It's highly unlikely that part throttle detonation would ever be able to put a hole in the piston or even damage an engine making less than 2 horsepower at the rpm these things run at.
Because of their low power, they have effectively 2 throttle positions: idle and wide open.
So long as the engine is correctly jetted for wide open throttle, every other throttle position will work itself out, because you just don't spend any meaningful time there.
The rattle in the mid range is most likely piston slap.