Your first?

[Unseen122]

Clarke Sweetone about two a half years ago. I traded it a long time ago.

[StewySmoot]

A black Guinness whistle from a boxed set with instuction CD and sheet with tin-whistle tablature.
I picked it up in a shop in St. Augustine FL a few days after I decided to learn to play the whistle and about 3 weeks before I joined the forum.

It still sounds as tentative as the day I bought it.

It will always be nothing more than a sentimental favorite after having progressed and playing more stable instruments like Freeman tweaked, Kerry Whistles and Busmans but I dont see a need to ever want to get rid of it!

[chrysophylax]

The first whistle i got was a red top generation which was pretty crap in april 1991, a month after i moved to Scotland. ( Having just arrived and not knowing anyone, my parents sent my sisters and I to the Comhaltas group at our parish hall on monday nights to get us out of the house) That whistle fell off of the ferry on my first trip to Ireland (in '94) i think, so my first stop when we got there was to buy a new whistle, a Feadog. Still got that one, though it has been trod on w few times and dosen't play too good anymore wouldn't get rid of it though!

[Darwin]

I ordered a Clarke original, Dixon tunable, and Feadog all at about the same time.

The Clarke arrived first, I think, and it's the only one I have left, but I never play it, even though tweaking did help with the air requirement. The sound just doesn't interest me.

The Dixon was out of tune with itself and was given away to a friend who knew what was wrong with it and thought he might be able to fix it.

The Feadog was pretty squawky. It got a Whitecap which transformed it into one of my favorites, and later went to a grandnephew who loves it.

[Linnhe]

My dad and I worked out that my first whistle is between 35 and 40 years old. He thinks he inherited it from a bandmate of his who bought it back in the sixties, locked himself away for three weeks in order to learn to play it well enough to play in the band, and ended up with an ultimatum from his wife - her or the whistle.

Anyhoo, it's a Generation red top. It's chewed, bent at the second hole, and there are big chunks gouged out of the blade, and it's the only whistle I've got that is in tune through both octaves. If I can figure out how to, I'll post a pic. It's been kicking about our home for as long as I can remember. When I took it to my whistle teacher, he laughed, then played it and said "Don't ever let that one go".

[Dee Whistler]

My first one was a Generation brass D my mother brought me from Ireland in 1987. It has wider bore than Generations nowadays and a bit different mouthpiece (and green one).

It was several years after I got interested in this little thing. It WAS excellent whistle, I would say, one of the better Generations, BUT I once accidentally stepped on to it (don't ask) and now it has this bump that makes some of the second octave notes sound worse than it did.

If I find a way to fix it I would still play that one. After I broke this very instrument I have been looking for a good D-whistle and have bought dozens cheaper ones, but yet have not found as good as the old one was. So, breaking a good Generation can sometimes affect a bad WHOA.

Still sometimes I play it for a while, and after every time notice that it is not the same it used to be. How sad!

[Doc Jones]

My frst was a Clarke original. I still have it.


Doc

[jkrazy52]

My first whistle, which I still have, was a Clarke Original, tweeked, from The Whistle Shop. Looked up the old invoice -- I made the order on St. Patrick's Day, 2001. Nice day to take up the Irish whistle.

Judy

[Crysania]

My very FIRST whistle was one of those crappy souvenier ones from Williamsburg. Completely unplayable so I never did a thing with it.

My REAL first whistle was given to me about 2 1/2 years ago and was an Oak D. I still have it. I still play it. It's not my main whistle (I usually play a Susato SB and sometimes a Susato VSB), but I like it when I want a softer sound or when I don't have the tune as under my fingers as I'd like.

~Crysania

[bozemanhc]

My first whistle is a Generation nickle D bought about 30 years ago, which I didn't play too much. It is a great whistle; the nickle has worn away from the holes and thumb positions on the back. About 4 years ago, I bought a Clarke Original and decided to really begin to play the thing. Since then I have bought a few more whistles including a Sindt, but my current best whistle is a Humphrey, which I have played for a year. I thought my whistle buying days were over , but I have just ordered another Humphrey (stealth model). What can I say.....