Well, I am not EXACTLY going to ask which whistle I should buy. I am new to the group and have been playing the whistle for several months. My first was probably the cheapest Clarke you can get and I guess is a silvery color plated tin? I actually like the sound. It is mellow and fluty sounding and seems to play well except I have to blow very hard for the highest notes. I am sure that will improve in time. The trouble is that it is pretty sharp and eventfully I hope to play with others.
So, after reading a few good thing about Tony Dixon I bought a Dx004 tunable polymer. I guess it plays okay except it has a very shrill sound and some notes will play louder than others. Overall it plays rather quiet. The second e plays softer and over blows easily.
I want a louder sound, not shrill and tunable. Should I stick with metal? Suggestions without costing a fortune?
I have been reading about tweaking. Can I improve my Dixon? I guess it is asking too much to tune my Clarke especially since I can’t make it longer.
Like all instruments, if you acquire a well-regarded make and find it less than satisfactory, don’t immediately conclude it’s a dud. By all means if you’ve got more experienced players in the hood, ask one of them to give yours a toot to make sure it isn’t defective. If you don’t have a local guru, make yourself give it a month or so before you give up. Often, you will find that your instrument has made a miraculous transformation from dud to treasure in that amount of time.
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The original clarke is a lovely instrument, but it’s also unlike nearly all other whistles. The shift from wooden to a plastic fipple and from conical to straight bore requires some adjustment. Play it determinedly for a bit, and I expect it’ll be much more like the instrument you thought you were buying in due course.
Indeed! Many’s the whistler who discovers, much to their surprise, that those whistles lost in the back of the drawer all these long months, have somehow improved greatly in tone and playability over that time.
Depends which Clarke you have. If it’s a Meg or a Sweetone (plastic mouthpiece) then you can make it longer by pulling the head off and repositioning it. The heads aren’t glued on (for these models) so just use brute force and rubber/latex gloves for increased grip. You could try putting the whistle in the freezer first to shrink the metal.
I really like the Clarke Sweetone whistles as a cheap and cheerful starter whistle, although others here disagree. Having said that, I’ve just bought a Dixon trad. It’s significantly better (cleaner tone, good intonation and great in the second octave) than any of the other cheapies I’ve tried (Generation, Feadog, Waltons) so is worth the extra money in my opinion.
If you have a Clarke Original (wooden fipple) then the only way to fix tuning issues is to mess with the holes, which is probably more work than it’s worth (and I’ve not found that necessary on my Clarke Original, which has good intonation).
There’s Guido’s home-made whistle instructions (just search the archive or google for his website). It’s fun to try and make a whistle, but I’ve found it tricky to get one to play in tune due to my rather limited practical skills. I’m still trying though!
Thanks for the advice so far and yes, I find the Dixon is getting better the more I play it.
I guess I was more trying to ask if there are characteristic differences in playing and sound between plastic and tin, copper, aluminum or whatever.
In my vast experience with two whistles I discovered that the tin Clarke blows easily and the plastic Dixon seems “tighter” to get air through and overblows easier. Then again, I am a tuba player learning penny whistle. Also, the tin sounds more mellow.
Most Dixon’s i’ve played are like that and not my cup of tea at all - i like a whistle you can shove around a fair bit. The Dixon trad is the only Dixon that i’ve played that i like.
The Clarke’s are nice whistles though. I buy the occasional Sweetone D for friend’s children as pound for pound you don’t get much better value in my opinion. The only Clarke i’ve found to be screwy is the Sweetone C, not sure what they did wrong there but i’ve never played a nice one.
Yeah, the Sweetone in C is a different animal. Older models have different hole spacings, particularly B3, so check the vintage. The new version has a big stretch for B3 which makes it harder to finger than the Sweetone in D, but with a bit of work it’s possible to make them sound good too.
Yes, there are differences in sound, although these are hard to describe and everyone has their favourite. For me, the plastic whistles sound almost recorder-like, which may or may not be A Good Thing. Aluminium has a nice clean sound. I guess that brass is more “traditional”, although tin whistles were probably first on the scene (possibly ignoring wood?).
I’m really interested in what it is about the different materials that affects the sound - surface roughness, manufacture, density, stiffness… I think that the effect of the material on the tone is secondary to the shape (straight or conical) and also to the fipple design and of course to the player, which might explain why some people love the very brand of whistle that others hate.
Is there a saying once you blown a Burke you never go back?
I have to agree that if your going to get a “cheap” whistle then Dixon is the way to go. I have never played a Clark so I don’t know. But I have played a Feadog and while I love the sound I’ll be dammed if I can’t get it in tune and sounding nice.
I love all 3 of my Dixons I have two Trads one in D and the other in Eb and a Polymer model that has a brass tuning slide. The polymer plays nice but it is very quiet and is a bit feisty on low E. Upper octaves are nice on it.
Now the Burke is in a league of its own. I just ordered a OZ Whistle in Black wood which will be here in November. I will have to see how the two compare.
