthpeice and some cleaning, the D and Eb play beautifully. Though It's the G thats got me frustrated.

Other than that, the Gen's ive got have been better than decent. I havent had to toy with them all that much to improve thier playability (the Gen G excluded).

bjs · Post by **bjs** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 6:15 am

I had trouble with getting mouthpiece off of a feadog D. Try this:
leave it in boiled water - so far so usual - then adjust your mole grips to a tad wider than the barrel. Now hoding the far end tightly in one gloved hand slide the mole grips down rapidly to wack the recalcitrant plastic head. repeat as necessary. It worked for me.

Brian

BTW the Hoover whitecap has made this whistle into one of my favourites. very quiet, needs hardly any breath and has a lovely pure tone. Even the Cnat is in tune.

Tommy · Post by **Tommy** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 11:52 am

If there is no tone hole puller or combination streacher&shrinker the hot water soak is the way to go. Sometimes it may have to be done twice. I have found with the hot water soak that after removal of the head. Make sure to remove all traces of the glue or when it is replaced it may reset itself. A flat note is more easy to fix than a sharp. Several of my generations have oval holes but are in excelent tune with themself.

monkey587 · Post by **monkey587** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 11:57 am

Tommy wrote:If there is no tone hole puller or combination streacher&shrinker the hot water soak is the way to go. Sometimes it may have to be done twice. I have found with the hot water soak that after removal of the head. Make sure to remove all traces of the glue or when it is replaced it may reset itself. A flat note is more easy to fix than a sharp. Several of my generations have oval holes but are in excelent tune with themself.

Well, I tried a few more times to remove the mouthpiece and it just wouldn't come off. I've given up for the time being.

anniemcu · Post by **anniemcu** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 11:48 pm

Jerry Freeman wrote:The problem with the C, and also F, Generation mouthpieces is, the sockets are too small for the tubes.

This is true of all of them in those two keys due to the way the molds are configured. If you actually do succeed in getting the mouthpiece off, once it's cooled again, you've still got the same problem. Whenever you want to adjust the tuning, you'll have a fight on your hands moving the mouthpiece.

I intentionally crack them using two drops of acetone at the place where the tube goes in the socket. Then they come right off. I replace the mouthpiece on the tube, which opens the crack about half a millimeter. Then I wrap polymer thread around the socket and soak it with epoxy to reinforce it and establish a new, slightly larger, inside diameter that's appropriate for being able to adjust the mouthpiece normally. This is more difficult than moving the toneholes, but it produces a result that's tunable.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Ah-ha! I'm so glad I gave up before I totally ruined the head trying.

scarhand · Post by **scarhand** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:07 am

so, monkey587, what was the result? don't leave us all hanging here . . .

monkey587 · Post by **monkey587** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 7:52 am

scarhand wrote:so, monkey587, what was the result? don't leave us all hanging here . . .

All decapitation attempts have failed thus far.

lesl · Post by **lesl** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 2:13 pm

One time I got the head off a gen C by putting it head down in the sink
while I did the dishes with running hot water and washing-up liquid.
Actually I had to do this 3 times (3 different loads of dishes).

And as has been said, when it finally came off (I was wearing those
dishwashing rubber gloves, btw..) there was a load of glue stuck to it
and to the tube, which had to be scraped away.

Then, I put some vaseline on the top of the tube so that it wouldn't get
stuck going back in, and it was just fine, I gave it back to the happy
owner all put together and nicely sliding.

And then, the owner lost the head!

Mack.Hoover · Post by **Mack.Hoover** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 5:16 pm

"And then, the owner lost the head!"

lesl, if you hadn't added that line I'd probably have continued being oblivious to the WWW just below it that took me to a great site! I'm so glad I found your music!

Sorry. William. for the subject change.
Mack

lesl · Post by **lesl** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 11:56 pm

Oh heavens, thank you Mack. I wondered what you were talking about at
first. I haven't thought about that web site in a long while! Spurring me
on to try and put something recent up there.

Back to the subject I've a red Gen Bb, which has really gone through the
mill. It took a lot of soaking to get the top off and then the insides started
peeling, so I had to scrub that out as well. Eventually it got sat on or
something and now the head is held on with electrical tape. (but at least
it stays on!)

Cheers, Lesl