I have a Clare two-piece that started sounding awfully squeaky and squawky, so I made my first attempt at “tweaking” and now it sounds even worse. (I knew that was a possiblility.) I was wondering if I could put the fipple from another cheap whistle on my Clare. Are all cylindrical brass whistles the same diameter? Has anybody tried this with a Clare?
By the way, I know I haven’t posted in a long time. After joining the messsage board, I really liked it but I felt like I couldn’t keep up–there were so many posts going up so fast, I was spending hours a day trying to keep up with what was going on. So I thought maybe I wasn’t “message-board material” and I quit coming. But then I really missed it, so I came back. I’m just having to be more selective about which topics I read. I know probably nobody cares about all that; I just feel better explaining it!
My own limited experiences with whistle head transplants between brands have been almost universally bad. However, if you really want to keep the two-piece whistle and twenty bucks isn’t too steep, others have reported extremely good results with Clare tubes and Mack Hoover’s Whitecap - a PVC headpiece that replaces the head of a cheap whistle. I’ve only tried it myself on an Acorn and it turned a really nasty screecher into a remarkably gentle and sweet little whistle. I have been planning to do the same with my own Clare but just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
I have swapped all the heads on all of the cheap whistles I have. They all more or less fit. After trying all combinations the only one worth keeping was a Feadog head on a Generation brass body. Since then I put a Hoover whitecap on the Gen tube and restored the Feadog head to its proper tube. The GenDog hybrid was really nice but the whitecap is even better.
Mike
I had one and now I can’t recognize myself
when I look in the mirror–though I’m
certainly better looking. On the other hand
maybe I went where my head went, in
which case I’m not me but the other guy.
Oh gee…
Head transplant? If you like loud, and tuning accuracy, chop off a Susato head. Leave about an inch of tubing and put an Oak barrel in there. You’ll have to drill it out a bit but the result is better than whistle’s costing over $100. Warning: it’s loud.
I just got a Whitecap in the mail (full whistle with a tube by Mack, too) and if the results of putting the head on other tubes come anywhere close to what this whistle is, I say it is well worth your money.
I am sort of sorry to say that this is now my favorite handmade D. Sorry because there is another excellent maker on this board whose whistle got pushed down a place by the Whitecap.
I don’t really see how Mack sells his whistles for the prices he does. The handwork on them is evident, meaning it doesn’t look like machined perfection, but the sound is why we buy whistles. I’ve never heard a word against his work and the three whistles I have seen by him (I own two, the Whitecap D and a CPVC C#, and a friend owns a brass one) all seem to be worth more than his asking price. I suppose he makes them because he enjoys it and passes them on at prices that can be afforded.
I hope you can figure out how to get your whistle sounding right. Don’t worry about not posting often. I have a little over 200 posts, but I’ve been here since the message board went to this current format. Other folks who have been here only a little while have 2,000 posts. Just say something when you want to and never mind how many posts you make total.
Thanks, everbody, for the advice. I’m thinking of ordering a Feadog (I’ve been wanting to try one anyway) and playing around with it a little while, then putting the Feadog head on the Clare. If that doesn’t work, I’ll probably order a Whitecap for the Clare, put the Feadog head back on its body, and have another whistle in my small collection.
I fixed my horribly squeaky unplayable 2pc Clare by sticking a red Generation top on it. It still sounds better on the generation tube, but it’s nice to have the 2 peice aspect for “pocket whistle”.