Clarke Whistle, Green (CWD)

This whistle will be compared to Clarke original, Feadog pro, feadog standard, Generation, and Sondern whistles.First, the taper design (I believe) allows for a constant air pressure over the range of notes, 2nd octave requires more air, but it requires less air than straight pipe design. The straight pipe (untapered) whistles can be a little fussy and want you to blow more softly on the lower notes, tapered design...no need to adjust your breath.Metal whistle so it has a bright sound, softer than nickel or brass, I believe this is due to the paint, but what the paint also does is make a nice grippy surface so my fingers don't slide around as much as they do on a nice shiny nickel..my fingers stay in place on this whistle. But not quite as sharp and loud as other metal whistles, but not as soft as the Clarke original.Next advantage of the constant air pressure taper design is that blowing softer still allows you to hit the notes, but with lower volume (to some extent) So I'll practice on this whistle indoors in apartment after the wood piece on my other clarke original gets moisture saturated. This whistle does not have the problem with the piece of wood getting too wet to make noise since the head is one piece plastic.Plastic head...feels comfortable on the lips, Clarke original feels terrible on the lips, but this clarke celtic is very nice.'Tweeking' The head is manufactured so that the empty cavity in the headpiece is smooth, the transition from low to high octave is not screechy and when I tweeked my generation whistles, I probed around with a shishkabob skewer to get a feel for what the geometry is of the cavity in the headpiece. From what I could tell, it has a smooth, symmetric cavity which explains why the the shift in octave is also smooth. No need to tweek in my opinion.Overall great whistle. It doesn't have the soft woody sound that the original clarke has, but the headpiece has a much nicer feel than the clarke original. Doesn't have the really really bright sea-shanty pitch as a nickel or brass. But the taper design makes it nice to not have to adjust air pressure for different notes. All around great whistle.

This plays SO much better than any other brand I've tried. The transition from note to note and octave to octave is as smooth as glass. I plan to buy the Original Clarke next!

I absolutely love this little whistle.I bought it with the intention that this would be my "cheap beginner whistle," and when I got better I would buy a higher quality one. Of course I sounded awful on it at first - that's pretty common for beginners, and I wonder how many of the one-star reviews simply hadn't played a tin whistle before. As the weeks and months rolled on, my husband noted that my playing actually sounded like music. My tone improved, and this whistle was very reliable. There was some breathiness in the lower half of the upper octave, but since it wasn't happening consistently I am guessing it's due to my playing and not the whistle itself.I didn't really treat this whistle with respect though, because it was cheap and slightly flat and untuneable even by common tin whistle "hacks," so I knew I would be getting a new one. I'd even use this as a drum on the chair when I didn't know the songs during sessions, so it has all sorts of dents in it, though I never had the mouthpiece cracking issues others have mentioned.Then, I bought my "next step up:" a Dixon Trad D. Oh wow, do I appreciate the Clarke now!!! I don't understand the excitement about it from other reviewers. The mouthpiece clogs every couple of songs, the sound is unstable when I jump between octaves, and the E in the upper octave makes an awful grating sound.Perhaps these issues are partly due to my playing technique or getting used to the whistle, but I NEVER once had the Clarke clog on me in a year of playing several times a week. Sheesh, I used the Clarke as a drumstick and it still plays reliably, and the Dixon Trad sometimes won't let me get through a full reel without locking up even though I take good care of it. The tone of the Dixon is slightly more "mature" than the Clarke, but that's the only thing I like about it so far, and I'll take a slightly recorder-like sound over obnoxiously frequent clogging anyday. I'm thinking of doing that anyway, as being almost unnoticeably off-pitch is probably less bothersome to my fellow sessioners at this point than the grating and awful noises that come with clogging.In sum, this is an excellent little whistle and VERY forgiving of beginners and all sorts of mistreatment. It's not perfect but it's a solid whistle, especially for the price. Enjoy lots!