Clarke Original Tweak or Not to Tweak

[Tyler DelGregg]

Does the Clarke Original HAVE to be tweaked to some degree?
I own 3 Clarke Originals. I tweaked one D. The other two are a C and a D, both totally untweaked.
They each have a unique voice which I like.
So, does Clarke design it (since 1843) to be tweaked by the owner, or is it really meant to be played in its natural state? What do the really good players do? I am a novice, by the way.

[calanthrophy]

I wouldn't call myself a "really good player" by any means but all I did to mine was put a little wax around the wood block to cut down on air leakage.

Can't speak to the manufacturer's intentions but I wouldn't say it HAS to be tweaked. It'll play tunes straight out of the box, just as your CPU doesn't HAVE to be overclocked for PC gaming. Depending on your needs, skills, and level of enthusiasm you might decide to make adjustments.

[Mr.Gumby]

What do the really good players do?

I can only recall very few instances of the Clarke being played. Caoimhin O Ragallaigh and Peadar O Riada use them in the context of An Triúr but I cannot recall (m)any other instances in at least the last decade of the Clarke being played publicly or in a social context. YMMV ofcourse.

[ytliek]

I like both tweaked and untweaked whistles just for flavor.

[narrowdog]

This may help viewtopic.php?f=1&t=91546

[Tyler DelGregg]

Thanks for the various advises! I may just get another Clarke just try out some of these tweaks. Once, I kind of ruined the sound of a C by pushing in the windway too much, then widening it again, resulting in a strange two note vibration that would not go away.

There is a fellow playing a bunch of tunes on the Original Clarke on YouTube. Wonder what he did to his whistle. The site is called, Trad School.

[Mr.Gumby]

Wonder what he did to his whistle

I didn't really want to open this can of worms in this thread but there you have it. Some whistles you don't have to do anything to. I have a Clarke here and I wouldn't really do anything to it, it is what it is. It may be a bit windy sounding but that's their way, to an extent anyway. In fairness, the one I have (probably an old one although I have no means of dating it to any particular period) has a fairly narrow windway.

Same for a lot of other whistles. They don't NEED to be altered to play well. Some may well see some improvement one way or another when altered but as whistle design is a long set of compromises, they will also inevitably change and loose (part of) their original character.

[ytliek]

There is a fellow playing a bunch of tunes on the Original Clarke on YouTube. Wonder what he did to his whistle. The site is called, Trad School.

Do you have a YT link? And how do you know the whistle is an Original Clarke? On YouTube you can comment and ask for details too.

[Tyler DelGregg]

I agree with Mr. Gumby, that most whistles don't have to be tweaked at all, and you lose something when you fiddle too much, as I did with one of my perfectly fine Clarke C. However, the way the Clarke is made with its malleable tin, the temptation is there to start tweaking it, but I resisted and I now have a C and D in its pristine, breathy state. But, I do have another D that I tweaked lightly and I like it too.

I'm going to post that fellow from YTube playing tunes on the Clarke the way I only wish I could one day play.

[Mr.Gumby]

the temptation is there to start tweaking it,

Squashing the windway as is popular here, will perhaps lessen the amount of air the whistle demands and maybe add a bit of back pressure if you like that. It's the alignment of the windway and the edge that breaks the airstream that affects the sound most. You can lift or push down the edge and try reach an optimal configuration. You need to be careful as a fraction of a millimeter can have a very significant effect. No harm in trying really but if the whistle is going well, it's easy to bring it off and it may be hard enough to get it back to where it was and you end up worse than you started.

[Tyler DelGregg]

You'e right about the sensitivity of the windway. I overtweaked the D at first and reversed it to just where I like it. The other two, a C and a D are going to remain just the way they were born.
By the way, I imagine you would be knowledgeable about the Shaws. I got my first Shaw high D delivered last week and was expecting to pass out from oxygen deprivation, but they turned out to require very little push. I wonder whether Dave Shaw made modifications or I somehow ended up with a tweaked one. No complaints either way, but do you have any information on the "state of Shaws"? The C nat requires half-holing. I liked the D so much I ordered a C. I have the disease.

[Mr.Gumby]

I imagine you would be knowledgeable about the Shaws

No, sorry. Jerry Freeman sent me a tweaked one once in his early days, to try. It completely stopped playing after perhaps a week (I assume the block swelling after getting damp causing a misalignment with the ramp). I returned it after a while with the bunch of other whistles he had sent at that time that I had no use for. That's my only experience with a Shaw.

I did however get tempted by this thread to tamper with the old Clarke I have (the one I said I wouldn't touch), after I first made it awful and then unplayable and then all the way back again. In the end I actually managed to get it to play very nicely, light on air and perhaps as little hiss as you can get with a Clarke. Now, I have an old E... will I or won't I

I suppose working a Shaw would be similar to the Clarke.

[Tyler DelGregg]

I took delivery of that C Shaw I was waiting for. It plays just as easily as the D. It's very breathy like the Clarkes but louder. Here again, the C takes as much lung effort as playing my Mellow Dog or Blackbird C so it makes me wonder why anyone would want tweak it. Unless of course, the Shaws are getting tweaked somewhere in the pipeline or Shaw made design changes in his shop. I prefer the sound of the C over the D.

Either way, they're very good.