I’ve seen a lot of YouTube videos of the Sindt and while it obviously plays very well, it has a particular light chirpy sound, and there are many types of tonal qualities whistles can make. I like to have whistles of about three different tonal types. I’ve heard the Sindt takes little air. Did you find with the Sindt you could play longer phrases easier or just play a long time with less fatigue?
The problem with Generations is that they use the molds until they are completely worn out. And the whistles made with those molds suck. If you are in a store, you don’t have to even try them but you can see if they are good or not. If all the edges are sharp and crisp, then they are fine. If they have (new in box) nicks and dings on the mouthpiece, they are garbage. The thing is – it is well worth looking for “the one” because a good Generation outperforms almost ANY other brand. That’s why some people (me included) buy a bunch of them to find a good one. The really good one I have was one I actually did try before buying. However, my urge to buy new whistles took a serious blow once I started making my own.
To be honest, I’ve never gone in anywhere and bought 5 or 10 or 20 Generations. I have, however, bought at least one of every key except G. All were simply purchased from a music shop, off the rack, no modifications and without even trying a bunch to pick the best one. Some are among my favorite whistles, some aren’t. All are eminently playable, with no major defects. I have no idea where this idea that the majority of Generations are terrible comes from, but it has not been borne out by my or many other players’ experience.
I hate to be so blunt, but if you play a Generation whistle and it sounds terrible, you are much more likely to be the problem than the whistle. That’s not to say that they’re all amazing, or that there aren’t some duds. Yes, it’s possible that you’re good and the whistle isn’t. But on the balance, there are a lot more terrible players than there are terrible Generation whistles. Anyone who has played for a while has probably had the experience of finding out that the seemingly awful whistle they started on has miraculously improved after sitting in a drawer for years. What’s the secret? I’ll give you a hint: the whistle didn’t change!
As to Generation’s financials, I’d imagine that they’re not going to be the next Amazon, but they’re still in every music shop in Ireland so they seem to be doing OK. I know next to nothing about the company’s financial situation, but unless you’re their disgruntled former CFO I doubt you have much insight on it either. I don’t really see how any of that is relevant to whether or not they make good instruments.
It takes little air and it is an easy player throughout. My only gripe with it is its top-heaviness. The Sindt is a tamed variant of the Generation/Feadog type whistles. Which is its strength and weakness alike.
but if you play a Generation whistle and it sounds terrible, you are much more likely to be the problem than the whistle
Unfortunately not, because some of them really are rubbish–they squeak and squeal, sound scratchy and aweful, no matter how good a player you are. Some are great and some are not. I can take a picture and show you all the flaws in the mouthpiece (all in the same spots) on different specimen, if you don’t believe me. Yes, they can be played but almost any other whistle is better than those. The newer ones are better however. It seems that Generation have replaced the molds for the heads.
That’s why I said “most likely.” It’s also why I added
Yes, it’s possible that you’re good and the whistle isn’t.
I’m not saying that there aren’t bad Generations. I am saying that the idea that only 1 in 5 or 10 or 20 is good is over-exaggerating the issue to the extreme.
Now that is true. It is not one in 20. But of the ones I have, only one of the Ds is really good (C and Bb are great btw and I only have two in C and one in Bb). Of the 12 Generations I have, about one third is bad.
Nowhere did I mention buying 5,10, or 20 of any whistle nor would I ever recommend such a thing, especially when saying it’s not necessary to spend lots of money for a whistle. By a couple, I actually mean two. Perhaps I should have specified … example, I purchased a brass and nickel Feadóg at once. I kept the brass because it’s what felt and sounded best to me. How that conveys to buying a ridiculous amount, I don’t know. Simply stating this as an option. Majority of my post was in support of the Tony Dixon trad, which I established as one of my primary players along with a Clarke original that’s several years old. Whistles that I know to be reliable from my experience.
-Mel
To be honest, I’ve never gone in anywhere and bought 5 or 10 or 20 Generations. I have, however, bought at least one of every key except G. All were simply purchased from a music shop, off the rack, no modifications and without even trying a bunch to pick the best one. Some are among my favorite whistles, some aren’t. All are eminently playable, with no major defects. I have no idea where this idea that the majority of Generations are terrible comes from, but it has not been borne out by my or many other players’ experience.
Exactly. I’ll repeat for the third time on this thread I went into Custy’s this summer, tried about a dozen of them and all were fine. They went through a bit of a bad patch a few years ago but the current output seems fine. Variability is part of the process of injection molding, there’s nothing you can do about it. But the numbers of downright poor whistles is grossly overstated, usually by people new to the whistle, or people lacking the breathcontrol to play them properly.
This sort of crusaders against these whistles are tedious to the extreme.
the idea that people should actually go out into the marketplace and buy many copies of a typically defective product
. Please. Even though there are variations, Generations aren’t a “typically defect product”. That’s simply not true. All of mine are picked straight from a shop, no pre-testing. Sound-wise I like my Freeman Bluebird better (as for the tweaked-but-otherwise standard Gen-D, it’s a toss-up), but that’s just my preference. The Gens are all fine. If there are any issues they are all with me as a player - I’m most definitely no Mary Bergin. The first whistle I bought some years ago was a very cheap Walton, I didn’t think it was particularly good. Well, I got it out from the drawer recently, and it’s fine. Anything wrong with it was with me.
Does anyone know the name of the company that manufactures Generation whistles? Also, is it the same company that manufactures Feadog and the other similar whistles?
Also, is it the same company that manufactures Feadog and the other similar whistles?
It’s not the same company. These things have been discussed here many times: The whistles were made by Barnes & Mullins in Oswestry, Shropshire but they seem to have split off the whistle branch and they have been going under their own name at the same location. They have been introducing new whistle lines (the coloured ones and the boho) since and apparently have finally had new moulds made since they became ‘Generation Music’. They have a website: Generation music. It is interesting to note they claim to have been making the whistles since 1966 while there are plenty of examples of Generation whistles long before that year, going back to Victorian times and using variants of the current logo since the 1940s/50s. And I have seen photos of whislteplayers, notably Willie Clancy and Séamus Ennis, playing Generations with plastic heads during the 1950s.
I’d go a little further, and I know this is how some people use the web, but for an anonymous poster on a board like this to basically libel two small companies with zero evidence is pretty outrageous.
I’d go a little further, and I know this is how some people use the web, but for an anonymous poster on a board like this to basically libel two small companies with zero evidence is pretty outrageous.
At this point you’ll have to wonder if your man is just a windup artist. Or just utterly clueless. Maybe it’s time to start ignoring his output.
I’m similarly curious about that. Many companies seem to use sometimes spurious claims to backdate their company to earlier times (no, this is not a reference to Clarke), but Generation seem to have gone the other way. I wonder what their reasoning is for this?
Good point 
I’ll add my experience with Generation whistles, which is pretty much 100% success. I bought my first examples in 1975 or 1976, but have bought a fair number since then. Most recently, I just bought some a few months ago for my grandchildren. In every single one of these purchases, I just took the first one the clerk offered (or the random one that was shipped in the recent case), I didn’t try any others before purchase, just accepted what I was given. Every single one played well. Some I have come to like more than others - a D and a Bb both purchased in the 70’s come to mind -but all the rest play just fine. One or two that were in good tune when new became a bit out of tune after 30-40 years and I had to slip the heads. I have tried and received as gifts other whistles over the years; I have yet to find any that I like as well as my Generations. Perhaps I am just used to them. But I have never played a bad one in 40+ years.
I am pretty certain that it is just bad luck coming across a bad one. Like I wrote, the ones that I have that are bad, all seem to have come from the same injection-mould that was worn out. And they are just bad. Not even the best breath control would change anything about that (and I consider my breath control to be just fine, having played wind instruments for 35 yrs and having owned a Generation C for 30 yrs–still have that one but the head cracked). But my goal really was not to bash them, quite the opposite. But there are (or were a few yrs back) lemons out there. And that is probably true for any make of whistles. No company has a 100% great products over decades.
My observation is the same as Mr Gumby’s–the bad ones all were bought a few years ago. The last ones I bough were all good. And one of the newer ones plays even better than my vintage one. The same sweet high notes that never get piercing, and that nice chiffy sound.