Has anyone here played a cooperman? Looks very Clarke like to me, could anyone give me an overview of how they play? Does it play like a Clarke?
Yes, I have had two. One played like a quiter, breathier, Clarke. The other didn’t play at all. They might be a good whistle, if adjusted by Jerry Freeman or someone.
If you have a chance to choose from a lot of them, you might find a decent one or two. Otherwise steer clear and get a Clarke if you like the rolled tin style of whistle. The Coopermans seem to be marketed as inexpensive souvenir type instruments for places like Colonial Williamsburg. I wonder how many people have been turned off to the whistle entirely by trying to learn on a bad Cooperman. Too bad, because with a little tinkering with the design these could be a charming instrument.
Well my garbage can whistle (yes I found it in someones garbage can) is, I think, a Cooperman and after much tweaking and messing around with is a mighty fine whistle. The only reason I took the time to mess with it was the fact that it was dead on tuning wise. I realy should send it to Jerry and see if there is anything he can do with it. I realy like the sound.
Tom
I have quite a few friends at the Cooperman fife and drum Company. Cooperman makes their whistle not as a musical instrument, but as a toy for sale in gift shops. The Cooperman Company specializes in wooden drums: rope tensioned and hand drums, and fifes. They do have a wooden whistle which I have played. I wasn’t impressed, but I play an O’Riordan concert whistle.
Cooperman’s website is: www.cooperman.com/
They do make Bodhrans, but I have no background which to personally comment on them. I do have some friends that own Cooperman bodhrans and like them a lot.
My first whistle was a souvenir Cooperman purchased both as
a memento and out of a long standing curiosity about whistles.
Mine played poorly at first but, liking to tinker with such things, turned
out to be a decent instrument with a soft somewhat breathy sound
after a bit of ‘tweaking’.
I recently obtained my first Clarke Original and like it though it took a
little tweaking also. The sound is like the Cooperman but stronger.
I agree with Tom, the intonation of the Cooperman whistle is excellent.
My Cooperman whistle has an honored place in my
modest whistle collection less for the quality of it, more
for leading me to investigate the web for whistle info
which introduced me to the wonderful world of C&F and
the many fine people here! 
Alan
I own and have played both the tinplate and wooden Cooperman whistles.
I think that if anyone could figure out how to tweak the wooden one into decent playability for less than a $15 markup, he’d really have a saleable product. The original costs about $15 and I suspect a lot of folks would buy a $30 wooden whistle if it played decently.
The metal ones are the usual ones, though. I hate to say that any whistle is just plain bad, but this is not a very good instrument. Not at all. The tinplate is thin and cheap-feeling. The wooden fipple isn’t inserted all the way into the tube before the sides are punched to hold it in place. Even if it is the wrong place. The sound is more breath than note. I am not impressed with this whistle, to tell the truth.
Tweaking a Clarke or Shaw is a good thing, as it improves a whistle which already has some very positive characteristics. Tweaking a Cooperman is probably a waste of time, as it is not a good whistle to begin with. I suspect you’d come out with something that might, on a good day, rival one of the worst Clarkes.
My feeling on the matter is that you should try one if you get the chance, just so you know we are not blowing smoke, but don’t spend money on it until you are sure you want an example of a really substandard whistle.
The wooden one, though, is worth getting if you think you can figure out how to tweak it to play better. I can’t, but I have one anyway.
-Patrick
Well now I am stumped. My garbage can whistle which I thought was a Cooperman has some sort of plastic fipple plug. In fact it looks like pre=plastic plastic. It is not pined in place and was easy to take out to do some tweaking. It is conical yet not as drastic as my Clarke and it is heavy compared to the Clarke. Thicker metal. Oh well I still like the sound of it.
Tom
Cooperman whistles are very well tuned. The metal ones. I haven’t tried a wooden one. Their drums are awesome. I have two - both solid maple, rope tension.
I have two Cooperman tin whistles and a wooden whistle. I like all of them. They do have a more breathier sound. More so, with the wooden one. The wooden one also takes ALOT of air! I found the wooden fipple plug on the tin to be a bit too fat, so I sat on the sidewalk and kept rubbing the plug on the walk until I wore it down some. It didn’t affect the tone ( which by the way, has a very nice sound) but it felt much better. I think if you learn to play on a lesser quality whistle it teaches you three things…
\
- You learn discipline
- Control of breath
- How to appreciate a better quality whistle!
Once you’ve mastered a Cooperman you are ready to play anything (whistle wise that is)
Raven