What kind of whistle would be a good place to start, and what would be a good path at working my way up the ladder?
You’ll probably get a lot of different answers to your question, so be prepared. I think the majority of whistlers started on Clarkes, Generations, Feadógs, etc. They’re good whistles. If you want something more high end, then that’s harder. It probably comes down to how much do you want to spend and what sound do you like.
In my opinion, I think a Clarke originals is great to start. If you want to spend a bit more then I say a Thornton or a Hudson Wind. Very different whistles, very different sounds, both are awesome.
Thanks for the honesty
I suggest the best way to get started is to learn the instrument and learn the tunes. Then think about whether or not this or that whistle is better. I think too many people get caught up in whether or not a different whistle will help when what’s needed is practice practice practice.
I just want to also have something better than the beat piece of Tin Whistle I have, it looks like an earthquake hit it.
I get that, a pretty whistle is nice. A new whistle is exciting and makes you want to play more.
http://www.thorntonwhistles.info/index.html
http://www.hudsonwinds.com/index.html
http://www.kerrywhistles.com/dl.php?group=19#
scroll down and you’ll find reviews of both whistles
Jubilations, I have tweaked and tinkered around with my Tin Whistle which looks a lot like real tin, and it actually plays now. It is more articulate, less breathy, has some power behind it, and it actually plays.
Any one had trouble with their whistles and had to fix them and did an awesome job, with no prior experience?
Welcome to you The_Celtic_Bard,
I am sure I am not the first person that has had this experience; every whistle I have ever bought has needed tweaking of some sort to make them more pleasing to the ear. I have only bought one whistle that needed minimal tweaking and that was a Generation high D. All I did to this was bung a bit of sticky tack under the windway to fill the hollow section there, it has played like a dream ever since. It is my main whistle.
I have tried/bought loads of other brands, Clarke, Shaw, Sweetone, Feadog, Waltons, Guinness little black to name a few, I always go back to the Generation. The only expensive whistle I have bought is a Tony Dixon High D with a Delrin top, aluminium bottom and brass tuning slide. I don’t play it very often because it is very shrill, a bit like having your stereo Bass turned right down and the Treble turned the whole way up, there is no roundness to any of the notes played.
I now make my own high and low whistles.
Been struck by WHOA disorder yet? 
You’ll get different opinions because there are SO MANY kinds of whistles out there, with very different tonal and performance qualities.
When I began in the 70’s there was only one way to go: the Generation D. (Clarkes were only made in C then.)
Still to my ear the Generation tone defines the “traditional” tone. But Generation’s quality control is hit-and-miss. Play through a few dozen and you may find one that plays great: full low notes and clear (non-breathy) high notes. Pack the head as mentioned above, carve out the F# hole a bit (F# is usually flat) and you’re good to go.
Michael Burke whistles take this traditional tone to a sophisticated level and are very fine whistles.
Then you have the Clarke-style, rolled sheet tin conical-bored whistles. Clarke and Shaw make these, and they have a very distinctive tone. The Copeland might be considered a Rolls-Royce development of this type.
Then you have the Overton-style whistles, thick machined aluminum with a narrow windway and a distinctive earthy musty tone. The Phil Hardy whistles are of this style (at least his older ones). See his terrific video where he discusses and plays his various models.
You should yourself try these different styles to see which you prefer.
Listen to Tuscon Whistler! When I got my first custom whistle, my daughter (who plays flute) said, “All the troubles I was going to tell you about with your whistling went away when you got your new whistle.”
Where is a good place to learn about tweaking whistles?
Ah a great place to start is to first admit you have a problem, and seek help. 
Anything at all, as long as its in D. And cheap. A $100 whistle, IMO, isn’t ten times better than a ten dollar whistle. Often, it’s not even ONE times better.
It’s worth talking to Jerry Freeman (of this parish) and getting a ‘tweaked’ whistle–Jerry buys cheaper whistles in bulk, and then works his magic on them so they’re playing their best: this doesn’t cost much, and nicely resolves the quality control issues some of the cheaper makes have.
What is his username so I can talk with him? And what do you mean by tweak?
Here is Jerry’s profile. You can contact him by PM or e-mail. Or maybe he’ll see your post:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1845
Tweaking is simply modifying the whistle in certain ways to improve its tuning, sound and playability.
verdilak, click on this link for the Chiff and Fipple do it yourself whistle tweaking guide http://www.chiffandfipple.com/tweak.html
Good luck, remember, if you have a really bad sounding whistle you will either kill it or cure it!
Thank you! Gotta say, that if my current whistle dies, it won’t be missed.
I must admit, all the tweaks I have carried out to various whistles have improved the general sound and playability of the whistles, but not enough for me to want to play them in a session. some of the whistles are really quite fine in their sound, but they are just not what I am looking for.
Whistles are pretty hardy instruments on the whole; I bought a couple of Waltons in C for my kids, (my ears were bot up to have them running around the house blowing high D’s like a police whistle!) and they got fed up with them and they had been sitting around doing nothing for a couple of years. (the whistles that is)
My boys liked to bash them aginst things so both the fipples have a hair line crack in them. Would you believe they play beautifully!!? They are off the shelf Waltons brass whistles, untweaked, well… technically you could say my kids ‘tweaked’ them by bashing them and forming a very nice aerodynamic crack in the fipple!!
I would not recommend trying this as a tweak, I think my kids just got lucky!
I started with the Feadog set. A whistle, CD and booklet. Costs about $25.