I am much sought after by cows and canines and cats for my surgical prowess.
And yet I have not had a single survivor from any of my Generation-tweaking surgeries.
It goes something like this:
The new whistle arrives.
I blow the new whistle.
I supress a gagging reflex.
I carefully tweak the new whistle.
I blow the tweaked whistle.
I throw the whistle away.
I have a little generation F which is a most wonderful little fellow. Tooting his happy little notes makes me long for a Generation-D or maybe a Bb. But alas when they arrive it’s always the same.
Blow-gag-tweak-pitch.
Wouldn’t one of you expert tweakers like to sell me a decent Generation whistle you don’t play anymore. Surely we can work something out. Mail me your cat and I’ll spay it for free!
I’m desperate…please have mercy!
Doc
[ This Message was edited by: Doc Jones on 2002-06-26 01:19 ]
Hmm, maybe I should send you the girlfriend’s cats, if you can guarantee to produce the same results with them.
The whistle arrives…
Herein lies your mistake. Would you order a bride from a catalogue? Well don’t buy Generations by mail order. Go to a store and try a few and buy a couple of the better ones. I find that Ds/Ebs are 70% good these days (once you put the head back on in the right place) - Bbs, sadly, are 70% bad.
If you don’t live near a store that stocks Generations, maybe you should think about moving yourself and your 15 kids.
Also, are you sure it’s not you? I had a student once who had a very nice Generation and she succeeded in making it sound horrible. She played other wind instruments - this may be significant.
If you still have no luck send me 20 Euros and I’ll send you a hand-tweaked Jones special - and maybe a free Meg.
You know, I don’t think it’s me. I own a lot of whistles. Several of them are “generation style”…a generation F, a clare, a clarke sweet tone a feadog. I have regular clarkes, a "tweaked Clarke (by Thom at the Whistle shop) Dixons, Susatos, etc…
They all sound great. well let’s see the Feadog doesn’t sound that great (is “Fea” Irish Gaelic for "sounds lik a "?)
Anyway I’m pretty sure it’s not me.
Maybe I’ll take you up on your offer.
How many Euros in a dollar anyway?
Also it’s only 13 kids (how many European kids in an American kid?). These exchange rate things can be so confusing : )
StevieJ speaks wise words.
Don’t know where you’re from Doc as you didn’t share that with the Board on your profile, but when I was at Elderly Music recently, there were dozens of Gens, mostly Ds & Bbs, along with many Weasels, and various other whistle brands all out in glass jars available for trying. Probably 100 whistles altogether by my guess. Trying Before Buying is always preferred when available, especially for the “iffier” brands such as Gen. When I visited Glenn Schultz’s Weasel Shop, he let me try out a bunch before selecting what to me was the purest and gutsiest from the litter. Good luck to you.
Hm… That reminds me. In old surplus firearms you can often pay a higher cost and get a “hand selected” one, where presumably someone who knows what he’s doing will check the stockpile and find one that looks decent, as opposed to a rusted hunk of junk.
So for those of us who live far away from whistle towns, why can’t we pay a little extra for a supplier to hand-select a stockpiled whistle for us and avoid random luck? I know I’d pay extra to get a better than average whistle!
Thom, Steve P., any comment?
[ This Message was edited by: curioso on 2002-06-26 11:34 ]
Got a good nickel Bb Gen the other day in Berkeley for $5.61 to replace the old red one that cracked in the hot water. There were six in the basket and found the best one. Took it home, ran it under hot water and it came loose!!!
So there is hope. They must be using less glue these days.
But to Peter and others: you often mention putting sticky tack in the windway. Is that like a flat VERTICAL layer up and downon each side of the window so that overall opening is narrower? What about the point where the blade intersects that sidewall? Does the tack swerve around it and up to the outside? We need a digital photo closeup of a sticky tacked whistle to copy because descriptions aren’t working for me. Sorry for density about this.
Doc, I ended up switching my old generaton tube with the green top generation folk whistle top, after craming sticky tack in the space by the mouth piece, sounds good, then stuck a walton little Black fipple on my new Generation tube, sounds even better, and I didn’t mess around with that fipple at all!
Waiting for the Mothership…
[ This Message was edited by: Anna Martinez on 2002-06-26 19:19 ]
I feel your pain, as I have a couple Generation D nickel barrels without fipples stuck in a bag somewhere…a distant memory. I suspect most of us have been through the “bad D” Generation blues. And it’s not just the Ds. The only good Generations I have include a nice little F, a Bb with a retrofitted Sweetone C fipple that now plays well, and an Eb with a Clare fipple that’s still not perfect but is ok. I agree that if you can’t try out several Generation Ds before purchasing, you’re playing Russian Roulette with your cash and expectations. One of the two Gen Ds I have (had) was barely playable, and the other wasn’t too bad but still required some fipple work like the sticky tack routine and cleaning out the airway. Even then it was still a bit harsh sounding, so heated the fipple over a stove burner and narrowed the airway just a hair which calmed the harshness somewhat, but after all that, the scale still wasn’t accurate. Just wasn’t happy with the Gen Ds I mail orderd and not willing to spend $100 in Gen Ds and shipping just to HOPEFULLY get a decent one. Funny, but when I ordered the Gens, the store I ordered from, that shall go unnamed, warned me about the Generation quality control problem and told me flat out chances aren’t good on getting a good D. They were so right.
Doc, you have better whistles in your possession. The only thing you can do if you really want a Gen D and mail order one is request they play all that are in stock and pick out the best of the bunch, which may still be only average. The idea of ordering a Gen D suddenly makes me want to watch “The Deer Hunter” again.
BTW, I’ve tried several different fipples on the Gen Ds, incuding a Walton’s LBW mentiond by Anna Martinez, and I’m happy it worked for her but nothing produced a nice clear sound for me. The LBW was ok in the first octave but raspy and breathy in the upper register.
Good luck and if you come across a really good Gen D, please let us know. You may want to get photos and post it online as a true rarity.
I bought a Generation d at one of my local music stores last year; the whistles were packaged, not open in a jar, and they wouldn’t let me try it out first. I don’t like it; the sound is too harsh. However, a friend, who doesn’t even play whistle, sent us a Generation D that sounds very nice.
I think I’ll tell the music store folks about this web site and thread. Maybe they’ll change their policy.
A possible solution may be to try an O’Briain Improved Faedog whistle. Available from Ossian or Shanna Quay websites.
Price is comparable to buying a stack of Generations, and the sound and playability are very similar. I was trying to find the almost mystical “perfect Generation”, but this whistle has laid the issue to rest for me.
Good Luck!!!
Doc, please don’t take this in a negative way, but I’m just curious as to why you’re so intent on a Generation D. I can’t fault you since I obviously went through the same thing. My reason was I heard one played on TV and it sounded great. Didn’t even consider the professional musician playing it was (1) much more accomplished than myself, and (2) in the position of getting the cream of the crop and undoubtedly had each whistle finely tweaked. I just wanted to know what prompted you to get on the Generation kick.
I was lucky and had a nice Generation nickle Eb whistle. A good Eb Gen is easy to find. My nickle D was uninspiring. The Eb mouthpiece is a darker shade of blue compared to my Gen D. Inspecting both whistle mouthpieces with an eyeloop showed that the Eb fipple blade had sharp, smooth surfaces & was moulded well. The D Gen was not. It was rough and uneven.
Soaking the whistles in hot tap water for 10-15 minutes loosened the mouthpieces. I don’t use water too hot to put my finger in as it can warp the plastic. Use lower temp but longer time.
The Eb and D tubes are the same diameter. I swapped the heads and now have a great D and an uninspiring Eb. Net cost for a great D Generation <$16 US.
As someone mentioned, the LBW mouthpiece also sounds good on the Generation D tube.
I too wished for the perfect Gen–actually found/tweaked a couple that turned out nice. But I have a Dixon and a tweaked Clarke and don’t care so much about the Gen now. Save yourself the trouble and get a Dixon. You’ll be much happier since you’ll be able to play without the Holy Grail quest! Good luck.
[ This Message was edited by: cj on 2002-06-28 15:30 ]
For what’s it’s worth, I just listened to some slow airs on the Clips & Snips site played with a Gen D tube and Fedog fipple that sounded pretty good. So a Fedog fipple may be another possibility to produce a good Gen D.
Good luck.