If I remember right, and his is done as on the originals, you basically pull the old fall up out of the ties and then pull it off the whip, then point the end of the new one and feed it through after looping the hole on the whip.
Haven't done this on one of Gus's whips either, but Gus uses Australian Construction with cowhide...so it should work as follows...
You DO NOT back the old fall out. It's seated in there pretty well, (and it seats even further every time the whip cracks, ) and you'll probably tear the fall hitch, (the knot that holds the fall on,) apart before the fall moves if you try to back it out. You have to cut the back of it and pull it on through the knot.
Essentially, most whipmakers will replace your fall for you if you ship it back to them, pay return shipping, and a few bucks for the fall, (some charge nothing for fall replacement for the life of the whip, just shipping to and from.) I can't remember what Gus's policy on this is. I've handled his stuff, and spoken with the gentleman online, (hence the use of "Gentleman." Really nice guy,) but I don't own any of his whips.
Changing a fall is pretty simple, but can be intimidating the first time you try it. If you want to do it yourself, do the following.
Tools that will make your job much easier:
-A fid, (essentally a dull icepick or a small phillips head screwdriver taken to a grinder to make the end more pointy...But not sharp. You can also use a good sized nail for this as well) This will have a plethora of uses as well if you ever decide to try your own leather braiding or fancy knot tying.
-A VERY sharp utility knife or heavy X-Acto knife. I use one of those folding utility knives that uses replaceable, standard razor blades.
-A pair of long-nosed surgical forceps, or a pair of needle-nosed pliers with a "long beak" so to speak.
-A spare fall, (obviously)
-Pecard Conditioner. This is a NECESSITY when changing the fall.
First, begin by really lubing up the new fall with leather conditioner. It needs to have a pretty good coating to act as a lubricant to stave off damage to the whip and fall from leather-on-leather friction.
Next, give the fall hitch, (the end of the braiding,) a good greasing with pecards as well. Some folks will tell you not to use conditioner on the knots. But I've talked to several whipmakers, and professional whip artists who do because you're going to stretch the leather a bit on this, and it needs to be moisturized and supple or you run the risk of snapping a strand, (especially with cowhide. kangaroo leather stretches a bit more easily.)
Now, take the popper end of the old fall, and thread that through the slot that should be in the thick end of the new fall, so you're essentially using the new fall as a needle, and the whip as thread. You might have to stretch the width of the slot in the new fall a bit to get it to fit. Use your fid or your needle nosed pliers for that. Thread the new fall up the end of the whip until it's a few inches above the fall hitch on the narrow end of your whips braided thong. Now it's already threaded and ready to slip down into the fall knot once we've got the old fall off.
Next, we need to get the old fall off. You can't back it out of the knot. Don't try. We need to cut it off.
Because THIS stage is going to put the most amount of stress on the leather, and bring a utility very close to the plaited bits of your beloved whip, take these next steps
VERY very slow and methodically.
Take the fid and slip it into the slot end at the very back part of your old fall, (it might be a little hard to get through there. Work at it SLOWLY.) Once it's in, and you've got a good piece of steel between your old fall and your braided thong, use the utility knife and very carefully cut through the loop on the old fall. You can also use the utility knife to trim away any extraneous bits of the loop, because that will give it less bits to catch on when we pull the old fall free.
Next step, now that the cutting is done, and the fid and knife are away from the whip, grasp the braid of the whip in one hand, and the old fall in the other, and pull the old fall out of the fall knot. Now that the loop is remove it will slide right through leaving the knot intact. This isn't as easy as it sounds, and will require a fairly good "Test of Strength. Don't give sharp tugs, just try to increase tension evenly. If you have a hard time, try using a pair of pliers to grasp the old fall, (after all, it's going in the trash.)
I've found that in this step, there's really no, "OK, it's moving now." It's either FRACKING NOT MOVING, or BANG! It's out! So, don't get discouraged if you feel your not getting anywhere. Keep at it.
So, after that, you should be holding the whip, knot intact, new fall already threaded up over it, in one hand, and the old fall with a "Y" shaped remains of the slot in the other. Discard the old fall, wipe your hands off, and grab the needlenose pliers or forceps and your fid again.
Now, insert the fid into the hole in the fall knot that you just pulled the old fall through. Stretch the knot out a little bit to make way for the new fall.
Now carefully insert the thin tip of the new fall through the hole you just stretched out, in the fall hitch. You want to insert the thin tip of the fall so that it comes out the side of the fall hitch where the braid laces stick out in a "Fringe." This might not be the easiest process in the world, and it might be easier to thread by pushing the forceps up through the "fringe" side of the fall hitch, opening them enough to grab the thin tip of the fall, and then use the forceps to thread the tip of the fall through the knot.
DO NOT JUST IMMEDIATELY PULL THE END OF THE FALL ON THROUGH THE KNOT TO CINCH IT UP!!!
Take a second to orient the thick end of the fall so that it will seat flush with the fall knot. Also, most fall hitches have what looks like a stray strand that you feed up through the slot in the fall. This keeps the fall hitch from coming unraveled. Use your forceps to pull it through the slot a the back of the fall.
Now, slowly pull the length of the new fall through the knot, being very careful of the orientation of the fall, (as if it goes in crooked, or sideways, you are NOT going to be able to back it out! More often than not, when that happens, you have to cut the new fall off, and try again with another. And as most retailers sell them for $10-12 a pop, that adds up FAST! So speaks the unfortunate voice of experience.)
This process will take some strength, as it will become more difficult as the thickness of the fall passing through the knot increases. Once again, don't tug. Keep steady, even pressure. You also might want to add a little more leather conditioner to the thicker end of the fall as lubrication to make this step smoother.
You are essentially done. Once the back of the slit in the fall is flush with the fall knot, tie on a popper and get the out and crack the bugger to "seat" your new fall and popper, and start their "Break in" process.
Enjoy!
It's actually not as complicated as it sounds, but as I said it can be daunting the first time around.
Australian Whip maker, Bernie Wojcicki has a good tutorial on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1xY7v4r97M
and he makes it look REALLY easy, (but also takes for granted and skips over a couple things that I learned the hard way.)
I have a fall that I have to replace on a bullwhip over the next couple of days. I'll try to take some pictures to illustrate what I'm talking about and update this post.
Anyway, all the best!
Happy cracking!
-Dan
