I just bought a Clarke original whistle. Although I like the general tine better than my other cheap whistle, I do find it quite “breathy” sounding. Is there anything that can be done to fix that??
It’s supposed to sound breathy. Record yourself and listen back before deciding whether you like or dislike the sound.
Oh, and welcome! 
I’m sure plenty of folks out there will offer tweaks, but might I suggest that the Clarke is meant to sound that way? Conical whistles are among my favorites, and my Clarke has a gorgeous upper register.
I did kill my first one, though, by tweaking it to death.
Now I have another, and I’m not gonna change it one bit 
Mary
I’ve taken a couple and mashed the windway down flat. I mash it down till it takes about half the air it did. I reshaped the blade on em a little too, but just mashing the windway down a bit does most of the work. My first one I mashed the whole windway down level. The second I just mashed down the last half. Both work just fine. They still keep most of that characterist sound. Just less breath. And less breathy.
I thought I had killed mine by over-tweaking, but I went back to it a couple of days ago and have now resuscitated it, it’s rather pure sounding and requires only about 20-percent as much air as it did when I first got it.
I started by placing it on my formica-topped desk, with all the holes facing down, and whapping it at the fipple end with my clenched fist. This helped, but I wasn’t satisfied, so I went a bit farther–too far. I also tried pushing the “dimple” of the blade down a bit, but all sound output ceased at that point, so I tried to raise it again, using a pair of needle-nosed pliers (lusing the side of the tips and levering against the opposite side of the windway opening). This pushed the top of the windway down flat, and and no air could go through it at all.
So, I found a small paring knife and inserted it from the end of the windway and twisted it back and forth to get the windway opened up a bit. Now it goes from about 1/16’ high at the end down to about 1/32" by the blade, and it will once again play through both octaves.
I wasn’t dissatisfied with the sound originally–I just didn’t like the amount of air it required. I figured that for $6.00, I could afford to experiment.
I’ve found after you mashed down the windway and then pryied it up enough times, it get easy enough to do it with just your thumb. Heheheheh. Good gosh I wish they made them in more keys. I got a C coming. I can’t wait to bend on that thing.
Didn’t we do an intensive workshop thread on Clarke tweaking recently? If someone could dig that up and post the link here, it would be helpful.
I don’t agree that Clarke original whistles “just sound that way,” and you either like them or not. There’s lots of variation in the factory run whistles, and some of them have a more interesting sound than others. I consider Clarke Originals to be a sort of “kit” whistle, because they’re very adjustable. You can tinker with them until you have the sound you like best.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Get a JerryTone whistle! They’re like super Clarkes.
(The breathiness is supposed to be there. It’s a tone characteristic that is typical of this kind of whistle. Some dig it, some don’t. It’s not as noticeable to the person listening to you play.)
I Started a thread on Feb 6 re tweaking my Clarke…lots of suggestions there for ya.
While I am sure Jerry is right about Clarkes being so tweakable (I’ve altered mine a bit with good results), I think that out-of-the-box they do tend to sound breathy compared to, for example Generations, Waltons or Feadogs. Also, I know how wary a beginner can be of modifying whistles (without advice from Jerry and other here I would never have dared try). Anyhow, my suggestion is to try the Sweetone (also a Clarke whistle) if you haven’t already. Same barrel shape as the original but with a plastic mouthpiece. The sound (of mine at least) is kind of between the original and a cheap cylindrical like a Generation.
(BTW, how do I break this habit of using so many brackets/parentheses in my posts?)
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=17488&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
There it is!
Best wishes,
Jerry
I Clarke Original In Black very much is pleasant to me!!!
To tell the truth, as well as everything, had firstly problems with fipple. I have pushed it hardly forward, and strong have stuck epoxid pitch.
Recently I have received Clarke Original C unpainted… Also has been disappointed. Completely unsuitable for game… Holes are made crudely, build it is very strongly brought down.
I drilled the some holes, trying to level build, but it has not given special advantage(benefit)… I am confident, what earlier these whistles were others, tell to me, I am right? 
As if to D this whistle one of the most pleasant, it is especial after I have impregnated fipple oil of a balm ))
I’ve owned nearly 8 Clarke originals in D and 2 in C.
They were my first whistle, and I broke a lot of them by sitting on them while they were in my back pocket…the metal is awfully soft compared to a Generation, Feadog, etc.
I also broke 3 or 4 trying to tweak them.
But, they were all fairly breathy and had high wind requirements right out of the box.
I really like my clarke original. I found a lot of the air problem was because i couldn’t get a good seal on the mouthpiece. Especially going up the second octave.
So i used my dremel thingy with a sanding drum to take out the area under the windway to make a beak…
I get a really easy seal on it now and it blows a lot easier than it did all the way through both octaves without any problems.
It still uses a bit more air than i would like, but the sound is wonderful and it’s so balanced throughout the range.
This is essentially what you buy at the whistle shop:
http://www.thewhistleshop.com/catalog/whistles/inexpensive/Clarke/Tweeked/tweeked.htm
Keep them; they’re you. (However, if you make brackets [or parentheses] with your fingers while you talk, I’d quit that right now. “Visual parentheses” are grounds for justifiable homicide here in Texas. Most such killings don’t even make it to the DA’s office.)
Simply replace them with other grammatical horrors.
Commas and conjunctions are the standard ploys, but ellipses . . . those dot-dot-dot things . . . and m-dashes–which you may see here as two n-dashes–are popular.
Don’t let that virgule get out of hand, though. They’re waffly. Your avatar wouldn’t tolerate indecision. Be firm and take control! Is it or is it not a bracket or a parenthesis?
.
Walrii: wid the fingers while talking? Yipe! Nah, even I don’t do that. Yep, I see the justifiable homicide point…
Doh, busted. You must have seen my other posts.
Yeh, I admit it, I have a problem with excessive and inappropriate use of ellipses too. I’ve had the aversion therapy (the one where someone stamps three dots on my forehead with a metal punch every time I use an unnecessary ellipsis), but they’re just too cute to resist…
Yeh, I do the dash thing too. There really is no hope. I may start a support group for sufferers from Bizarre Freestyle Punctuation Syndrome.
Er… back on topic: that Dremmel tweak is great. I’ll have to try that.
I really can’t imagine why Clarke and Shaw don’t shape their mouthpieces like that anyway.
I really can’t imagine why Clarke and Shaw don’t shape their mouthpieces like that anyway.
Then what fun could we have tweaking them?
Yeh, there is that of course…
Although as I don’t actually have a dremmel thingy I’m gonna have to do this wid a hand file. Good thing Clarkes ain’t expensive…