How to clean out, swab out whistle?

[Akiba]

Hi Whistlers,

I'm just wondering what you all do to:

1. Clean a Burke brass session D (just got one used)

2. Swab out a whistle during / after playing.

Thanks!

Jason

[Byll]

Jason... Interesting timing. I usually run luke warm water through my whistles after playing, blow out the water, dry the outside - and let nature do the rest. I do not swab.

The interesting timing concerns my Burke Viper low D. Somewhere, I thought I have read an admonition to running a swab through the low D, because of perturbations built into the instrument. I wrote Michael about this, today.

First, I do not know if these perturbations exist. I know they do exist in instruments from other makers. I also do not know if this could apply to your session D, either.

If I learn anything, you will be the first to know...

Best.
Byll

[stiofan]

Well, I certainly wouldn't suggest doing what I did last week: (Inadvertently) put my Burke session D (in its canvas pouch) through the wash cycle (had left it in a jacket to be washed). Took it to a session last night, and it seemed to play okay, but still might send it over to the Burke shop for a check-up. But to get back to your question, I don't tend to swab out my (high) D whistles - usually just give 'em a good blow and a shake or two, and every now and then a hot water rinse through the body and head. However, a year or so ago I took apart my Goldie low D and it had developed some rather unpleasant mildewy build-up on the inside of the bore, so I'm a bit more attentive to it, and I'd be curious what MB has to say about swabbing.

[winterparkmarc]

I mostly play a Killarney whistle and every few weeks I take it apart and let it sit in dish soap overnight per the maker's instruction. I then clean the windway with a very soft, small plastic dental "go-between." There is a build-up that occurs and the whistle plays better when clean. I do not do that to my other Generation whistles, but maybe I should.

[brewerpaul]

For non-wooden whistles I never bother to swab them. I shake out the excess moisture, that's all. I do swab my wooden whistles though. Often I use a cotton bandanna twisted into a long thin swab.
I sometimes use a bamboo chopstick, split at the tip for a distance of about an inch and a half with a sheet rock knife. Careful-- they're hard to split! Put the stick down on a piece of scrap wood and push the knife down into that. I use that split to hold a small cut off piece of a t-shirt which is then easy to push into the whistle. Push it in and pull it out with a twisting motion. If you just pull out, you may leave that piece of cloth deep in the whistle! This is the device I use to oil wooden whistles too.

[Mitch]

The principle to a shiny bore is that a dull bore will have detrimental affect on the upper octave.

Consider your materials.
Metallic bores may be subject to oxidization which will dull the bore.
In such cases, I would be careful of abrasives or anything which will leave deposits.
That is not to say that abrasives are useless. Just make sure they do not remove a lot of material.
Some metallic whistles are internally coated with a lacquer - no abrasive more than paper would be advised. Detergents are probably best with suitable rinsing, and at most, a strip of metal-cleaning cloth.

Wood is different. The surface grains in the bore will continue to lift with any moisture penetration over time.
Frequent swabbing of wooden instruments is legendary.
The action of frequent swabbing using a soft material will act as a mild abrasive with each application and keep the bore conditioned.
By frequent, I mean - before the thing is set down between sets and before the thing is stored for more than 12 hours.
It becomes a habit. You can see the owners of woodwinds in orchestras doing just that between movements on their precious oboes, clarinets and flutes.
A wooden whistle is orders of magnitude less costly than an oboe, but the physics are the same.

In an emergency, one can use a very mild abrasive on wooden bores - from 1000 grade steel wool to paper. But consider the materials before you proceed.

A very inexpensive swab can be made from bamboo kebab-skewers with a strip of synthetic kitchen wipe 1X12 inches. Simply split the blunt end with a craft knife (careful not to cut yourself!) and wind-in the strip. This costs me about 5 cents per swab and about 2 minutes of time. Marginal, and worth it.
Only thing is to have a couple so that you are always using a dry one - and it works for all materials.