Vintage (1980s) Generation Irish tin whistles vs Modern whistles

What a lovely stash of whistles from the last century. If you've got some time to kill, have a look at the Irish Flute Store's website, that's where I got these.
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[@alfredbackhus6110]

I am currently in the process of sorting out which kind of Whistle I want to play. If I could only play Bb Whistles that would be easy since I find the Generation Bb Whistles to be the best ones I ever played. Yet the modern Generation D Whistles are unplayable. I like the Clarke sweetone, it is very reliable and I would give it a 9/10 concerning tuning, but only a 7/10 for sound (too breathy on the low notes) and a 5.5/10 for loudness. I do need loudness because I am playing with a drum set and mices do not love timid Whistles. On the other side, I want a birdlike sweet tone like the old generations or tweaked Generations or phps. Humphrey Whistles.

[@matthewwarnell5404]

I just started playing about a week ago. As most beginners, I knew nothing about tin whistles other than I like how they sound and I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia (basically the Boston of Canada) so lots of celtic music everywhere. So I picked up a random Clarke just based on the aesthetic. I kind of wish I would have researched a bit first as I'm noticing a lot of the negatives you've mentioned about Clarke's in other videos. Anyway was wondering what your thoughts on the DX005 would be for someone who wants a quality tunable whistle, but also has a wife who doesn't exactly love the idea of spending $100+ on something that is going to annoy the crap out of her for the next few months haha😅. Or should I just go with a Generation and hope it's a good one?

[@CaoimhinOhUrdail]

I have a silly amount of whistles at home, some far too expensive than what I deserve. But the one I play the most by far is a beaten up auld Bb Generation that my brother played when we were kids back in the 80s. I havent tried the newer ones so can't compare mind you, but I love this one. Great video 👍

[@wgandy9541]

I agree with your assessment completely on the old vintage Generation whistles. I have Eb, D, C and Bb vintage Generation whistles and I've yet to come across a new production Generation that has the same feel of control in the second octave or has the same less gritty sound. Thanks for confirming the conclusions I had come to a couple of years ago.

[@Μαχνοβίτης]

Nice whistle comparison. The vintage Generation whistles definitely sound better than the new ones. They can even meet the standards of today's high end whistles in some cases.

[@Reeldin58]

I have quite a few vintage Generation whistles. I started searching for them online after discovering Jerry Freeman tweaked whistles and decided to see if I could find the real thing. After the first one arrived I loved it and carried on searching and now have about a dozen of them. The vintage ones I think do vary a bit just as the modern ones do but if you get a really good one you have a whistle that will stand up against anything. If you think about it, when you see old footage of bands like "The Dubliners" from the 60s and 70s it was always a Generation whistle and they sounded great. There must have been something good about them. I know there wasn't a lot of choice back then, but you never seem to see an old Clarke Original when you check out the old footage.

[@gustavf.6067]

Everything aside, your soundtrack here was just marvelous ❤

[@whistletutor]

I'm an 80s kid at heart :)

[@MichaelLevine-n6y]

When were Generations first produced?

[@MalaksMessage]

I’ve seen this as a big debate on Facebook groups and other online spaces so I’m glad to see this covered