I’m curious what everyones opinion on this is. What whistles have the traditional Generation D sound, without all the cracking and inconsistencies(and hopefully a bit more volume)
Sindts come the closest out of all the whistles I’ve played.
Ha! The very same question I started asking myself a few years ago. Now, quite a few whistles later, I can tell you the conclusion I have come to: there isn’t one that has the Generation sound. And more’s the pity.
Closest thing is probably a Sindt, in terms of playing characteristics. Very sweet and easy to play. But you lose a bit in chiff and complexity of sound. And you can’t get a true C-nat by cross-fingering. Volume is comparable - Sindt is possibly quieter than an untweaked Generation.
If you want a louder whistle that has a bit of air in the sound, try an Overton. But they are a lot louder.
Edit PS: Cracking and inconsistencies. Perhaps your whistle needs a bit of a clean-up, or more serious attention. But could it be you?
[ This Message was edited by: StevieJ on 2002-01-31 10:17 ]
Which all brings us once again back to the question, why bother paying 100 if you can get what you are looking for for a fiver?
I believe most of the charm of Gen’s lie in the amount of ‘dirt’ in theirsound. A little searching and a little tweaking and you might end up with a real gem. So why looking for expensive ones? From what I’ve read on this board, the best “expensive” Generation you can buy is an “improved” one by Cillian O’Briain.
Christian
I agree with Brother Steve, the answer is None. I have gotten improved sound by using Walton’s Little Black mouthpieces on Generation and Generation type whistles (Feadogs’ O’Grady’s).
A future possiblity for Generation lovers is that Mack Hoover is working on just a PVC mouthpiece, like the ones on his PVC whistles, that can be used as a replacement for Generation mouthpieces.
Joe
[ This Message was edited by: jmssmh on 2002-01-31 10:39 ]
I had the chance to try one of those when Mack was here. Doesn’t sound like a Gen but it is a sweet sounding whistle
I have some very nice Generation’s in stock - any key you like for my special price $500 dollars each.
Having paid that sort of money, I guarantee that your mind will not let you hear and crackles and inconsistances.
Steve 
[ This Message was edited by: StevePower on 2002-01-31 19:27 ]
I would have to say the Sindt whistle is closest to a Generation in tone quality, in my opinion. Great whistles!
I finally found a good generation D,
and someone mentioned earlier that
generations seem to be getting more
consistent. Perhaps they read the
board.
On 2002-01-31 10:27, Peter Laban wrote:
Which all brings us once again back to the question, why bother paying 100 if you can get what you are looking for for a fiver?
I wish it was the Generation sound I was looking for. I would hope that most of us with WhOA were looking for something different – in my case it’s the sound of an antique silver whistle I played once at a festival. It didn’t sound a thing like a Gen.
Charlie
(double post deleted)
[ This Message was edited by: chas on 2002-02-01 07:10 ]
There’s more to the Gen, or any whistle, than its sound.
I only have experience with the nickel Gens, but I like the way the nickel barrel is thin and feels good under your fingers, and the hole seal is good.
A high end whistle that had its own design (ie, it didn’t completely rip off the dimensions of a Gen)or used different materials, would not be able to duplicate the feel of the barrel and holes, even if they sounded like the Gen. If their barrel walls were just a little thicker, if the bore diameter different, it wouldn’t be the same.
That said, if you wanted the Gen sound, and lived in a country where Gens were not sold at all, you might be willing to pay for a high end reliable Gen-sounding whistle because:
- postage/shipping charges for a Gen would be far higher than the cost of a Gen, making it more worth the money to get a higher end whistle.
- you couldn’t be sure your Gen wasn’t a dud
- even if you bought a whole bunch, you might still end up with a whole lot of duds and a few merely-ok ones, so it still wouldn’t be worth your while.
Since somebody else spilled the beans. . .
On 2002-01-31 10:37, jmssmh wrote:
. . .A future possiblity for Generation lovers is that Mack Hoover is working on just a PVC mouthpiece, like the ones on his PVC whistles, that can be used as a replacement for Generation mouthpieces. . .
I have one of these (Mack tells me to consider it experimental). It has become my favorite whistle for playing by myself and in quiet sessions (less than 5 instruments and no crowd noise). The low end is louder than all but the expensive whistles. The high end is quieter than all the expensive whistles and a number of the inexpensive ones, as well. Not a bit of shrill ness. It is very easy to control the second octave C#. It has a great deal of tonal complexity and overtones. To me, it has all of the “whistley” sounds you expect from rare cheap whislte that plays very well. It also gives me the most thought-free control of pitch and octave. It is also dead on in tuning. I don’t know how I (with my set of preferences) find a better whistle.
And just in good fun. . .
On 2002-01-31 10:27, Peter Laban wrote:
Which all brings us once again back to the question, why bother paying 100 if you can get what you are looking for for a fiver?
Those fivers (usually about $7.80) add up. Buy 10 generations, you may not get a playable one and you spend $78 + S&H. With that, you could get a Hoover, most of a Burke, a couple of Water Weasels, a Silkstone, a couple of Dixons. . . AND HAVE ENOUGH CHANGE TO BUY A BURGER AND FRIES . You can pretty much be sure that your whistle is somewhat playable. Although I agree, the sound of a good Generation is an amazing thing that is unparralleled. . . or is that just any whistle in the hands of a legend. Food for thought.
By the way: Good Generation.
How often can you find one? 1 in 15, 1 in 20? Are the real Gems (such as Bergin & Moloney (which is realy one Mary gave to him anyway, if I read it correctly)) much harder to find? 1 in 100, 1 in 200? To be a smart donkey, that would be $1560; which is more than a complete set of Chris Abell whistles.
Buying the whistles is, of course, the alternative to Stevie J’s method of outwitting/guilting music store proprietors to let him try everyone out. I haven’t developed the haggling skills to pull that off.
Well, IMHO none sound like a Gen really, and that’s why we buy high end whistles in the first place. Personally, I don’t really like the sound of a Gen - Oak for me if it’s a cheapie.
I’ve come to realise that there are two schools of thought on the whistle acquisition side of things:
- Buy the best, most expensive, and just keep on going ad nauseum till the house is full of whistles
- Buy a Gen or Walton or something and then wonder why on earth anyone would spend more.
And I reckon both schools of thought are perfectly kosher; which one you belong to depends on your psychology, not your playing ability. Mary Bergin is happy with her Gen, Joanie Madden has an O’Riordan and so on - me, I’m in “1”, I just know I’m going to keep on spending and acquiring, dammit! But: it gives me the impetus to really enjoy playing when (for e.g.) I pick up my beautiful little Rose blackwood.
On 2002-02-01 10:23, nickt wrote:
Mary Bergin is happy with her Gen, Joanie Madden has an O’Riordan and so on -
As far as I remember, on Feadoga Stain 2 Mary Bergin plays both Generation and O’Riordan. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Christian
You WILL hit a point when you realize that it’s time to stop spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars on whistles and instead just sit down and learn how to play the darn things. It has happened to me. It has happened to Jessie. It has happened to Loren. It has happened to Azalin. I bet my Abell set… wait, no, I sold that… I bet my Kerry-Pro… wait, no I sold that too… my O’Riordan… no… my Copelands… already gone… my Burkes… too late… my Overtons… already sold… okay, I bet my Generation Eb that it will happen to you! It’s just a matter of time.
In all fairness, I continue to buy a whistle here and there when I have the money and think it’s worth it. Expensive whistles are indeed often wonderful, and worth every cent of what you pay for them, if that’s what you are looking for. I’ve recently placed an order for an Overton low F after trying two that I thought were the nicest whistles I’ve ever played. Besides that, I have a full set of Sindt’s that I love dearly… but for the most part I just play my Generations these days. Maybe I’ve just gotten lucky, but I just love the rough and tumble sound I get out of them and I love how responsive they are. Great whistles altogether. I just wish each one was guaranteed to be a good one.
Best,
Chris
Edited for poor spelling
[ This Message was edited by: ChrisLaughlin on 2002-02-01 11:16 ]
Hi,
My vote is not for a high-end whistle, but for one that costs ten dollars–an Oak. I can get a sweet tone out of it, as well as plenty of chiff on the attack by blowing into it a certain way. I have purchased about seven of these, but only two give me what I want. These whistles will let me play a high G# (XXO XXO), a high C (OXO OOO), and high E, F#, G, and A above high C. They are also in tune! JP
On 2002-01-31 10:11, StevieJ wrote:
Edit PS: Cracking and inconsistencies. Perhaps your whistle needs a bit of a clean-up, or more serious attention. But could it be you?
[ This Message was edited by: StevieJ on 2002-01-31 10:17 ]
Actually I can play my generation with little or no squeaking however I have to play so softly that you’d need to be doing a solo on a microphone for anyone to hear you(exagerating slightly) Also I haven’t had the oppurtunity to sort through large quantities of generation, in which case I could probably get a very fine one. The more I play my generation the more I like it, however either I have to play it so quitely or it’ll start to crack here and there. I’ve tried a large number of higher end whistles with some good volume but not that great gen. tone I love. Of course in a session you can’t really tell what your tone sounds like anyway so I suppose thats what WHOA is for, a Whistle for every occasion:)
On 2002-02-01 12:06, JohnPalmer wrote:
Hi,My vote is not for a high-end whistle, but for one that costs ten dollars–an Oak. I can get a sweet tone out of it, as well as plenty of chiff on the attack by blowing into it a certain way. I have purchased about seven of these, but only two give me what I want. These whistles will let me play a high G# (XXO XXO), a high C (OXO OOO), and high E, F#, G, and A above high C. They are also in tune! JP
I’ll second the vote for Oaks… I know some people have had bad ones (Jessie), but I’ve tried three of them and they were all very nice for cheap whistles. Not quite the same sound as Generations, but overall the best combination that I’ve found in cheap whsitles. They tend to be more in tune and a bit cleaner sounding than Generations (IME).
They have a nice 2nd octave and look pretty good too.
-Brett