tweaking Clarke original

[Norma]

Picked up a Clarke original C (black diamonds) with the wooden fipple plug. I have a few complaints...
1. the wind requirements (gasp! ), and
2. the wood on my lips which end up sticking to the thing and leaving half my lip behind.
3. It sounds too "breathy" (but I don't mind that so much).
Nevertheless, there is something in its overall sound that I like and I would like to make it work. I have read some of the threads on this subject, some of which are a couple of years old, and here is what I figure I could try...
1. Squeezing the whistle above the plug to narrow the opening above the fipple plug.
2. Sharpening the blade (where is the blade? ) with an exacto knife.
3. Putting some non toxic finish (what?) on the wood
4. Making a whole new fipple plug out of Sculpey, which I have.
Any further input before I try any of these ideas out?

[amar]

hiya, here's what I did, hot wax to fill the gaps between metal and wood of the fipple, cheap, safe, easy.

[Norm]

Picked up a Clarke original C (black diamonds) with the wooden fipple plug. I have a few complaints...
1. the wind requirements (gasp! ), and
2. the wood on my lips which end up sticking to the thing and leaving half my lip behind.
3. It sounds too "breathy" (but I don't mind that so much).
Nevertheless, there is something in its overall sound that I like and I would like to make it work. I have read some of the threads on this subject, some of which are a couple of years old, and here is what I figure I could try...
1. Squeezing the whistle above the plug to narrow the opening above the fipple plug.
2. Sharpening the blade (where is the blade? ) with an exacto knife.
3. Putting some non toxic finish (what?) on the wood
4. Making a whole new fipple plug out of Sculpey, which I have.
Any further input before I try any of these ideas out?

Here's what someone esle did:
CLARK TWEAK

Usually I adjust mine a little. I look down the blowhole and sight along the wood. The center of the metal of the little dimple in the blade should be centered in your sight. If not, take something thin enough to slip in the airway and raise it if needed or use some tool to press down on it until it is adjusted.

It should now play even though it may take a bit of air and sound breathy. Adjust up or down slightly if needed to play both octaves cleanly.

To decrease the breathiness, use some lightweight hammer and tap the metal over the airway downward toward the wood. The end of the airway's exit (the area closest to the blade) should be closer to the wood and have a flatter arch. Adjust these two things back and forth and you will end up with a whistle you will love.

A little cinnamon oil on the end of the wood helps with the taste of a new whistle.

Or send it to someone who say's they can "tweak it". (Jerry Freeman)

[Northern Whistler]

I bought a tweaked original clarke from the whistle shop. They narrowed the windway and looks like they took the fipple out and smoothed it more. Then nailed it back on. I took some black paint and painted the back of the fipple to stop my lips from drying out, in the process I put some extra on the cracks to seal it.

[vomitbunny]

Mash that ol' windway down there till it's flat. Leave about the thickness of a dime. (more or less, depending on how it feels). Then take out your pocket knife and bend the whistle blade up just a little. Then maybe a little more. And still some more. And then down. Up and down about a thousand times till the whistle sounds just right. Or metal fatigue makes the whistle blade break clean off. Which ever comes first.
Ps. Bending the black clarkes can make chips of paint come off. Easy enough to fix though. My clarke now takes no more air than the sweetone.
Clarkes are so great about being fiddled with like this. If you bend something too far one way, just try the other.

[Jerry Freeman]

The best position for the soundblade on a Clarke or Shaw is a little bit above the windway floor so a little bit of daylight shows under the soundblade when you sight into the mouthpiece.

I would say that the soundblade should be about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom (floor to ceiling of windway) as you sight into the beak of the whistle. Also, you'll get a more focused, confident timbre if you get the soundblade so the shape of it matches the windway floor all the way across and doesn't have dips or bumps. In other words, ideally, the soundblade should be the same distance above the windway floor all the way across.

If you find that the upper register doesn't break cleanly from the lower register, you have to blow too hard to get the upper to sound, and there's a little lower register "honk" before it breaks into the upper register, that usually means the soundblade's a little too low, and you need to raise it up slightly (assuming the windway ceiling is OK).

Regarding the windway ceiling and reducing air requirement by squashing the windway, if you squash it too much, the whistle will start to sound muffled. The ideal windway height in most cases will be as low as possible before it starts to mute the whistle.

If you have aluminum foil tape, you can use strips of that pressed onto the windway ceiling to bring it down further if you like. To do that, you'll need to cut strips the correct width and press them into place with a narrow knife blade or other thin implement that will fit into the whole length of the windway. Then trim off the ends of the tape with a sharp knife. You can build up layers until you're satisfied with the result, but be warned, if you build it up too far, and bending the windway roof up doesn't fix it, you'll have to remove the tape and use fewer strips. It's doable, but not easy, to remove the tape cleanly. Aluminum foil tape is available at hardware stores and home centers, but it's expensive.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[fearfaoin]

here is what I figure I could try...
2. Sharpening the blade (where is the blade? ) with an exacto knife.

This made me shudder. The blade of a clarke is metal, as is the exacto knife.

The instructions you have seen for sharpening the blade are for whistles with plastic mouthpieces. I don't think you could sharpen a clarke much witout a file of some sort...

[Jerry Freeman]

You most definitely can sharpen a metal soundblade with an exacto knife (I do it almost daily).

You can scrape an exacto or other sharp knife across the top of a metal soundblade edge and remove enough metal cleanly to change the edge from being cut off square to having a small bevel and coming to a sharp edge. Then, if there are some little ragged bits of metal on the edge, you can clean them up by gently brushing them off with the edge of the knife.

Clarkes have a black paint that can be a little brittle, so the end result may turn out to have some chips in the paint around the soundblade edge, but that doesn't compromise the result. This is worth doing if you need to sweeten and strengthen the upper register a little. You don't take off much metal, and in fact, you can't take off much metal this way, so the soundblade isn't shortened at all. You just scrape off a little metal at the top of the soundblade edge so it isn't a corner any more, but more like a chisel edge.

Whistles are mild steel or nickel silver, both of which are soft. Knife edges are hardened steel, and plenty hard to a metal whistle.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[Norma]

Many thanks to you all, I am still tweaking but have much improvement!

[blackhawk]

2. the wood on my lips which end up sticking to the thing and leaving half my lip behind.

I applied chapstick to the wood and my lips no longer stuck to the wood. Works like a charm, although you do have to re-apply it from time to time.

[vomitbunny]

2. the wood on my lips which end up sticking to the thing and leaving half my lip behind.

I applied chapstick to the wood and my lips no longer stuck to the wood. Works like a charm, although you do have to re-apply it from time to time.

Try Pledge furniture polish. Or wax. People have the same problems with recorders. Although I havn't seen anyone try those solutions on a *good* recorder.

[peeplj]

Well, there is a lot of difference between the roughly finished block of a Clarke, and the satin-smooth polish on the beak and block of my hardwood recorders.

Not that playing Clarkes bothers me, but I wouldn't think you'd be likely to be irritated by the wood of a finely finished recorder unless you were simply allergic to the timber involved.

--James

[Jack]

Altogether, I think I've had 6 Clarkes.

And altogether, I've destroyed 4 trying to tweak them (and gave 2 away so they escaped my hammer).

Heh..

[vomitbunny]

Well, there is a lot of difference between the roughly finished block of a Clarke, and the satin-smooth polish on the beak and block of my hardwood recorders.

Not that playing Clarkes bothers me, but I wouldn't think you'd be likely to be irritated by the wood of a finely finished recorder unless you were simply allergic to the timber involved.

--James

Heheh. We didn't get the good stuff. While it wasn't as rough as a clarke, they were generally softwood, and did stick to your lip a bit sometimes. I never had a problem myself, but Ian (a big wuss) complained about it.
Then he stole an empty keg after a pary, and I had to pay for it. I'm GLAD it stuck to his lip. Shame it didn't pull it clean off.

[peeplj]

Yeah, come to think of it, my Hohner tenor is pearwood, and it does get a bit "sticky" sometimes. Not a bad recorder, but not as well finished as my Adege beauties.

I rarely ever play it anymore...I think the last time I broke it out of its case was over a year ago now...so it's not the first instrument to come to mind when I think "recorder" anymore.

I've only had one Clarke that was so rough it got to me. I gave that one away, to whistler / reenactor Sam McReynolds, who's always losing his Clarkes. He plays a Burke now...he seems to have suddenly gotten better at hanging onto whistles!

--James