I recently bought a Clare 1-piece (I already had the “Eagle” two-piece), simply because I didn’t have one already.
Out of the box, I was disappointed. It was stuffy and weak and would barely play. Looking the the fipple, there was a piece of plastic flashing that was covering part of the lower end of the windway. I carefully removed it with a sharp knife, and then had my socks blown off.
This is a lovely little whistle! It’s quiet, and in all honesty it’s biggest weakness besides requiring some touch-up work on the fipple is that it’s just not loud enough for session work. Even in a small session I think the sound would be lost.
Like most whistles, it came with the fipple glued on and about 40 cents sharp to A=440. Removing the fipple was just a matter of holding the whistle under running hot water for several seconds and then firmly pulling the fipple off.
Now, tuned to A=440, the whistle is pretty well in tune with itself, though it does tend to get a little flat at the upper end of the high octave. Like most inexpensive whistles, C-natural needs to be fingered ( o x x | x o x ) as ( o x x | o o o ) is too sharp on this whistle.
The tone of this whistle is enchanting. The lower notes are resonant and the bell note is strong. The high notes are pure and easy. The whistle is very forgiving on breath control and is a very free-blowing, easy whistle. There is lovely chiff all over the place. The tone isn’t edgy but does have character, and it has that “lonesome” sound in the high octave like a good Generation does.
Here’s what it sounds like. First a slow piece, to highlight the tone, Gus Breo:
http://www.flutesite.com/clare/gusbreo_clare.mp3
Here’s the Killavil Postman, which is just a lot of fun to play on this whistle:
http://www.flutesite.com/clare/killavil_clare.mp3
And finally, to show how it handles more aggressive play, on Tom Billy’s Jig I just “cut loose” with it:
http://www.flutesite.com/clare/tombilly_clare.mp3
This whistle is available for about the price of an Oak or a Feadog. It’s a terrific whistle, very fun to play, if you don’t mind having to do some finish work on the fipple–I also have a Clare 2-piece which is several years old. It also had problems with plastic flashing on the fipple.
This whistle is just fun to play.
As always, comments and questions are welcomed. Please forgive the failings of the artist: the recordings are meant to show off the whistle, not my playing.
–James
