Thanks for being so patient. The news I was telling you about is now offical and I can break it..
It’s a new Clarke Whistle, called the ‘Meg’!
The first tin whistles that Robert Clarke made and sold in 1843 were called ‘Megs’, because it is the old Victorian word for a halfpenny (or ha’pny - which is what they cost to buy!
Clarke have set up a new factory in the Far East, with workers whom they have trained and regularly supervise. It is Clarke’s intention, they tell me, to bring ‘affordable music to the masses’, once again. Although the price of the new Clarke is not yet certain, it is expected to be far less (probably about half) than that of the usual Sweetone price.
Clarke say that the Meg is a combination of the Sweetone design with budget raw materials and a modified production process.
I haven’t heard the Meg yet (one is on it’s way to me) but Clarke say that tonally, it is slightly different to the usual Sweetone but it still retains the ‘feel and quality of that famous Clakre sound’.
Meg will be in Silver and black livery and in D and C keys.
It should be available in the shops (especially Shanna Quay) from June 2002.
Hey cool! Thanks Steve. Incidentally the term ‘Meg’ was used for a half-penny until the coin was discontinued (I don’t know the exact year that happened). My Granddad, who is from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire (same place as me) used the term 'Meg" many times in his family history. I’ll have to buy myself a pair of Megs in his memory
Clarke have set up a new factory in the Far East, with workers whom they have trained and regularly supervise. It is Clarke’s intention, they tell me, to bring ‘affordable music to the masses’, once again.
Hire cheaper labor to produce whistles more cheaply–what a novel idea
Lisa
[ This Message was edited by: ysgwd on 2002-03-21 05:20 ]
If not Samick, how about Stella? Or maybe Jasmine? Mastersound, you every notice how every decent guitar has a really bad knockoff? Funny thing, a bassist friend of mine swears by Samick, but I think that it’s only because it’s the only think he can afford with what his wife allows him to spend.
The Samick thing is interesting. When my gf, Deb, got sick of watching us jam and wanted to join in I bought her a Samick bass. It’s a brilliant guitar for the money. My number two electric guitar is a Samick Strat copy, and it too is a very playable and great sounding guitar.
Samick make pianos and guitars in Korea, and I read last year that Samick Indonesia now turns out some 25,000 acoustic guitars and 20,000 electric guitars every month. It is the world’s largest guitar production facility! The list of guitars made by Samick is amazing! Almost every imported brand seems to come from there, although I’ve seen some well made stuff coming out of Vietnam and China recently too. Then there’s Fujigen in Japan who make some of the nicest guitars in the world including the Jap Fenders.
It makes you wonder why the whistle makers don’t source their bodies and fipples in Asia and assemble them locally, or just import them and be done with it. If my new LBW cost me US$7.00 it would have been landed in Australia for US$3.50 so the cost of production would have to be around $1.75.
The diehards will always say that US made instruments are best, but I think there’s a lot more bang for the buck to be had in Asia. My number one guitar is an Australian made Maton Mastersound, but my other guitars, my banjo and my mandolin are all made in Asia.
The truth is that I love Clarke whistles, especially the originals. I’m just disappointed to hear that their big surprise is that they’re using cheap labor to make a super-cheap whistle.
Chris
