Hey everyone, I’ve been lurking for awhile, but I figured now was as good a time to post as any. I bought a cheap Clarke Whistle about 3 months ago to learn how to play and I really enjoy it. I’ve been making steady progress, but today the mouthpiece cracked. Before I buy another one of these, does anybody have a D whistle they would recommend as an alternative? I’m not really sure what to look for in a whistle, so some help would be appreciated!
You don’t say where the mouthpiece cracked. it may be repairable if it cracked where the whistle head slide on to the tube. Wrap it with thread or fishing line and cover that with clear fingernail polish. If it cracked anywhere else it’s probably not repairable. There are too many “cheap” whistles to recommend one over the other. There’s nothing better or worse about the Clarke compared to any other. Generation, Walton’s, Feadog’s are all good and all “cheap”.
I guess I’d wonder how it broke to see if you could avoid that in the future as any inexpensive (I don’t like the word cheap) whistle with a plastic head can be a little fragile and you often see them being played while wrapped with string, thread or tape.
That’s about as much help as I can be.
Good luck,
ecohawk
I’m pretty new myself, but I’ve already been through several inexpensive whistles. To my experience, my overall favorite is my Feadog. It has a great balance of tone and ease of play (though the lower D is a bit tricky for a newbie). I’m also impressed with the Walton Little Black Whistle.
As a newbie myself, I really love my Clarke Sweetone for the very clean (less airy or smokey) sound, the more comfortable to bear high octave notes, a good volume balance and the easy playing.
Since you talked about a mouthpiece, I think that’s the one you have as well?
If you should look for a non-mouthpiece whistle: I really like the Shaw Hi D for its very comfortable feel, the slightly bigger holes and the great look. It’s a bit more “airy” in sound but I quickly learned to appreciate that. The high octave is a bit of a challenge though and it needs way more air than the Sweetone. It also tends to become much louder in the upper registers.
Right now I’ve put it aside until I have more experience.
I also ordered a Walton’s Mellow D, which seems to be close to the Sweetone sound but I haven’t received it yet, so I can’t confirm. I liked what I heard online.
I’d recommend the Jerry Freeman Bluebird. It is just a bit more money than some of the cheaper ones that have been mentioned here, but I still consider it to be a cheap whistle, as far as cost goes. It was 20-something dollars when I bought mine, and I assume the price is still not bad for them.
It’s difficult for anyone to say what a good cheap whistle is. All of the cheap whistles I’ve tried are playable, and suitable to learn on, although I have my own preferences. You could find a person who likes just about any of them, and also find a person who dislikes just about any of them. The only way to know what would be good for you, is to try some of them out and see what works best and sounds the best for you. Luckily whistles are an instrument where the cost makes it easy to do just that.
I know that many people here love the Generation D’s, Feadog D’s, and others, so I am cautious about saying the Bluebird is a better instrument… but really, I think this is 10x better (or more) of a whistle, for barely over 2x the price, which still isn’t a very costly purchase, by any means. In my own non-expert opinion, I personally think it ranks up there with many of the whistles up there in the $200+ range. For me it sounds great, and is a very easy player.
Good luck in finding the right whistle!
There is nothing really wrong about a good old generation, feadog or classic all tin (with wood block) clarke.
Lots of wonderful music made and recorded on those whistles.
Eric
Thanks for the help, everyone! I’m glad you guys are so friendly, really saved me here. I think I’ll be fixing my Clarke as well as buying a Feadog and a Bluebird so I can see the differences for myself, not to mention I absolutely love the Feadog’s brass and the Bluebird’s nickel a lot more than the Clarke’s green. I didn’t really think there was intermediate-cost whistles like the Bluebird - I’d only seen $15 whistles and $150 whistles!
I own a clarke and a generation that a family member bought in Ireland many years ago that is not too bad, but I love my dixon trad. Very nice sound to it and not too expensive and a little easier, I think , to hit the D without squeaks and squawks. I bought the one in brass. I purchased mine from a different vendor but it is sold here also:
http://www.whistleanddrum.com/tony-dixon-trad-irish-whistle
I have a bunch I made from pvc that work quite well also. Food for thought if you get creative 
There’s actually quite a field of moderately priced whistles that will do the job very well. Nothing wrong with the €5-10 range of Generations/Oak/Feadóg etc though. One (price ) category up are the Susatos, many people swear by them, many other swear at them (the high octave can be deafening in some keys), there’s the Dixon trad, Gonzato PVC ones and the unbeatable €25 Cillian OBriain modified Feadóg. The list goes on. Further up the price range more expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better or more consistent. Sometimes you get value for money, some times, well, less so I suppose. The mileage may vary.
Just to throw my two-cents worth in, if you feel like shelling out just a bit more, try looking at Susatos. It was my first whistle (in D) and it could have survived a nuclear blast if it had the opportunity. It has taken a beating already and is none the worse for wear. They tend to be pretty good quality with intonation and sound for the price too. I got mine second hand for around $25.
For what it’s worth, I like the lower Susatos better than the higher ones. In my opinion, anything C and above should be metal for the classic tin whistle sound. Maybe wood, but not ABS. I’ll second the Jerry Freeman suggestion. I’m not hugely fond of his high whistles, but his Bb is excellent. Regardless of my personal hang-ups on tone, his whistles play absolutely in-tune and have no odd quirks that the original whistle may have had. Think of Jerry is a quality control inspector; with his whistles, you know every one has been turned over and played by a human, and edited to make sure they are a suitable instrument.
My first whistle was a standard nickle Generation. After years of going everywhere in my pocket the mouthpiece finally cracked along the edge of the blade, extending parallel to the blade edge. I epoxied it back together but it never played quite the same. My current favorite since I got it a couple years ago is a Freeman tweaked generation. But if you really want to stick with the bottom end of the price range I would always suggest a Clarke original. They have different playing characteristics and tonal qualities that most other whistles, especially in that price range, and that’s what I love about them.
Have you played the bluebird, though? I think there are certainly enough differences between his various whistles to prevent me from grouping them together. I tried some of his other D whistles and found them to be very different from the bluebird, and I didn’t think they were nearly as good.
Also, susato does make a V series D whistle, that really minimizes some of the undesirable aspects I’ve noticed in the S series. Enough that it’s worth differentiating which susato you are referring to. I don’t like the S series susato C, D , or E whistle either, and I am in agreemend about that. But I wouldn’t group all of the higher pitched susatos with it. The V series E is a really really great whistle, in my opinion. Not with a “synthetic” type of sound in the lower octave, and with a really magical sounding upper octave. Having multiple bodies for single heads makes the susatos better in some keys with a certain head, and better with a different head and bore size in other keys, I think.
That being said, I would definitely also not recommend the susato S series as a beginner whistle. The high notes take a lot more push than most whistles I’ve tried, which I think makes it more difficult, and also those highest notes are really loud! I’d spare the family the agony of having to listen to that. It is enough trouble getting comfortable with playing the upper octave notes at first, and that loud volume is going to amplify any flaws in your playing of those notes.