What is this? Since when did the manufacturer of Generation whistles start making custom made whistles for the Chieftains???
This one really made me suspicious . . .
take a look here
But why, James Galway did it, Feadog did it for the Corrs, Hardy does it for Lunasa. Why wouldn’t someone punch ‘Chieftains’ into a line of whistles so the lads make a bit extra on tour? At £6.99 the price isn’t extraordinary so as a scam it’s not really worth the effort is it?
The only part that seems suspicious to me is the “Promo Only”… if it’s ‘for promotional purposes only’, does that mean it isn’t playable? 
What I’m suspicious of is that it’s just promotional and not improved quality of any kind. It’s like selling a donkey with a “horse”-sticker on it for twice the regular price.
I used to have a James Galway whistle. It had a black fipple and an aluminum tube, IIRC.
Does anyone know what make it really was?
Why would it be improved? It’s just an ordinary whistle with ‘Chieftains’ punched into it. It doesn’t seem to pretend to be anything else. Aren’t you creating a problem out of nothing?
The only problem I have with it is the price for the sticker. A Gen usually sells for under 3 pounds, this one sells for nearly 7. That makes the Chieftain sticker cost more than 3 pounds. Other than that there’s no problem.
It’s quite the same thing with the Corrs whistle made by Feadog (Nickel with black mouthpiece). The only different is the sticker label. The whistle head and body are the same as with a regular nickel Feadog. The quality is still the same since i can’t think of any reason why they should improve the quality when they’re just trying to sell more of it using the Corrs’ logo. And yeah, it’s pricey too, I bought mine for £10.00 each and I’m glad i did what i did 'coz they’re no longer available on the internet. And ‘bout the sticker (label) again, I’d prefer the Corrs’ name on it actually than the Feadog logo even if it cost a little bit more.
Then people will either decide it’s worth the extra three pounds, or they won’t. No problem. 
Tom
Merchandise sold at concerts etc for promotional purposes will always cost more. That’s stuff fans thrive on and are happy to pay for. Groups like the Chieftains being mainly dependent on tours for their income (see recent Paddy Moloney interview in Irish Times), merchandise like this butters the bread for them. And you’re free to take or leave it.
Of course, it would be easy enough to dig up the back-story of items like this if Generation were a normal company with a public presence, and not a shadowy cabal guarding a level of secrecy rivaling that of the Knights Templar and the Illuminati.
Does anyone know how to contact Generation Whistles nowadays? Address, phone, e-mail, anything? Are they in Oswestry with Barnes & Mullins, and/or has the whistle manufacture been spun off as a separate unit? Whatever happened to the rumor that a Generation “Mark 2” design was forthcoming?
Ah, you missed this thread.
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=29711
The ebay listing it mentions is gone, but it was for an unmodified Sweetone
Celtic whistle (dark green with a gold trinity knot stamped on), which had
supposedly been used as a prop on the sci-fi show Andromeda.
The bid at the time was over $100.
Agreed. Actually, there’s also no evidence that the quality was not improved. Perhaps this thing plays better than a $300 … um, never mind.
I’d certainly be leery of any auction which claimed that a whistle was signed and played by Paddy himself and the price was accordingly steep. Heaps and heaps of bogus autographs on eBay.
Why would it be improved?
Perhaps because it costs twice as much as a regular Gen?
Excellent point. I gave up on trying to contact Generation years ago. I tried steadily and finally got an email from someone saying they’d get right back to me. Never heard from them again.
Anybody can ask any price on e-bay can’t they?
We used to have a regular here who had a business selling whistles at twice the price you’d get them in most other places. People loved it, especially for the free pouch he threw in.
It’s a funny old world innit?
It’s a funny old world innit?
Absolutely,-and this one may seem hard to believe, but there are people here making jewellery from elk’s droppings for German tourist.
They actually make a lot of money doing it. Perhaps that would be something for eBay? 
Priceing is one thing, what people are willing to pay sets the value.
I’d like to note, however, that re-branding any kind of product is an expensive exercise. I’m sure the manufacturer will ensure those costs get recovered via the recommended market resale. If it looked like the activity would make a loss it would not have happened. If there was no demand for the exercise then it would also not have happened.
With a product that costs less than a coffee and a sandwich, it hardly matters. Does it? I guess it depends on how hungry you are at the time