Overall an interesting next step from the Clark Celtic Sweetone. I like the feel and tone a touch more but I will have to do my first tweaks. The bell tone is sharp almost a full 50 cents and the problem exacerbates as you move up the scale. So I guess I will need to go for the hot water and pull the head.
Should I pull the head completely off to apply something like Vaseline to the tube or just get it out enough to get the bell tone closer to intune.
Also should I pull the head to get the bell tone maybe slightly flat to compensate for the upper scale on a cylindrical bore?
I am waiting to test again and make sure the whistle is at room temp first and make sure there is no technique issues in the tuning.
I take the head off and fill the back cavity with poster putty and apply cork grease on the tone body. The D seems easier to tweak than the C. I leave the holes alone, but others on this forum can tell you how that’s done. If I still don’t like the whistle, I call it a bust.
Many people buy professionally tweaked whistles to avoid the hassle.
Yeah I can see why on the professionally tweaked. For now as a newbie I am considering this time of my whoad as sampling the character and flavor of the cheapies as is.
I never tweak. I just pull the head off - with hot water if necessary. IME no other tweak is necessary. Having said which, I do own several tweaked whistles, only one of which I like - one by Cillian O’Briain.
I got the fipple head off and now we it is better in tune. Still some variance but not enough to be unplayable or not a factor of technique. I think I want to try the fill the fipple void tweak now.
Probably not. Assuming you mean upper scale rather than octave, what you’ve found is consistent with the head being on too far because the error in head position will be a bigger proportion of the sounding length the more fingers you take off. Typical relationship of bore to flat/sharp second octaves is another matter not relevant to tuning within the first octave.
If you fill the cavity with poster putty and don’t like it, you can take it out fairly easily. I actually have a Generation D with filled cavity which I like. However, I find my Generation Bb better not tweaked. That’s the good thing about cheap whistles; you can fiddle with them without a huge loss of cash.
Since you own a Clarke Sweetone, let me throw this at you. If ever there were a whistle that should not be tweaked, it is the Clarke Original, which comes in D and C. While many people prefer the D, the C is a close relative, probably, of the 19th century sound which the Artful Dodger and Fagin would recognize.
Many a cold night have I spent pleasantly with the Clarke Original and a sip of the barley.
If I recall people seem to say it makes it less touchy, to squeaks or jump8ng to the 2nd octave. I am noticing the touchiness, compared to the Sweetone. However at this point that might be a good thing to help me work more on technique and breath control.
If ever there were a whistle that should not be tweaked, it is the Clarke Original, which comes in D and C
Nobody ever told Jim Donohue.
Tyler is still a bit bitter I think after he messed up one, after I mentioned I greatly improved an old Clarke I have.
Most people would feel that if ever there was a whistle that is in need of a bit of reshaping it’s the Clarke. They generally don’t leave the factory well aligned, or didn’t use to anyway. However, you need to take baby steps, fractions of millimeters and have half a notion of what you’re doing..
I’ve never really got on with Clarke whistles. I’ve heard some people get a fantastic sound out of them, but I’ve never been able to myself. In the days when I used to try to get something out of the sound of a Clarke, it was noticeable that you had to kind of squeeze the windway a bit to make them work at all (for me, at any rate). I’ve never really thought of that as “tweaking” though. Just looking at the thing and trying to make it play.
I’ve never really got on with Clarke whistles. I’ve heard some people get a fantastic sound out of them, but I’ve never been able to myself. In the days when I used to try to get something out of the sound of a Clarke, it was noticeable that you had to kind of squeeze the windway a bit to make them work at all (for me, at any rate). I’ve never really thought of that as “tweaking” though. Just looking at the thing and trying to make it play.
Yes, ditto (again). And to be honest I know of very very few serious whistle players who use them in their playing other than for very specific reasons (an odd spot of variety, a touch of nostalgia perhaps). But one old specimen in D happened to come with a batch of old Generations I picked up for a tenner a while ago and to be honest, in the end it came out playing lovely. So perhaps that’s my one exception to the rule (not that I ever use it. But I could, if I wanted to).
That’s alright, Mr. Gumby, I did try to tweak two Clarkes after you mentioned your success with one, but I ruined them. Some months went by and I had to have another crack at it so I bought another D. This time, I did nothing to it and I liked it. Of course, I had to have another one, and the second one also sounded decent, but a touch quiter. The C is not as good. Maybe I got lucky, or the whistle fairies had a hand. Really, on many days, I come home from work, plop down on my whistle chair and reach for the black Clarke with the garish gold diamonds.
