The whistlehead is unglued from the tube by heating with near-boiling water (necessary to make the modifications, and it makes the whistle tuneable),
An appropriate thickness of plastic is laminated under the soundblade to bring the soundblade edge to the correct position,
The soundblade edge is sculpted to the correct shape,
The cavity under the windway is filled,
The windway floor exit edge is changed from being a square edge, to having the appropriate radius,
A brass ring is pressed onto the bottom of the socket so it can’t crack (the fatal weakness in these injection molded whistleheads),
The whistlehead is mounted on the lathe and the brass ring machined to a bright finish,
The whistle is tested, and the position of the soundblade and the windway exit radius are adjusted if necessary, for proper play and voicing.
I voice these tweaked Generations a little sweeter/purer than the presently manufactured Generations. I try to match the voicing of the pre-1980’s vintage Generations, which are superior to what Generation is producing today.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Thanks Jerry! I was just wondering this the other day, actually! I have a newer model Mellow Dog and your Generation Low A - love them both!
Just curious, how do you manage to fit the plastic bit under the soundblade? Do you have a special tool to reach inside, or does Ralph reach inside the mouthpieces for you?
Thanks,
-Tim
I’ve made some tools for this.
There are little spring clamps that hold the plastic chips in place until the glue sets, gages that are the correct dimension for each type of whistle to set the lamination in the right position, and a metal blade that’s ground to a width that will fit inside that I use to guide the piece into place.
Then Ralph checks the setup and makes any necessary adjustments before I put it aside to dry.
Best wishes,
Jerry
The brass rings are an elegant, practical solution to a common problem. They look good too. 
Jerry, thanks very much for this informative post! I have your eBay site bookmarked so I can place some orders when finances are more liquid, but just this morning I also found your Amazon product page, and there is a low A version for sale, as well a review that mentions a low G.
Neither of these are mentioned on your eBay site, which I had thought until now was your official outlet. Are these Amazon exclusives? Further, the low G is only mentioned in a review - it is not listed as a sale item. Is it something you do as a special order? I see posts here where people mention owning them.Thanks in advance for any enlightenment around these two whistles.
Thanks Jerry. I noticed that when I bought a mellow dog set for my son six months ago, there was no putty/fill in the cavity under the windway; I also sent you a Bb head to be updated and a bluebird head to be repaired, and you removed the putty on the Bb head and left it in on the bluebird. They all sound great, and I’ve wondered what the method is to the madness on filling the windway(?).
Briant
Cheers, Jerry! I’m wondering how you came up with the brass ring. It seems to be something so obvious when you consider how vulnerable to cracking this type of plastic can be; though it seems you may have come up with the best all around solution for the problem. Do you use the brass ring, or something similar, on A & G heads; the lower G (& A)?
I can answer that. Jerry does install the brass rings on the lower key whistles. I have seen them on the Bb and G. The rings are a recent design improvement. My older A does not have a ring.
If you’re interested in ordering whistles, please order directly from me if you don’t mind. The Amazon page is not mine. I am happy to sell wholesale to the three vendors I do, but I am barely able to keep a roof over my children’s heads, so it’s better if I can be paid full retail if at all possible.
Thanks!
Best wishes,
Jerry
With pleasure Jerry, thanks. I am assuming alto A and low G are standard offerings then.
Yes, the A and low G tweaked Generations are standard offerings, as a tweaked Bnat Generation.
The Mellow Dogs do have a filling under the windway. Sometimes I still use putty, but mostly, I use a black potting epoxy, which may not have been easily visible.
I’ve found that on Generations in the key of C or lower, I can forgo the filling under the windway without sacrificing stability. The higher keys need the filling.
Best wishes,
Jerry
What amazes me is how Jerry can get the entire scale of these Generations exactly in tune.
I do my own tweaking which creates a Generation that has the tone and nimbleness and sweetness I want, and I can get the octaves pretty darn close, and I can carve toneholes and/or chop the tube to get the scale in each octave in tune… but what I’m completely unable to do is what Jerry can do, and that’s get both Bottom D and Middle D exactly in tune while at the same time have the rest of the scale in tune.
It’s not just me that has trouble with this: I’ve owned a number of Low D whistles from various famous makers and oftentimes they have trouble getting those D’s in tune with each other, even if everything else is perfect.
It’s the same with uilleann pipes, the Holy Grail is getting Bottom D and Back D right in tune and behaving properly.
Thank you for those kind words, Richard.
I think there may be two things responsible for the improvement in tuning.
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On some keys, I have to shorten the Generation tube some to raise the bottom note slightly. I look for the position that will make it possible to blow a perfectly in tune D (or equivalent) in both octaves.
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The tweaking modifications I make result in each octave having a broader sweet zone.
When you blow up or down between octaves, there’s little or no “trash” in between that you have to blow across to move between octaves. That means with a broader range of breath pressures, you’ll get a clean, sweet note anywhere in the scale in both octaves, so you have more leeway to blow every note up or down to get it exactly on pitch.
If each octave requires a narrower range of breath pressure to get a clean note, as is the case with these whistles before I’ve tweaked them, it won’t give you the flexibility to find a breath pressure that lets you have a clean note at exactly the pitch you want.
Mr. Freeman, thank you for paying attention to the work you set out to do each day. In my limited experience, having played only 2 Freeman tweaked Generations myself; I yet value & appreciate the results from your continued effort to simply improve & learn from experience. To my ears there is a balance between octaves which contrasts with most of the hand-crafted whistles I’ve played, IMHO.
Ben
“What amazes me is how Jerry can get the entire scale of these Generations exactly in tune.” ~ Posted by Richard Cook on 23 Apr 2014
Yes, Richard, it’s brilliant! & unless one has actually played a whistle which has been tweaked by Jerry Freeman in exactly this way they have no right to speak about the results of his current work.
There will always be begrudgers who have years upon years of experience; but short of firsthand knowledge playing the instrument they’re dismissing it is all speculation.