What’s the story with Generation whistles? Some people really seem to love them and I don’t understand why. I have Bb, C, D and Eb generation whistles. Not one of them is anything special. As a matter of fact, they all seem quite cheap, especially at the fipple. The fipple seems to be made of a cheap type of plastic and extra little pieces of plastic are hanging off everywhere (I know I can easily cut it off). None of them sound particularly nice and aren’t particularly easy to play.
Do many whistle players feel Generation whistles are of better quality than Oak or Acorn for example? I have one Oak and one Acorn that I bought randomly at some music store and they are both excellent whistles. Good responsiveness, good tone and pitch throughout the whistles range…very comfortable and easy to play. So, why Generation?
The little pieces of plastic are possibly one of the reasons that they sound bad. You should refer to tweaking instructions that can be found on the main web site. A good Gen is a beautiful instrument.
I think Generation has the worst quality control there is. I have bought several Generations and all the “D”'s have been very bad instruments. I have one decent C and quite good Eb, but loads of bad Gens. Maybe the reason why some people think highly of Gens is the fact that artists like Mary Bergin, Sean Potts and Paddy Moloney have played them. However, I’ve heard that they have also done some tweaking to their instruments.
Then I think that the Gen’s have gone worse what they once were. I have two Gen’s that date back to early 1980’s and they are much better whistles than any of the new ones. (Also they seem to have quite different mouthpiece than the new ones)
Anyway, I think that other cheap whistles (Clare, Feadog, for example) are of much better quality than Gens. I mean, you don’t have to buy 50 Feadogs to perhaps get one good instrument, like it seems to be with Generations
Buying a Generation is usually like playing the lottery. Sometimes you win, but most often you loose. The thing is that those really good Generations are worth their weight in gold, and the bad ones can usually be tweaked to become better than most whistles.
Listen to Mary Bergin or Paddy Molloney and you’ll understand the magic of Generations. I have several good Generations, my absolute favurite is a D with the brass body and a blue (home) tweaked head from a nickel Eb Gen, it’s probably the sweetest whistle I’ve ever played, I wouldn’t part with it for a Burke!
Sometimes a fipple-ectomy or an entire head transplant can work miracles. I have a Generation that I bought in the 80’s(a red head brass) that could only be pryed from these cold, dead hands.
Generation (or better Generation type.. just shovel the Oak and Feadog into the heap) whistles are fine for ease of playing, a combination of tone and responsiveness and they are not overpriced. I still find them easier (and often more satisfying) to play than any of the expensive whistles I have tried.
The best whistleplayers I know almost invariably feel the same.
If you need convincing go here</a](http://www.bridodonohue.com/tobar_main.php">here</a)>, scroll to the bottom of the page and click sample 8 : Banish Misfortune. No doubt someone will say it’s one of those special ones you have to go through boxes and boxes of them to find one but in reality what you hear is an average, plain and simple off the shelf Generation C whistle: if you can play it, you make it special.
In my opinion, the main reason it is so hard to get a good generation nowadays is because they redesigned the head piece some time in the late 80’s/early 90’s. I am fortunate to own an older style Bb that is an outstanding whistle. I have played many newer style Bb’s, but none sounded as good as my older one. For D whistles, the Oak fipples to my eye resemple the older generations, with the smalled bump on the fipple blade. I made a wonderful sounding whistle by putting an Oak head on a generation brass body-- sounds very “generationy”-- like a good one.
This is best illustrated by an ‘unplayable’ Acorn I stuffed into a drawer a couple of years ago. I stumbled across it the other day and it plays a lot better than it did when I put it there.
Can anyone put up photos of the different generation heads? I have some that I bought at the same time from the whistleshop that have different-looking heads. bumps and whatnots.
Here are a couple of side-by-side photos of the original (badly worn and chipped) head from my circa 1975 C Generation and the new tweaked one I just received from Jerry Freeman. Note the ridge along the upper part of the mouthpiece of the old one; the new mouthpiece is smooth there. Also note the different design of the windway – the bevel and the pyramid-shaped bulge (I’m sure there are technical terms for these but I prefer not to know…I haven’t yet recovered from the term “labium ramp”!) are quite different.
I put Jerry’s tweaked mouthpiece on my old Generation body and the result is a magnificent whistle, easily one of the best C whistles I’ve ever played…I love it!
The tape on the tweaked mouthpiece is there because, as Jerry explained in another thread, he has to break the mouthpiece to get it off the body and make it tuneable. The new C mouthpieces are too small for the body and the fit is impossibly tight.
Thanks for the photos. Some of my generations have an extra ridge high up on the blade. My digicam isn’t good enough to get a photo of that kind of detail. I don’t think it has any effect on the sound.
Generations are…and aquired taste if you will…like feta cheese. I had bought a Generation G (that’s right…a G, and I still have my hearing) to help teach my niece. I have no problems with the sound…smooth and nice transitions from low to high, and vice versa. Needless to say, I kept the G for myself, and bought my niece a D, which she seems to like even more.
P.S. The only complaint I have is that it gets lost quite regularly (8 or 9 inches long I would say)…as a matter of fact…I don’t know where it is right now. #@#$%$#*&!
I recently got a Generation D and tweaked it. It sounds o.k. until it gets to the second octave B. Overall, the whistle is pretty unremarkable. I won’t spend much time with, and will stick with my Feadog. My Generation Bb on the other hand, is very nice.
