Generations Yum Yum

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 1:56 pm

I love the cheapos, and will play almost nothing else at home or in intimate settings. When it comes to high-end whistles I am drawn to those most like the cheapos (Sindts) and those the least like them (Overtons).

fluter_d · Post by **fluter_d** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 3:47 pm

Jerry Freeman wrote:I own about 190 whistles. That's pretty typical, isn't it? (They're mostly cheapies. You know, about 60 Sweetones, 60 Generation and other Gen types, 30 Shaws, a few odd Susatos and Dixons, a couple of Synwhistles, etc. ... about what I figure most C&F posters have.)

Best wishes,
Jerry

Jerry and Wombat -
I didn't mean it like that at all! In fact, I'm starting to feel inadequate (although I doubt that WhOA will set in anytime soon - that would kind of require some money... :roll: ). All those nice whistles... and me with a falling-apart Gen

...
I'm off to mastermind my high-end-whistle-kleptomanic-episode...
Deirdre

JessieK · Post by **JessieK** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 3:57 pm

A good Gen is a great thing, but I think the idea that most are not good is not an overstatement. In Ireland I was allowed to try all the whistles in a shop and of the 20 Gens I sampled, 2 were good.

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 4:25 pm

I agree with JessieKD. I have rummaged thru plenty and found few good as well. The main problems are unstable raspy bell notes, or balky higher registers. Sure, take em home and tweak em and you'll sound just like Junior, but that's only after!

I have been practicing today on a new whistle and one thing that struck me: many whistles are "A-part" whistles. That means, that you can launch into a reel and get thru the A part, but when you crack up to the next octave for the B part you run into balkiness which impedes your smooth delivery. Now this happens on many whistles and its the first thing I check when I try a new one. Many whistles sound great in that first octave then suck in the second at least on a few of the notes, usually B but sometimes A or G. Or put in a more subtle way, they force you to work too hard in the second octave to be fun or fluent. You survive the B part, then sound good on the A upon the repeat. Does not help yer playing self-esteem atall.

A good example is Touch Me If You Dare, my typical try-out tune. The A part only goes up to a single high G twice. Then you launch into the turn, much of which stays up there. Man of the House does a similar thing.

And to put a final point on it, when you go into the whistle store, you are often overly impressed by the A part and gun-shy about sailing into the B. Happened to me at LITM when I bought the Sweet Maple long ago. Very sweet first octave, celebratedly bad second. I wasn't as accomplished as a player also to be fair and it sure sounded better than their Harpers. But having to overblow to keep the high B going ruins your speed and agility.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 4:35 pm

fluter_d wrote:
Jerry Freeman wrote:I own about 190 whistles. That's pretty typical, isn't it? (They're mostly cheapies. You know, about 60 Sweetones, 60 Generation and other Gen types, 30 Shaws, a few odd Susatos and Dixons, a couple of Synwhistles, etc. ... about what I figure most C&F posters have.)

Best wishes,
Jerry
Jerry and Wombat -
I didn't mean it like that at all! In fact, I'm starting to feel inadequate (although I doubt that WhOA will set in anytime soon - that would kind of require some money... :roll: ). All those nice whistles... and me with a falling-apart Gen ...
I'm off to mastermind my high-end-whistle-kleptomanic-episode...
Deirdre

Deidre, I hope my sense of humor hasn't caused trouble here.

I'm in the business of tweaking Sweetones, Shaws and Generations. What I listed was my inventory. I was trying to make a joke, pretending that owning 60 Sweetones, etc. is typical of people who post on this board. Sorry if I caused confusion.

Best wishes,
Jerry

P.S. Mouse update. The new mouse is intriguing. He likes sunflower seeds, doesn't seem to have much taste for chocolate. This would make me wonder if he's truly a card carrying mouse, except I've seen him, and he is in fact, a perfectly normal mouse.

He's already eaten about half the sunflower seeds Nano sent for Ralph II. And he seems to have relocated his base of operations from the pantry to my office. This is the official purpose of my ongoing Mouse Domestication, Rehabilitation and Training Program (MDRTP), so I guess we're on the right track.

For those new to this saga or who've forgotten the standard MDRTP operating procedures: As long as there's only one mouse in the house, I'll make a pet of him in such a way that he hangs out in my office instead of the pantry. As soon as I see evidence of more than one, I catch them with a MiceCube humane trap, release them in the woods, and the Global Pennywhistle Tweaking and Production Consortium headquarters carries on with no mouse on the staff until another one shows up. That takes from a matter of days to, in this most recent case, a couple of months.

I wouldn't say that this mouse has actually joined the GPTPC headquarters staff yet, however. He's still in a getting acquainted with the facilities stage, and hasn't yet settled down to a steady work routine.

Ralph I was companionable. He would squeak when excited (by food, for example), hang out and make eye contact as he nibbled. Ralph II was a hit and run mouse. He would grab a bite and then dart off. And he was extremely clumsy. Every now and then, I would hear a little explosion under my desk when he ran afoul of something. So far, mouse number three is the most secretive of the lot. He has managed to eat all the sunflower seeds I've put out, but I've only seen him once.

There's considerable work to be done here at GPTPC headquarters, so I hope mouse number three overcomes his reticence and develops into a productive member of the staff. But even if he just stays away from the pantry and takes his meals in my office, I will have accomplished the official MDRTP goal.

I'll keep you posted with my usual periodic updates.

Monster · Post by **Monster** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 11:56 pm

JessieK wrote:A good Gen is a great thing, but I think the idea that most are not good is not an overstatement. In Ireland I was allowed to try all the whistles in a shop and of the 20 Gens I sampled, 2 were good.

Jessie, You may be missing the point, which would be; with a little tweaking the $5 underdog whistle plays very very nicely. Sure, most of the Gens draw vacuum right out of the box, but even if you manage to destroy 2 out of 3 whistles while tweaking, you can still have a very inexpensive $15 dollars wrapped up in something that is quite decent.

Or, soon to be, maybe order a pre-tweaked Gen and miss out on all the fun of a do it yourself experience. Even if you want to put the money down on a nice expensive whistle, you are not really guaranteed of a good whistling experience! Some people don't like Copeland's for this or that reason, some don't like Silkstones, some don't like Sindts etc. etc..

I like my tweaked red tipped tooter!

Kevin L. Rietmann · Post by **Kevin L. Rietmann** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 2:57 am

Here's some nutty things you can do to your cheap whistle, I haven't tried them myself, I'm just an idea man:

1 - Uniformly dent the outside with a ball peen hammer.

2 - Coat the surfaces with epoxy.

3 - Fill in the holes with dowels, or solder brass sheet in place, then revoice.

4 - Cut a triangular section out of a cylindrical bodied whistle, then bring the edges together and solder - voila, conical bore.

5 - Fill the bottom of the bore with "rushes" (another term from piping) - filler material of whatever kind. See if you can flatten the octaves drastically, and then cut the end off until they are in tune again. Maybe.

6 - Buy some brass tube which will fit your fipples, and make your own cheap whistles. Make a bore so long it doubles back like a bassoon.

7 - Make square section "boxes," put holes in one side, and find a way to fit a fipple on. Or make a square fipple. Ala the "Squinnter" square bore uilleann pipes chanter - construction of this used to be featured on David Daye's Bagpipe Page, but the link seems to be dead. A square bore will work as well as a cylindrical or conical bore, believe it or not.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 3:27 am

fluter_d wrote:
Jerry and Wombat -
I didn't mean it like that at all! In fact, I'm starting to feel inadequate (although I doubt that WhOA will set in anytime soon - that would kind of require some money... :roll: ). All those nice whistles... and me with a falling-apart Gen ...
I'm off to mastermind my high-end-whistle-kleptomanic-episode...
Deirdre

Didn't mean it like what Deirdre?

Actually, I'm the only one so far to admit on this thread to owning quite a lot of high-end whistles. (Jessie does too, but she isn't owning up here.) That was precisely my point. Although lots of us have WhOA, only a few have invested a lot in trying loads of high-enders. (You know who we are: the usual suspects who emerge whenever there's a 'compare Abells, Busmans, Copelands and Overtons' thread.) What I didn't realise is that so many people had whole armies of cheapies.

Funny isn't it. With all my high-enders, what I really most want, apart from a few affordable O'Riordans, is a full fleet of good Generations. Well, with Jerry's experiments progressing, I might not have much longer to wait. And no, I'm not prepared to swap a Copeland for a good Generation.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:46 am

In the interest of full disclosure here is a complete lists of high-end whistles I own. High-end is everything more expensive than a Susato, here.

2 Overton Hi D's (1 Bernard Overton, 1 Colin Goldie)
Overton C
Overton A
Overton low D

Sindog D (Sindt head on Feadog shaft)
Sindt C

Alba Q1
Alba Old-style hi D (mine on loan)
Alba Q1 low F
Alba low D

Burke old-style wide-bore brass
Reyburn D/C set

I still have a Kerry Low D that I am giving away.

I also currently have an Overton low F on trial that I am considering buying. All the Susatos I have left are a VSB E/D set, and a SB D. Then I think I have about 30 or so various cheapos, several of them in one degree of disassembly or another.