OK, I’ve finally managed to get a complete set of “good” Generations… with the exception of the Bb.
I’ve tried both the nickel and the brass variety, and both have been complete garbage.
I tweaked the brass one until I killed it, but I still have the nickel one that has nothing more done to it than Sticky-Tack in the fipple cavity.
I’ve done enough tweaking that I’m able to whip almost any whistle into shape, but I have yet to tame a Generation Bb.
Anybody know how to tweak out a weak, breathy sound from a whistle?
All I know how to do is smooth out a ragged tone.
Warning: destroying your Bb Gen mouthpc is a distinct possibility
I carried out the “guitar pick/any thin plastic sheet” tweak on the blade/ramp area. There was a thread on this a while back.
However,in order to affix the plastic piece onto the blade, I had to shave off the bump on the blade. Also, the lower part of the blade is a curved surface and not on the same plane as the blade, so more shaving was necessary. Didn’t have a file, so I used scissors and a penknife – troublesome.
Before: the whistle was very difficult to play even with the standard Blu-tack and blunt-the-blade-edge tweak. Also the air requirements were even higher than for my Shaw A, if you can believe it.
After: Much easier to play, higher octave is very nice, breath requirements are lower now. But volume is reduced and the 1st octave cannot be blown too hard. Might be a bit flat with the mouthpc pushed completely in.
This is certainly not going to usurp my Dixon Bb. I only tried the tweak because I was bored.
I have a few Generation Bflats that I just tweaked with sticky tac that sound great. The Bflat does have more chiff than the C and the C has more chiff than the D but that is how it is and I like the extra chiff that the Bflat has.
Joe
A few weeks ago a friend gave me a new Generation B flat for a Christmas present.
The Sticky tac “mod” was instituted
right away and it sounds great. The
whistle had a big red and green bow
wrapped around it and a tag that said,
“Don’t Open Before Christmas” so I’ve
been playing the thing with the decorations
still attached…What a Gas !
After all burrs and fuzzies are removed,the most common “tweak” is to back-fill the resonant chamber under the windway but don’t overfill and make certain that the face of the filler has a concave or “cup” surface to it to focus acoustic energy.
Tweak 2: Attachment of a “plate” made of thin plastic (old guitar pick etc.)on the upper lip of the windway exit. Think of it as a garage door to close off the windway exit a little and reduce the airstream. Couple this tweak with a bead of superglue to the leading edge of the sharp ramp to improve low pressure oscillations.
Tweak 3: Using a needle-nosed pliers,curl the bore end inwards in slow stages until the hole is about 1/8" to 1/4" smaller in diameter. This will set up a “standing wave” of back-pressure to improve acoustic impedance. If you are fearful of bending the bore end,you can use a “ring” of sticky-tack/beeswax/balsa wood etc. to reduce the bore end.
Tweak 4: Using a fine grit sandpaper rolled in a cone shape,sand the upper and lower rim edges of all toneholes to remove burrs and reduce turbulance. Be careful to only remove the sharp rim edge or the tonehole will go sharp.This will improve upper octave response and reduce wind usage slightly.
If you feel inspired, you can reduce the size of the voicing “window” slightly by closing off the window at the “ears” or sides with thin sheet plastic. This will focus the airstream a little better and require less air for the voicing to oscillate.The reduction should fan out from the windway and disappear near the ramp or turbulance will occur.Very little reduction is needed for a large improvement in the Bb Generation.
Any comments, pro or con,are welcome. I hope this will make your Bb Gen a pleasure to play.
Thomas Hastay.
[ This Message was edited by: Thomas-Hastay on 2001-12-19 12:54 ]
Great post, Thomas! Thanks.
I know I am outing myself as dense, but I don’t get this passage:
On 2001-12-19 12:47, Thomas-Hastay wrote:
Tweak 2: Attachment of a “plate” made of thin plastic (old guitar pick etc.)on the upper lip of the windway exit. Think of it as a garage door to close off the windway exit a little and reduce the airstream. Couple this tweak with a bead of superglue to the leading edge of the sharp ramp to improve low pressure oscillations.
Is the exit of the windway the part across from the blade? That will take some fine work, b/c the opening is only about 1 mm tall. On my brass Gen Bb the upper part is slightly closer to the blade than the lower edge (under which I stuffed the sticky tack Thygress gave me). And the “sharp ramp” would be the blade???
Thanks, Thomas. Didn’t know there was a specific way to fill the mouthpc cavity. I assumed that one filled it up the level of the top of the window, or even slightly past it (as in the fipple in my Dixon). I also assumed that the surface of the filling was flat, since the tweak originally involved dripping molten wax into the mouthpc, rather than using Blu-tack.
This thing about having a concave surface on the filling has improved my Bb Gen even more.
Thank you for your nice comments and I’m glad I was of some help. I like the Bb Generation but realize that its bore diameter is a little excessive.
Bloomfield: The “windway exit” is the end of the windway tube at the top of the voicing window. If you “pinch” or reduce the size of the slotted opening,you 1)increase back-pressure to save your wind and 2)you increase airstream velocity causing an increase in pitch. The player unconsciously blows softer(saving more wind)to bring the pitch back down.
Have you ever held your thumb over a garden hose? Reducing the apeture causes greater back-pressure and more velocity to the escaping water stream. The “price” for reducing the windway exit slot is a reduction in loudness. If you use thin plastic glued to the face of the upper “lip”, be sure it is thin enough to keep the lower lip sticking out or the airstream will be mis-directed.
Tuaz: This same concave plug face can be seen on the $15 Yamaha plastic fife,so I can’t take any credit for innovation 
The semi rounded edge to the labium ramp is an aid to oscillations because the airstream “flips” in and out of the window easier. With a slightly rounded labium edge,less wind is needed to start and maintain oscillations.
Reducing the bore end helps to create a “standing wave” within the bore and increased acoustic impedance(greater energy)but the drawback is slight pitch shift between octaves. A player will unconsciously increase the upper octave flattened pitch though.