pancelticpiper wrote:What's a spreadsheet and what does it have to do with whistles?
Yah well, about a year and a half ago, I got 100 Gens and tested them all and graphed the results. The nicest one got raffled here for charity and the nastiest one got buried in concrete.
The Gen discussion is cyclical. My spreadsheet was supposed to give some pseudo reference point to prove that both ends of the arguement were correct. The results were 6% virtually unplayable and 6% rather nice with the other 78% acceptable players. A bell curve as you'd expect. The 6% flange on the bell is somewhat larger than I'd expected - good evidence for the very reason this discussion takes place.
As an honest attempt to be subjective, I also invited an experienced player to test the extreme examples - he was able to get a plausible performance out of even the worst of the bunch (although he wasn't happy with it). That part of the test was also to demonstrate that there's a whole world of difference between the nOOb and old-timer appreciation of the instrument and it's shortcomings.
I posted most of this stuff on C&F here:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... ht=#553411
I also posted it on my website in the "stories" section.
The post was never a slur on Generation whistles - quite the contrary.
Just looking now - no one in this thread has really nudge-nudged or wink-winked at them either.
As for off the shelf - that's a nice bunch of FrankenGens there pancelticpiper!
I see a lot of altered Gens in performances lately, I also see a lot of Overtons and Abells, but I did recently see a Queensland band "Aul Grey Whistle" with Megan Franklin blistering the air with a blue Sweetone (brilliant playing!). Not sure if it was tweaked or off-the-shelf, but it sure sounded good.
The thing is that there are more than just Generations to be had these days. Makers will make them and musicians will make of them what they will. Gens will be around until the last die explodes and the factory retools for yo-yos (say no more!).