When did Clarke stop putting nails in their fipple blocks?

Whistle
1

My old clarke had panel pins holding the metal tight onto the wooden fipple block.
I bought a new one and it doesnt have these pins, in fact you can see a small amount of daylight round the block.
I notice the shaw whistles have nails through the metal into the block, presumably for the same reason the clarke ones used to.

I have another clarke unopened and it also has no nails, so when did they stop putting the nails in?

At this point I want you to consider that your answer might make me feel very, very old.

2

How would no replies make you feel then?! My reply would simply be…?.. :poke: . Sorry mate, I never new they did put pins in them…But, to make you fell better I never owned one and I am fairly new at this whole whistle thing myself.


Mick

3

OK, I am beginning to think it was a long time ago they stopped putting the pins in!

4

This is a bit hazy, however I believe the Clarke company passed from the family
into the hands of married couple who bought it. They then revised the making
of the whistle with some advice from Michael Copeland and Jim Rementer.
The shift you notice MAY have happened then. Or not. This would have
been in the last five years or so. Hazy, as I said.

5

longer than 5 years ago. My first Clarke, in 1995, had no pins.

6

OK mine was a lot older than that.
Guessing early 80’s but it could have been old when I got it.

7

Well then I guess we can safely conclude that my account does NOT
explain the change, as it postdates it. By the way,
I believe that Clarkes in the 19th
century came in low G whistles too.
Clarkes have gone through various changes
and transformations…

8

My Clarke C dates from the late 60s/early 70s, if I recall correctly (can’t remember exactly when I bought it). It has no pins. On the right side of the fipple block there are 3 punched, square indentations (around 1 mm square) penetrating the metal and into the wood, and on the left side 2 smaller punched, dimpled indentations.

I think the C whistle was the only Clarke available at the time. The D whistle in the “original” design was offered only much later.

9

Wanderer, you’ve pulled a van Winkle: 1995 was at least 13 years ago.

10

Yes..that’s longer than 5 years :slight_smile:

11

My first (and only) Clarke was bought in 2001 and it does have pins, 2 on either side. However, this was a “tweeked” Clarke from The Whistle Shop. I suspect the pins were part of the ‘tweeking’.

12

Mine was a black one and I am sure the pins were painted over.
Maybe someone had modified it before I got it.