Paddy Moloney's old beaten up Generation whistle

emtor · Post by **emtor** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:19 pm

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUGoI6Uttno" target="_blank">Paddy Moloney's old beaten up Generation whistle</a>

Boody · Post by **Boody** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:32 pm

WyoBadger · Post by **WyoBadger** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 4:50 pm

Nice clip.

When a bunch of us saw the Chieftains play in Denver several years ago, we were all quick to notice his Gen with electrical tape all over it; I believe it was Mack who theorized that it was to change the size of the tone holes so it would be in tune.

We're such pansies with our tweaked, tunable, custom whistles...

Tom

Irish Marine · Post by **Irish Marine** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 5:15 pm

Thanks so much for sharing that. Great stuff.

kintailpipes · Post by **kintailpipes** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 5:24 pm

Great Stuff indeed!

I saw Paddy perform in Boston in March and I would sware he also played a Sindt D whistle.

Mitch · Post by **Mitch** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 5:27 pm

TC · Post by TC » Sat Apr 12, 2008 8:50 pm

Thanks for pointing to that. Good stuff. I would think the sideburns have more of an effect on intonation than the electrical tape.

pancelticpiper · Post by **pancelticpiper** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 6:41 am

That's a fantastic video, which brings back fond memories. It's stuff like that, that got me into Irish music in the first place, back in the 70's.
That's all there was then: Generations. You went through as many Gens as you could, picked the best, and then started tweaking.
My old c1980 Generation C is still perhaps the best whistle I've ever played. The low range is round and full, the upper notes amazingly sweet. The tuning, after packing the head and carving many of the holes, is perfect.
Then the head cracked so I bound it with thick black thread and then soaked the thread in superglue. It won't crack further! (This type of binding is often mistaken for electical tape.)
Here's my Gens:
L-R:
low A, homemade body, plays great
B flat, this whistle sucks, needs tape on the 6th hole to be approx in tune
B natural, a chopped down B flat, plays great, note the huge lowest holes
C, the best whistle I've ever played, note the carved holes
C sharp, a chopped down C, plays great, note the huge lowest holes
D, plays well, note the carved holes. This whistle actually played great until I f***ed with the top and messed it up.
E flat, horrible
F, even more horrible

emtor · Post by **emtor** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:20 am

Your collection of whistles look like a few of my own.
Below is a Generation Bb that I purchased more than ten years ago.
In an effort to loosen the head with warm water, the fipple started to warp,
so I decided to use brute force instead of heat.
-Then the fipple cracked, which was fixed with string and superglue.
Later I removed the string and coated it in black epoxy-resin.

This Gen Bb is the smoothest and most velvety Bb I've come across.
I've tweaked a lot of Bb's, but no one sounds quite like this one.
It's one of those rare whistles that has nothing wrong with it.
I find flaws in all my whistles, both cheap and expensive, but not with this one.

I'll sell both my Copeland and my Chieftain long before even considering parting with that old and beaten up Gen Bb.

<img src="http://vargaswhistles.com/temp/genbb.jpg" border="1">

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:21 am

kintailpipes wrote:Great Stuff indeed!

I saw Paddy perform in Boston in March and I would sware he also played a Sindt D whistle.

I read somewhere that he does sometimes play a Sindt.

I'll see if I can find the reference.

--James

pancelticpiper · Post by **pancelticpiper** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 7:31 am

I'm envious of your great Gen B flat. I have six or seven B flat tops and none are any good.

The Round Tree · Post by **The Round Tree** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:08 pm

At last year's Ennis Trad Festival, I wandered over to the Trad for Teens session. I was really glad and lucky. Paddy stopped by and played a few tunes with them. I couldn't believe it, I was sitting right next to him and it certainly looked like a Generation he was playing. I was also lucky enough to have my recorder with me. I asked if anyone minded if I recorded the session, no one did. I have a great recording of the tunes, lucky me.

falkbeer · Post by **falkbeer** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:59 pm

This is indeed a very interesting thread!
Here are a couple of tips from a hobby tweaker.

1. The easiest way to get a D Gen. in tune is to take the body from a Feadog
2. If the head cracks, model air plane glue works very much better than superglue.
3. If a note is to sharp, a very easy way to reduce the seize is to glue (super glue) a piece of thin aluminum from a coke can or a tin under the hole. Then you can gradually make a "new" smaller hole. And if you use the shiny metallic side of the piece metal it will be virtually invisible too!

straycat82 · Post by **straycat82** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:32 am

kintailpipes wrote:I saw Paddy perform in Boston in March and I would sware he also played a Sindt D whistle.

He does.

Key_of_D · Post by **Key_of_D** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 10:18 am

straycat82 wrote:
kintailpipes wrote:I saw Paddy perform in Boston in March and I would sware he also played a Sindt D whistle.
He does.

He does not... That's just Irish folklore.

He plays a frog though!

Chiff and Fipple Forums

Paddy Moloney's old beaten up Generation whistle

Paddy Moloney's old beaten up Generation whistle

Moloney's whistle