Walton’s Whistles Peely Plastic Problems

I have a cheap waltons C whistle that i bought not long ago. i’m actually quite fond of it - it makes a nice breathy “traditional” sound, it stays relatively in tune, the higher octave is quiet and easy to reach and i can pull out the fipple enough to make it play nicely as a B whistle. For a fiver I am very pleased with it.

There’s only one problem - it is coated with a sort of plastic laminate that began to peel at the finger holes and where my thumb was. i attempted to pull it off to no avail - it barely comes off with scratching and dunking it in hot water does not help. underneath the plastic, the shiny brass quickly wears away to a dull gold. now - i really don’t mind what colour the whistle is and don’t care if it is shiny or not, especially as it is the sound that counts, but the whistle now looks very ugly and old and is peeling everywhere, and i’d rather it would all be one colour and not look as if it belonged to my great-grandfather when it is a couple of months old.

I know this is a known problem with Walton’s and i just wondered if anyone else found the same thing and managed to get all of the plastic off and how. I have a handful of generations (and some dixons and a susato) and have not encountered a similar problem.

Just keep playing it. My first ever whistle is a Walton’s D, wich I still keep for practising, indeed the sound and sentimental reasons. Now, after 12 odd years, the peeling has stopped and the plastic is gone.

Time will get rid off the plastic 🙂

Plenty of people spend years trying to get that “antique” look. You’re getting it free, quite your griping. 🙂

Maestro,
As long as your whistle sounds good to you, why bother with what it looks like! It’s the sound of the music that makes a good tune or a good session. Who cares if it looks like a million bucks or looks like crap. Just keep playing it, and sooner or later it’s looks will better appeal to you.
westcoastfluter

You could try holdiing your nose and immersing the barrel in acetone for an hour. The problem is, if the head gets immersed (or even splashed) it could be ruined. If it is like the Walton’s whistle I had (which got sat on and snapped), the head is not removable - they seem to superglue them on.

The head actually came off relatively easily - and i found that scrubbing it with hot soapy water helps - the whistle is now only 2 different colours and not 15.

Interestingly a similar thing happened with my generations when i attempted to get their heads off too - only not nearly to the same degree as the walton. Happily now the Bb now fits in my case and the F and G are nicely tuneable, but the Eb refused to have its head pulled off even under freshly boiled water…