Narzog wrote:
As a novice who recently upgraded to an expensive whistle from cheap I have a few thoughts.
Where a lot of features are just preference, high end whistles do just seem to have better tuning.
And in my case the general playability does just feel straight better.
For sure one thing that high-end whistles tend to have over the Generations is better tuning.
For myself, every other aspect is superior in good Generations than it is with expensive whistles.
These aspects include tone quality, response, nimbleness of action, air efficiency, and volume balance between the octaves.
The trick is finding a Generation with good octaves. Usually Generations have a flat 2nd octave, but not always.
Once you have a good-playing Generation with good octave tuning yes the scale can be a tad off. Generally G will be a hair sharp and/or F# will be a hair flat. You'll see people playing Generations with a bit of tape over the top edge of Hole 4, to bring the pitch of G down a bit. And/or the owner might have carved the upper edge of Hole 5 a bit to bring up the pitch of F#.
These fixes take a couple minutes, and what you then have is a whistle that, possibly, no whistle at any price will equal.
I certainly haven't played all the whistle makes out there! New makers appear every day. Of the ones I've tried, a large number of makers over the last 40+ years, no high whistle has equaled my old Generation C.
If an expensive whistle has a low octave as nice, the high octave will be stiff and/or harsh. If an expensive whistle has a 2nd octave as nice, the low octave will be weaker. The one exception I know of is a friend's old Copeland High D. It has even better octave balance, even sweeter easier high notes, even fatter low notes. But the very best of the old Copelands are hard to come by.
You can end up with a pack of mongrels like this. They're not gleaming and pretty. But no A, Bb, or C whistles I've ever played at any price have been as good as the A, Bb, and C you see here.

They sound like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-fQhvleWq8&t=29s