Chiff and Fipple Forums

Hi all!

Just got a red-headed Generations whistle set and was wondering how one goes about testing to see if the whistles are duds or the few rare good ones? As far as I can tell the D, Bb, C and F all play pretty decently, but what do I need to look for to see if these are keepers?

giedosst wrote:Hi all!

Just got a red-headed Generations whistle set and was wondering how one goes about testing to see if the whistles are duds or the few rare good ones? As far as I can tell the D, Bb, C and F all play pretty decently, but what do I need to look for to see if these are keepers?

I'd try playing them...

with factory whistles if you can get a 3rd octave D without killing everyone in a three mile radius you generally on to a winner, or at least somone comfortable in the mid-field.

Most Gens are fine after the usual tweaks. My guess would be that they are all keepers.

AAArrr - I remember adding my 2 pennies on this!

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42203&start=0&hilit=Magen

Of course, most of the links have long ago faded into digital heaven. Worth a look.

chris_coreline wrote:with factory whistles if you can get a 3rd octave D without killing everyone in a three mile radius you generally on to a winner

Of course, if your whistles fail this test, in the aftermath you can play them without fear of disturbing your neighbors. Even rather distant neighbors.

Adrian wrote:Most Gens are fine after the usual tweaks. My guess would be that they are all keepers.

Good heavens, zombie Adrian lives. Hi, Adrian!

You don't necessarily need to "look" for anything. Play the whistles and if the playing characteristics and sound are pleasing to you then that's all that matters. The tunable tweak (a must), removing any flashing, and the cavity tweak (personal preference) are all that you should do until you really spend the time to get to know the whistle.
Enjoy 'em

giedosst wrote: how one goes about testing to see if the whistles are duds or the few rare good ones?

It's really apparent if you play a large number of Generations of the same key back-to-back. But how to put it into words?

One thing is the clarity of tone. Some whistles sound more focused, rounder, smoother. I listen for a full round "bottom D" and other low notes. Then I listen for sweet easy high notes, especially high A and high B. Many Generation D's suffer from a harsh high A and/or high B.

Also tuning: Generations tend to a flat 2nd octave but they vary in this regard and some Gens are fairly close as they come. Packing the headjoint cavity improves the octaves even more.

As people on this forum have heard, a couple years ago I got a crack at two dozen new Generations straight from the factory. One was superb in every way: strong full round low notes, sweet high notes, good octaves. Another whistle was nearly as good. (I got those two, one for a newbie and one for me.) A few were horrible, really unplayable. Most were mediocre. Several would have been OK except for harsh high A's/high B's.

Mitch wrote:AAArrr - I remember adding my 2 pennies on this!

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42203&start=0&hilit=Magen

Of course, most of the links have long ago faded into digital heaven. Worth a look.

Thanks for the link, Mitch. I had another good laugh re-reading your test saga.

Ok!

So the whistle sounds great! It has such a clean pure tone, nice and full on the low end and sweet and clear on the top! It will jump in to the 3rd D but anything after that is pretty painful! Its low D is in tune, while the high D is not and all the other notes in bettwen are all over the place! Would tweaking the head fix this?

Otherwise I love this whistle every bit as much as my Susato -L- D whistle. Easy to play and a wonderful sweet tone!

giedosst wrote:Its low D is in tune, while the high D is not and all the other notes in bettwen are all over the place!

Start by loosening the whistlehead and moving it so that you can blow both of the D's in tune with more or less forceful breath. Then re-evaluate the intonation of the rest of the notes. Bear in mind, the third will measure a little flat on an electronic tuner. The third on the whistle is in tune if that's the case. The third on your tuner is 13 cents sharp to just intonation, and these whistles incorporate some degree of just intonation.

Best wishes,
Jerry

I generally tune to the G. Jerry, is that a Bad Thing to do?

Messing with the head won't sort out intonation issues.

hoopy mike wrote:I generally tune to the G. Jerry, is that a Bad Thing to do?

Messing with the head won't sort out intonation issues.

If it works, tuning to the G is a Good Thing to do. If not, it's a Bad Thing to do.

Actually, "messing with the head" is exactly what you must to if you want to sort out intonation issues.

You can't sort them out until you know what you have. I've found with a great many whistles, people will pronounce them "out of tune" without having balanced the differential between the D's. After discovering that both D's can in fact be played in tune if they adjust the head and then determine what amount of breath each requires, they go on to find out that the rest of the notes were better than they thought at first.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Cool! So soak the whistle head in some hot water for a few minutes to loosen the fipple? Could I use some of my grease from my susato to lube the whistle head to adjust the tuning or would it need to be affixed to a place permanently?

Interesting! And what do I know