I have been playing a Clarke Original tin whistle (“pennywhistle”) for a while.
It was quite cheap, and I am thinking that when I now am a little more profficient maybe I should go for a better whistle.
So I want to know, is the Clarke already a good tin whistle, or will I experience greatly enhanced playability/sound if I buy a more expensive one?
Thanks in advance
EDIT:
Sorry for posting in wrong forum, thought flutes and whistles shared forum.
Answers could be all over the map with this one.
Some will say the Clarke Original is their favorite. There’s something to be said about the traditional tone and overall simplicity.
Many more will probably say to consider a more expensive one.
However, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a nice playing whistle. For example, most of Jerry Freeman’s tweaked whistles will get you into the “nice whistle” category and will run you around $40 shipped.
I also like my Parks Every Whistle and it’s $55 I think.
Others may come in and say go all out and get a Burke, claiming you’ll never need anything else. That will run you close to $200.
Me, I’m happy with my Mellow Dog and my Every Whistle (I have C and D bodies for both). In fact, I just put the original head back on my Feadóg (had a Hoover White Cap), and that’s just a great whistle IMO - at what, $7.00 or something? The White Cap is now back on my Oak.
Jason
Your questions are the most frequent questions coming from a new whistler. The answers you get will vary wildly. There is nothing inherantly wrong with the Clarke’s whistle (or most whistles for that matter). You can buy a different whistle, perhaps pay more too and it won’t necissarily be a better whistle. My advice would be to play the Clarke until you get to a point in a tune where the Clarke won’t do what you expect from a whistle. If you get out and play with others you would have an opportunity to play many types of whistles by then and you can pick another whistle based on your experience. That said, many of us have owned and/or played evey whistle we come in contact with. If you really want another (more expensive) whistle, stick with the better known makers and you will do fine. Read through the older posts here and you will begin to see the patterns and preferences that are shared here.
Welcome to the board.
Feadoggie
the best part of whistling is that even entry level whistles are often used by seasoned pros. I know that’s what keeps me from going overboasrd on gear. 
since you use the original clarke, you may want to check out some of plastic fipple type whistles (feadogs, oaks, generations) to see if that sounds suits you. just an idea.
Do you want more volume/power?
Thanks for your answers.
The only problem I have with my Clarke (D-tuned), is that I’m having trouble getting a clear tone higher than second octave G.
But maybe it’s just me who needs to practice some more?
Volume is fine, although people start to compliment on my playing I wouldn’t want to go any higher. For the neighbours sake.
It may be the particular whistle. In my experience
there is lots of variety from clarke to clarke (I mean
the Original model) and it’s
certainly thinkable the whistle has something
to do with the problem. Anyhow it’s hardly
against the rules to try more whistles.
Might as well learn more about them.
If the problem repeats, it wasn’t the Clarke.
If it were me, I’d take a look at the Jerry Freeman
tweaked whistles. These are inexpensive and
very good and if something isn’t right (unlikely)
the maker cares.
That whistle (Jerry Freeman) seems interesting, and I will try that one out.
Too bad they are out of stock at the moment.
You can order the Blackbird directly from Jerry Freeman, it’s his newest tweaked whistle. I just got one, and highly recommend it as being an excellent representative of the plastic fippled, cylindrical metal tube type of whistle (ala Feadog, Generation, Oak, etc.).
Info in this thread: http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=63263&highlight=blackbird
Thanks.
Someone mentions in that thread that if one finds breathcontrol with a Generation hard, one should not bother with this one though.
I take it that more breath is required to play this one than, say, a Clarke whistle? At the moment, I still have to catch my breath (interrupting the song) when I play Morrison’s Jig for example.
The Clarke will require more breath than the Generation-type whistles, the Generation-type whistles will generally require less breath but more breath control. Meaning you won’t have to breathe as much (volume-wise) with the Generations as with the Clarke, but you’ll have to exercise more control over how hard you breathe. The switch between octaves is more delicate than with the Clarke.
If you want to find out what it’s like without spending $40, get an Oak or a Generation or Feadog.
Ok, thanks for your clarification. I think I misinterpreted breath control.
I thought it meant controlling precisely when to inhale.
A whistle requiring less breath seems a good idea then, or at least a nice addition. 40 bucks is no problem.
You won’t find many negative remarks on this forum about the Dixon Trad brass whistle. It costs more than the least expensive whistles, but not a lot more. It plays smoothly and cleanly through the whole two octaves, in my beginner’s opinion.
Maybe it’s just me, but when I play my biggest breath-related problem is having too much air locked up inside of me trying to get out… hence in my book, the more air a whistle takes, the better! As long as it’s not too ridiculous… 
But then that could have something to do with how I play… I try and move around a bit as the audience seems to enjoy it a lot more than when I’m standing still with a bored looking expression on my face… I tend to enjoy it more too…
But if you don’t plan on moving around a lot you should be just fine… however I must say one thing… I’ve never played a Blackbird… or even a Gen (is that possible?!) so I haven’t really tried a whistle like that… the most similar whistle to a Gen I’ve played is a Feadog. In my opinion the breath control for a Feadog is fine if I’m standing still, but I’d never perform live with one for the reason that I couldn’t move around as much as I like to.
Seems nice too. Now I’m finding it hard to decide.
As for something completely different, I’m wondering about what internet or written tutorials you people would recommend for a person learning the whistle?
Up until now, I’ve mostly learnt by watching tradlessons youtube-tutorials, and played along with some songs I have on cd… but I’m starting to wonder if that’s a good way to learn.
In addition to Tradlessons on YouTube, check out Ryan Duns videos as well. He does more instructional stuff.
For a website, Brother Steve’s Tin Whistle pages is a good one.
Jason
That’s surely an important aspect.
I think that it’s the opposite for me though, maybe because I don’t have that much capacity lung-wise. Also, I’m not playing live (been playing for about two-three months), so I stand or sit.
Hell I just had to check whether I was in the right forum or not…kinda freaked me out for a second I find the whistle guys even more serious and scary than the flute guys. I really never play whistle anymore, not out of snobbery, but because my ears are really pained by the pitch ( in a d whistle) but I don’t think you can beat a Walton’s ‘Mellow D’. Unfortunately I can’t tell you how to get one because I can’t remember where the I got mine from. They are a pretty common instrument I think though and should be easy to get a hold of most music stores. They are also cheap. probably no more than 10 bucks, they have a sweet mellow tone, as their name implies, octave change is smooth and higher notes in the 2nd octave above g are not hard to play ‘sweetly’.
Please take my advice though and don’t spend hundreds on a designer whistle. Put your money aside towards the flute that you will undoubtedly desire in the not so distant future.
I’m boring and always say the same things (my daughter thinks i have very limited programming), so here goes.
Cheapies are well cheap relatively and I would suggest initially (which could span years) trying a bunch of these as it strikes your fancy. I have had, judging from some of the posts here, uncommon good luck with cheapies through the years, including Clarke original, faedog, walton, soodlum, clare and Generation, etc. (Susato is in my mind part of this group and may still sell those wonderful D/C/Bflat sets for example that are not very expensive.) For me that was always a wonderful bit of fun that first got me enthralled with this music and learning to play it.
Then at whatever point you feel moved and when you can afford it, get your first so called high-ender and start a new chapter if you like - Humphrey, Sindt and Burke and Abell and Busman, oh my. Humphrey and Sindt are lower priced and are wonderful whistles; Burke starts to get up there and is also great; Busman is terrific and a bit higher still, and Abell is grand but at the top of the cost scale. Other magnificent makers are largely unavailable today such as O’Riordan who is reasonably priced, Copeland, also at top cost scale, and sadly Glen Schulz’s wonderful whistles.
You might also want to develop a feel for what material you like - wood, metals, plastics (don’t sell them short)…
Anyway, as far as how they sound, it’s you that’ll do the sounding..record yourself on different whistles time to time and see for yourself.
Whoa is you!
Enjoy.
Philo
You could sign up over at http://whistlethis.com and get feedback from other whistlers, of all levels of competence. It’s been pretty quiet there lately, but there are still people checking in.