I bought me a Clarke´s tin whistle with a wooden mouthpiece.
The whistle have a very nice sound but you need very very much air to play it.
I can´t play the tunes like on my older whistle from Waltons (with plastic mouthpiece).
Can anybody recommend me a good whistle?
It shouldn´t be more expensive than 50 €!
Flatten the windway a little and it will not take so much air, and buy a clark sweettone.
Second the suggestion on the Clarke Sweetone - but make sure it’s a D whistle (I don’t like the C Sweetones as much).
I’ve had very good luck with Feadog D whistles, too. And Walton’s C whistles. Other makes and models (Generations of all keys, Walton’s D and Mello D, Oak . . .) can be wonderful, too, but I’ve had the most out-of-the-box luck with the Feadogs and the Walton’s C.
Any of these should be under 5 Euros, I think.
For a bit more (20-30 Euros), the Dixon and Susato plastic whistles are widely available and very playable. Some folks aren’t fond of the Susato sound (fairly pure and penetrating - a bit loud for indoor play) but either one represents very good value for the money.
For about the full 50 Euros you might consider a Syn D/C set - I like my Syns quite a bit. The price is a steal for a hand-made metal whistle of this quality.
There are other makers with good whistles in this price range, but they’re probably not as easily available in Europe (Serpent, Hoover. ???)
The more expensive whistles are generally more consistent, in-tune, and have a more solid feel in the hand. But I’ve got to say that I still give my favorite cheapies quite a bit of playing time.
Thin metal, use your thumb, and play with it. It is worth $50 of your time. If the sides bulge because of the abuse, use wax to fill the sides.
PS I do NOT play the whistle, I just happen to have that brand and have played with it.
Get a tweaked Generation or a Mellow Dog from Jerry Freeman!!!
Both are available at www.bigwhistle.co.uk in England, which saves waiting for post from America. I do send whistles all over the world, myself, too.
Best wishes,
Jerry
I have a Clarke question too. I have the unpainted D whistle with a wooden plug. After about 10 - 15 minutes of playing, it seems to become more difficult to play even if I get most of the moisture out. Does the wood swell and constrict the windway? Is there an easy fix?
I love the sound it has until this happens.
Ged Damnit Jerry, I sent you a PM! I’m just going to start a thread to address the question.
Somewhere on the main page, there is a link to how to tweak whistles.
My favorite C and D whistles are the black original design and the ones I play are untweaked, just checked for tuning. I get about 2 out of 6 whistles are in tune, the rest are sharp.
The wood on a new whistle tastes bad, so I put some cinammon oil on the plug.
You can try putting a some beeswax, poster putty, a thin possibly round toothpick or similar in the corners of the windway to focus the airstream to the blade.
Thank you for your fast and good help!
I´m thinking about buying a new whistle!
Bigwhistle are fine people to buy from. I can recommend both the Mellowdog and bigwhistle.co.uk 