Just bought a 1970's Generation D on eBay

Tres · Post by **Tres** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:12 pm

I just received a Generation D brass, redtop whistle I bought on eBay. It was advertised as a 1970's model, and upon inspection it definitely is an older style Generation, with the visible seam down the middle and the older fipple design. So I think I got a real deal here-- only about $15, shipping from the UK included!

It plays and sounds very nice-- not much of an air requirement and a strong, loud tone throughout both registers. A littler bit of a "dirty"or "raspy" sound, but a very good sound nonetheless. Defintely superior to my ear than the newer ones.

Is it the holy grail whistle? I can't really say that, especially as I don't have alot of other old-style Generations to compare it to. Is it a good whistle. Definitely!

It also reinforces my opinion that the Oak D head is the closest in shape and sound to the good older Generations. In fact, my oak head, brass generation body "Oakenstein" D whistle completely holds its own with this Generation, and is a little rounder sounding (which I like)-- maybe due to the sticky tack tweak on the Oak. Maybe I will sticky tack the Generation and then have a real direct comparison. Hmmm.

Tres

Father Emmet · Post by **Father Emmet** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:21 pm

Nice. What kind of shape is it in? Like new, or played in and taped up Paddy Maloney style?

Tres · Post by **Tres** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 8:43 am

Father Emmet wrote:Nice. What kind of shape is it in? Like new, or played in and taped up Paddy Maloney style?

Its in "good" condition. The tip has a few gnaw marks and the brass on the barrell is pretty tarnished in some spots, but structurally it is sound and there are no dents, cracks, or any other problems. And it has that neat "old" look to it-- the vintage vibe!

Tres

emtor · Post by **emtor** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 3:14 pm

I did the same thing; bought a 70's Generation whistle on eBay with a blue fipple. Sounds great,-much better than todays Generations.
Those guys at Generation made a major mistake in "improving" the casting process of the fipples. . . . or maybe it was a deliberate move.
I'm probably paranoid, but it shouldn't surprise me that they manufacture a lot of lousy whistles and a very few good ones in order to make us chase after the few and far between gems that comes out from the production line.
Anyway, this is what's really happening isn't it? You buy loads of crappy Generations, and every once in a while you stumble across a good one which sounds way better than the rest, which makes buying Generation whistles a lot like a lottery.

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:58 pm

I bought a 70's Generation d (brand new back in the 70's). I sent it to Jerry Freeman awhile back and asked him to reproduce the sound and improve on the whistle by reducing the raspiness and strengthening the low end. He did it with a new one and now I have a perfect Generation as well as the original untouched 70's one. Pretty much cured my whoa right there.
Tony

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:37 pm

Hmmm...can Jerry reproduce that whistle on demand? (Tony's)

--James

m31 · Post by **m31** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 8:03 pm

emtor wrote:You buy loads of crappy Generations, and every once in a while you stumble across a good one which sounds way better than the rest, which makes buying Generation whistles a lot like a lottery.

That good one was probably a "defect"!

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 8:09 pm

Every tweaked D Generation is done to the specifications I worked out using Tony's vintage whistle as the benchmark. The only difference is, Tony requested I add a little more backpressure. I did this by adjusting the windway height at the entry end, which doesn't change the voicing compared to whistles I haven't adjust that way. Tony's is a bluetop/nickel plated, BTW.

There is some amount of variation from whistle to whistle, but not a lot. If anyone ever gets a whistle of mine they're not 100% happy with, no matter from where or how long ago, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure they're satisifed.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Tres · Post by **Tres** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:38 am

TonyHiggins wrote:I bought a 70's Generation d (brand new back in the 70's). I sent it to Jerry Freeman awhile back and asked him to reproduce the sound and improve on the whistle by reducing the raspiness and strengthening the low end. He did it with a new one and now I have a perfect Generation as well as the original untouched 70's one. Pretty much cured my whoa right there.
Tony

I too have a Jerry-tweaked Generation brass D I bought a few months back. It sounds very good, although it doesn't really sound like the 70's Generation. In some ways I prefer the Jerry whistle-- a little more back pressure and less apt to squawk, a little rounder in the low end, and in some ways I prefer the original 70's D-- a little stronger in the high end, a little "dirtier" sound.

I think we bearers of the 70's Gerneration D's should hold a get together and compare our whistles to see how an assorment of 70's Gen's compare to each other.

Tres

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 1:12 pm

I own ten or so in addition to having had the opportunity to examine the one Tony sent. I can tell you, there's some variation, but not as much as current Generations.

The vintage style tend to be cleaner castings than the current Generations. Judging by the sloppiness of the castings, it looks like nowadays they're pushing their injection molding tooling way past the point where it's been worn out, so the general trend is for the older ones to be higher quality.

This includes older, current design Generations too, BTW. One way this shows up is, the old "James Galway Whistle" blacktop/brushed chrome Generations tend to be consistently nicely cast. Since they haven't been made for awhile, they would have been done when the tooling was fresher. I think we decided the whistle Mary Bergin's playing in a photo that was posted awhile back might be one of those. They show up on eBay pretty often.

Best wishes,
Jerry