Green topped Generation Brass

breedlovejumbo · Post by **breedlovejumbo** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 8:47 am

I saw a green-top Generation Brass D at a store in Manitou Springs Colorado. It was labeled as a folk whistle. Is it like this from the factory, or did someone just change the mouthpieces on a bunch of Gens?

tansy · Post by **tansy** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 8:52 am

they make them that way. some have had good luck with the gen green headed folk whistle. it is still probably hit or miss

tansy

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 8:55 am

My favorite whistle is my green topped Gen D. It just seems "right" to me, that Irish music should be played on a green fippled whistle. After all, Ireland is the Emerald Isle.

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 9:15 am

Yeah, it was a new line they brought out a year~ish ago so gullible but sweet natured and devilishly handsome individuals like Blackhawk and me would rush out and buy one, when we already have the bluetop and redtop flavours.

I think they may have been worried about competition from Clare, Doolin, Walton & Feadog, all made in Ireland and all having green tops.

I keep trying it to see if it really does sound different from the normal redtop. I just can't be sure.

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 9:38 am

Martin Milner wrote:Yeah, it was a new line they brought out a year~ish ago so gullible but sweet natured and devilishly handsome individuals like Blackhawk and me would rush out and buy one, when we already have the bluetop and redtop flavours.

Martin, if they ever come out in rainbow colors, you and I are in trouble!

breedlovejumbo · Post by **breedlovejumbo** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 9:42 am

Thanks everyone. If I'm back there today I think I'll get one. I want to be just like you guys.

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 10:24 am

blackhawk wrote:
Martin Milner wrote:Yeah, it was a new line they brought out a year~ish ago so gullible but sweet natured and devilishly handsome individuals like Blackhawk and me would rush out and buy one, when we already have the bluetop and redtop flavours.
Martin, if they ever come out in rainbow colors, you and I are in trouble!

Actually that does raise the question of why nobody has ever brought out a splotchy multicoloured plastic fipple, like the Clown Barf guitar picks.

Maybe the coloursplash would be inherently weak at the joints (though the picks do not have this problem) or maybe we whistlers are considered a conservative bunch who aren't up for a laugh and couldn't handle all the attention such a fipple would attract.

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 10:27 am

breedlovejumbo wrote:Thanks everyone. If I'm back there today I think I'll get one. I want to be just like you guys.

Well then, you need to start walking with a limp (it's my left leg).

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 10:38 am

blackhawk wrote:
breedlovejumbo wrote:Thanks everyone. If I'm back there today I think I'll get one. I want to be just like you guys.
Well then, you need to start walking with a limp (it's my left leg).

And let all your hair drop out and grow your head to look like a fat potato with a disfiguring skin condition. I burnt my baldy bonce in the sun on Friday and now I look like I have terminal dandruff.

Ah, life is sweet.

dmcr35 · Post by **dmcr35** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 11:20 am

I have one of these green jobs. Good whistle, except I had to enlarge hole 5 so that the F# would play more in tune. Next to a tweaked Walton Mellow D it's my favourite.

Dave McRitchie
Toronto, Canada

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Sun Jul 27, 2003 4:04 am

Martin Milner wrote:I think they may have been worried about competition from Clare, Doolin, Walton & Feadog, all made in Ireland and all having green tops.

I keep trying it to see if it really does sound different from the normal redtop. I just can't be sure.

The fipple's always greener on the other side of the British Isles, eh?

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sun Jul 27, 2003 6:59 am

The greentop Generations have a bigger windway than the redtops. I don't know if this affects the sound or not. At least the one I have does. It's noticeable if you put the two whistleheads side by side.

As to the F# playing "flat" on the factory run tube, that's typical of many pennywhistles. It appears to be a carryover from just intonation.

A "perfect" third (the one a singer, violinist, etc. will use to create spot-on harmonies) will be about 13 cents flat to an even tempered third (piano, fretted instruments, etc.). Some whistles (Feadogs, Oaks) have the third tuned to even temperament, others (Generations, etc.) have the third closer to just intonation, although there are often other pitch inaccuracies.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Sun Jul 27, 2003 12:36 pm

Walden wrote:
Martin Milner wrote:I think they may have been worried about competition from Clare, Doolin, Walton & Feadog, all made in Ireland and all having green tops.

I keep trying it to see if it really does sound different from the normal redtop. I just can't be sure.
The fipple's always greener on the other side of the British Isles, eh?

Walden, I hope you're not suggesting that Ireland is one of the British Isles are you?

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Sun Jul 27, 2003 2:51 pm

Wombat wrote:Walden, I hope you're not suggesting that Ireland is one of the British Isles are you?

Alls I know is what I read in the Encyclopædia Britannica.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Sun Jul 27, 2003 4:01 pm

I have a green-top Gen D which is a lovely whistle.

In fact, the last several Gens I have bought were all good right out of the box. There has been speculation their quality control may have improved recently, which would explain things.

I have a green-top, red-top, and blue-top which were good here...all three have a larger windway than an older blue-top which required tweaking to play well. Also the older one had some plastic "spurs" which had to be removed, and the new good ones all have very clean fipples, no spurs or sharp seams.

--James