I bought a Clarke whistle, but it doesn’t sound good. Now I know the problem is probably me, but I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I have a Clarke original(D). Can anybody give some advice?
I think there’re folks here who can help, but they’ll need more to work with than just that it doesn’t sound good. That is pretty subjective. I, for example, never think a Clarke sounds very good. I don’t like the breathy sound, which I believe comes from air leakage around the unsealed wood block.
OTOH, others like that noise and think the high clear sound of some metal and PVC whistles isn’t sufficiently traditional.
Can you give us a little clearer picture of how it sounds wrong?
Well, I have to tell you that the Clarke Original is not one of my favorite whistles, but I think that it gets a bum rap. I don’t find the noise as objectionable as the seam along the back; I much prefer my Shaw in that regard. However, I think that sound of the Clarke is fine.
As I’m aware that I have no rhythm, please ignore my poor playing, but here](http://www.tullberg.com/merrily.mp3%22%3Ehere) is a clip that I just played on my untweeked Clarke Original (Diamond version) . The clip is totally untouched and recorded on my junky computer headset. It sounded fine to me (with some intonation problems). So you could use this as a baseline to judge your own.
Peace,
Erik
[ This Message was edited by: ErikT on 2001-09-21 10:55 ]
This is just my opinion, but I believe you will sound better once you have played the whistle a length of time. You need to practice and adjust to your whistle. Alot of the time right out of the box a whistle won’t sound good to your ear. But the more you play and practice the better the whistle and you will sound.
Trust your instinct Pcd,not everyone likes original Clarkes ..I’d go for something different for now and reasess the Clarke further down the track. Mike 
Thanks for the advice! I think I’ll just buy another whistle, but unfortunatly, I don’t have much choice between whistles here. And Erik, my Clarke whistle sounds different from yours. It’s especially the first C (on my D whistle) that sounds very squeaky. And high notes don’t sound very clear.
And what’s the difference between the flute forum and the whistle board?
The difference?Not sure..these trick questions always allude me…a Generation flute?;)Sorry..couldnt resist it,perhaps one of the longer serving board members or the chairman himself could help you. 
Mike