Jerry Freeman Tweaked Generation D
(Review written February 2005)
Preface
Jerry Freeman is probably the world's only professional full-time pennywhistle tweaker. Tweaking means, simply, to change a whistle to try and improve it. This can be done by modifying the mouthpiece or tube in various ways. A classic simple tweak is to squeeze a Clarke mouthpiece a little more closed, so that it takes less breath. I say "simple" but I've always failed at even that small of a tweak. So it hardly suffices to say that I'm in awe of the level of tweaking Jerry does. With each whistle Jerry sent, he included a sheet detailing what tweaks are done on that brand of whistle. I assume he sends that to everyone.
I wrote Jerry and let him know I was going to do a mostly-negative review of a Generation tinwhistle. It's known that good Generations are prized instruments treasured by their owners. It's also known that finding a "good" generation is an undertaking of near epic proportions. So in the interests of fair play, I asked Jerry if he'd send me one of his tweaked Generations so that hopefully both sides of the Generation coin could be explored. He did one better, and sent me five different tweaked whistle brands to review!
Today, we'll be taking a look at the Jerry Freeman Tweaked Generation. Generations are the "pure drop" standard that many traditional whistlers swear by. They're made in just about every soprano key imagineable, but Jerry only tweaks high G, F, Eb, D, C and Bb. That should cover just about anyone's needs, really. Jerry makes a number of changes to improve the base whistle. As he describes his tweaks: "It plays sweeter/purer than currently manufactured Generations." Indeed it does! And without sacrificing that "Generation" sound. He also mentions that his tweaks help minimize buzzing, rattling, and squawking. This one was certainly free of those defects as well.
At a Glance
Whistle Reviewed: Jerry Freeman Tweaked Generation
Models Available: Tweaked D
Construction: Brass tube, with a plastic mouthpiece.
Price at time of review: $36.50 US
Available From:
The Whistle Shop
Big Whistle Music
Whistle and Drum
Gaelic Crossings
Elderly Instruments
MyTinwhistle.com
How Acquired: Product sample from Jerry Freeman
Bottom Line: Slightly sweeter and easier to play than a traditional Generation, without losing that raspy-scratchiness and start-of-note chiff that makes them beloved among old-school traditional musicians.
Appearance/Construction
Generations come in nickel (with blue mouthpiece) and brass (with red mouthpiece), and generally look very similar to most other cheap whistle brands out there. I got a brass one from Jerry, which was nice, since nickel always feels a little slippery to me.
Here's the full-sized whistle. Due to its reflective nature, you can see Jerry's BluTack tweak in this view. This tweak is performed by filling the cavity below the windway with wax or BluTack (that weird blue putty stuff used in offices to temporarily hold up posters and the like).
Here's a closeup of the labium ramp. Due to the flash, it's hard to see, but it looks as if Jerry has sanded down the labium ramp, sharpened it, and added a bit of guitar-pick or something to build it up from underneath.
Here's a better angle on the BluTack tweak. I'm not sure Jerry actually uses BluTack for this tweak, due to the non-blue nature of the filler.
Here's a view of Jerry's logo. His stickers look nice and professional.
Playing Characteristics
This whistle is slightly quieter than non-tweaked Generations. But only slightly. There's a world of difference in playability. It has that nice traditional chiffy burst at the beginning of a note. It has a slight bit of that raspy chiff throughout a note. Unlike the Clarke or Shaw (which I would describe as windy) the chiff in a Generation is more raspy or scratchy. It's a unique sound that old-school traditionalists crave in a whistle. Jerry does a good job of preserving it while improving the playability of the whistle tremendously.
A sound clip of the whistle:
Fraher's Jig-Here's a clip of a jig on the whistle.
Volume: This whistle is on the quiet side. It'll be drowned out by really loud sessions. But if you're playing in a more moderate session, where your goal is to blend in nicely without standing out, this whistle fits the bill.
Responsiveness: Extremely Fast. I didn't have any problem playing any ornaments at full throttle. This whistle kept up with everything I could throw at it, and remained crisp and clean sounding.
C-Natural: The cross-fingered C-Natural on this whistle is a little erratic and hard to control with the breath. OXXOOO produces a c-natural that's easy to blow sharp. OXXXOO stabilizes it some, but not much. On a fast tune, it won't really matter much. On slow tunes, learn to half-hole.
Tuning: Generations are normally non-tunable unless you break the seal on the mouthpiece. Since Jerry does this in the course of his tweaking, that leaves the whistle tunable by moving the mouthpiece up and down the whistle body. This whistle is fairly in tune across the range. The F# requires a little push, but can be worked with. Jerry tells me he doesn't tweak the holes at all on these, so I'm assuming his mouthpiece tweaks help bring the whistle into tune. The untweaked Generation D I'm comparing it to is all over the map in terms of tuning. Seriously...the session musicians I let play around on this whistle were amazed at the difference.
Hole Size and placement: This whistle has holes with average size and placement. There are no weird spacings. If you can play a soprano D, you can play this one.
Air volume and pressure requirements:
Breath pressure: Light. It doesn't take much pressure to blow this whistle, and the 2nd octave is likewise very easy to hit.
Breath volume: Low. I think Jerry's tweaks make this instrument evey easier on the air volume requirements. It simply doesn't take a lot of air. After being used to the breath required for my Copeland and Greewood whistles, I was able to get through two repetitions of an A part of a reel, and part of the B part on a single breath.
Clogging: This whistle had a little moisture buildup within fifteen or twenty minutes of constant playing. However, it didn't really ever give out on me or change it's playing characteristics significantly. I was able to play through any given set, and then blow the whistle out at need.
Summary
Readers of the Chiff and Fipple whistle discussion board will know that I'm not a fan of Generation D whistles. This has nothing to do with their sound, but rather with their poor quality control. I've never bought one that was in tune with itself, and I've bought perhaps a dozen of them. However, I must say that I really really like Jerry's Generation D. It has that great old-school sound, without any of poor tuning and playability that I've come to expect from Generations.
