hi everyone,
Am looking to buy a tinwhistle (my first). Thought I might start with the Clark Original Tinwhistle. Anyone have experience with this one compared to other beginner whistles?
Also have been trying to get in touch with the company and not having much luck.
Am open to any and all suggestions.
thanks much in advance,
Randy A
Taiwan
http://www.pbase.com/adamstw
there are much better people than me to offer you advice. my simple advice is to just get a whistle and start playing. have fun. let’s us know how it goes for you. we’ve all been there. when i first started, i could make some horrible sounds come out of a whistle.
Randy, check your private messages. 
Personally, I think the Clark Original would be a little difficult to learn on. It takes a lot of breath to play without tweaking it. And while tweaking it isn’t terribly difficult, there’s a possibility of going too far with the tweak and having to correct it.
I think a beginner is better off with a whistle that’s easier to play. IMHO, the Clark Sweetone is one of the easiest. Some people don’t like the tone, saying it sounds like a toy. However, I don’t think it’s that bad, and it’s a pretty easy whistle to learn on.
The flip side of that is to get a whistle that’s a little more difficult to learn on, but will be more rewarding. A good choice here is a Feadog. Even for this approach, I think the Clark Original is harder to play for the wrong reasons.
I don’t want to rag on the Clark Original, I know it has a lot of fans here. I just think it makes a better third or fourth whistle.
Whistles are pretty cheap, so why not get a few?
Jason
Jason makes a good point. The discussions on this Board about which whistles, especially cheapies, to buy or start on make for a double edged sword - it’s fun but a bit overdone and unnecessary.
But, since you asked… 
The Clarke Original was my first, I still have several of them, and always liked them. They have lovely traditional (whatever that means) tone and charming appearance and personality. I never ever had a problem with air requirements and don’t get that; also, maybe you need to develop breath control from the beginning, good idea, no? Also try Waltons, Generations and Faedogs, at the least.
It’s almost like having a baby, starting out on this path, wish I could do it again and again (ok, so my wife had the babies).
Ok, then there’s the Shaw - beautiful appearance and lovely tone, but IMO, the only relatively inexpensive whistle that requires either an oxygen tank or a third lung.
Enjoy.
Philo
hi hengchun.
why not get a clarke sweetone. I quite like it.
I would definitely choose Sweetone over the original. The original is much more difficult to play..in my opinion.
I started out with a Clarke original, and it was a difficult whistle for me. It was impossible to get notes in the upper register until I tweaked it quite a bit. Though I had lots of tweaking fun along the way, eventually I tweaked it too much and had to get a different whistle (well, several…). And at that point I was amazed at how much easier they were to play, right out of the box, than my first Clarke had been after all my tweaking.
I do like the tone of the Clarke Original, though. I just think it makes a better third or fourth whistle than a first or only whistle.
I too would suggest a Sweetone or Feadog. The Sweetone has a softer, more flute-like sound, while the the Feadog has a quirkier, more “Irish” sound.
Thanks very much everyone for your responses.
So glad I asked…on some boards a newbie question might go unanswered for days…I am impressed and looking forward to learning much from you all.
Have a lot to ponder now and have to start ordering whistles…hmmm, I think I’ll take one of each…
Randy A
Taiwan
http://www.pbase.com/adamstw/pad
the clarke original was my first, i still play it. it takes a lot of breathe though. you might want to start with a feadog or a sweetone.
Yeah, especially when you ask an important technical question, or try to report a bug to Microsoft! 
You may want to consider a Freeman Tweaked whistle. As a newbie, if you get a difficult to play (ie: “bad”) whistle, you may not be able to tell if the problem is with you or the whistle. If you get a Freeman Tweaked whistle, then you’ll know that it’s you!
All these folks are offering good ideas for a first whistle. Anything you can pick up in your town would do to start. Try to go to sessions to see what they play, and get a good beginning DVD as well. LE McCullough has a great one.
If you see one, I would get a Soodlums (or Waltons, same company) Mellow D. It looks like a Generation, but the barrel is bigger (the Generation will fit inside the Mellow D). Nice tone, easy blow, and the high notes are pleasant. Grace notes are bubbly. I used mine for years, and was very happy with it until I needed something louder that mic’d easier. I personally don’t like the Clarke’s Original simply because it’s breathy and the intonation is iffy. Other folks swear by them for that same reason, and I appreciate their position. I just like the Soodlums better, and for 8 bucks you can’t go wrong!
If you want volume, get a Susato for around $30.