Can anyone recommend a whistle(s) that sound like a Clarke with not so much air requirement?
A tweaked clark has that sound with less air requirement. One can be bought at ‘‘The Whistle Shop’’. http://www.thewhistleshop.com/catalog/whistles/inexpensive/Clarke/Tweeked/tweeked.htm
Or you could try tweaking it your self. Involves mashing the windway exit to cut down on the air needed, then the blade may need some adjustment up, or down.
Tommy,
I’ve tried the tweak on mine but with no success. I couldn’t get the top to mash down any. I actually have little success with tweaks. I tried to tweak a Generation and couldn’t even get the head off! I boiled, and boiled, and boiled and it wouldn’t come. That makes me think the problem might lie in the tweaker! 
…another issue is being able to get the whistle in another key besides D.
Shaw? Similar air requirements though, IIRC. I’ve only played one once or twice.
http://www.daveshaw.co.uk/SHAW_Whistles/shaw_whistles.html
Funny, for many years the Clarke was made only in C. The Clarke D was the odd one.
Thanks for the tip. So I’m interested - What is your whistle(s) of choice?
I believe Jerry Freeman tweaks Shaws to reduce the air requirements and make them less breathy.
Personally? For sessions, usually Burke or Sindt, sometimes a Gen or Feadóg. For oversized sessions (ugh), Overton or Susato. For everyday noodling, whatever’s handy from the whistle jar. A Dixon Trad seems to be my knockaround whistle at the moment.
I like the unique Clarke sound and feel well enough, but not enough to really play it.
In fact Clarke only began making Ds after Dave Shaw did. I remember seeing the first ads for Shaw’s whistles in English folk magazines in the mid-1980s and one of the great things about them was that, in addition to the promise of being more carefully made, they were available in D. Finally! I promptly ordered two, one of which I still have.
Clarke’s were roused from their slumbers and struck back with ads for their own whistles, a model in D and not too long after that Bill Ochs’ tutor book for the Clarke whistle. I hope they are thankful to Dave Shaw for putting a rocket up their backsides.
I’ve always thought it was a pity that nobody was able to wake up the makers of Generations in similar fashion!
Yes, really. There are the stories of people visiting Generation HQ (B&M) in Oswestry, only to be told that no one knows a thing, including the fact that they actually make whistles.
This reminds me of the original Star Trek episode “The Apple”, where a planet is controlled by a computer operating on auto-pilot long after its human creators are dust. I’m convinced that there’s a lost, robotic factory somewhere in the world manufacturing and packaging Generation whistles as it has, unchanged, for 60 years with no human intervention. Every week boxes of whistles are automatically deposited on the shipping dock, where they’re duly picked up and delivered to distributors around the world. The day after the asteroid obliterates the earth, I guarantee that the next shipment of red and blue top Gens will still show up at the ruins of your local music store. 