ANNOUNCING (CP): The Freeman Bluebird (D and Eb) ...

[Jerry Freeman]

Is it my imagination or is the Bluebird wildly popular?
I notice The Whistle Store has been out of stock for a while now.

I'm just finishing a batch for the Whistle Shop over the weekend, so Thom will have them again in the next few days. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[Chuditch]

The bluebird is very popular because it's a fantastic whistle available at a cost well below it's value IMHO.

I recieved my Bluebird yesterday and I am still blown away by it's ease of playing, tonal qualities and character. Please consider that I recieved a Burke composite session whistle recently and had been playing this most excellent whistle right up until the Bluebird arrived. Now I can't leave the Bluebird alone! It really is a whistle unto itself, meaning that any comparison to tweaked whistle is not really valid due to it's unique qualities.

Thanks Jerry!

[PhilO]

It's definitely "wildly popular" with me!

Philo

[Steve Bliven]

This thread has to have been Jerry's most successful advertising gimmick yet. Over 5,000 reads... and counting.

Best wishes.

Steve

[Pyper]

I LOVE!!!!! my D Bluebird!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really also Love my C Blackbird too.

Thanks for making my life better Jerry.

[Jerry Freeman]

I just gotta say ...

You folks are a treasure. How did I get so lucky to be in this business?

With my heartfelt thanks and best wishes,
Jerry

[maki]

Its a modest mouse that calls years of hard work and precision, 'luck'.

[mickey66]

First, i know this is an old thread BUT! Today, 8/15/2016 i received my NEW Bluebird whistle in the key of D from Jerry Freeman.! My first thoughts are this.....this whistle is NOT easy to play compared to my Blackbird and my tweaked Gens either brass or nickel. However, the whistle sounds great and sounds close to my blackbird but more like a Gen whistle. The other difficult to play whistle i have that is from Jerry Freeman was purchased three years ago . It is called a Freeman GenDog in nickel w/blue Gen head. This whistle as well as the Bluebird has a lot of back-pressure! Neither of these whistles have had the putty trick done to them! I found this to be very interesting in the fact that I'm NOW used to a whistle with no back-pressure! The blackbird is a piece of cake to play for me now and this bluebird is difficult for me as of today! Very good sounding whistle and nowhere on the label does it say Bluebird! Hmmm? This is my 11th Freeman whistle.

[Sirchronique]

First, i know this is an old thread BUT! Today, 8/15/2016 i received my NEW Bluebird whistle in the key of D from Jerry Freeman.! My first thoughts are this.....this whistle is NOT easy to play compared to my Blackbird and my tweaked Gens either brass or nickel. However, the whistle sounds great and sounds close to my blackbird but more like a Gen whistle. The other difficult to play whistle i have that is from Jerry Freeman was purchased three years ago . It is called a Freeman GenDog in nickel w/blue Gen head. This whistle as well as the Bluebird has a lot of back-pressure! Neither of these whistles have had the putty trick done to them! I found this to be very interesting in the fact that I'm NOW used to a whistle with no back-pressure! The blackbird is a piece of cake to play for me now and this bluebird is difficult for me as of today! Very good sounding whistle and nowhere on the label does it say Bluebird! Hmmm? This is my 11th Freeman whistle.

Odd. They must have changed considerably over the years since I acquired mine quite a long time ago. I can't imagine any Freeman whistle having strong backpressure, and my Bluebird is extremely easy to play, and the best of any Freeman whistle I've played in my opinion. It also has the putty.

All of his whistles are nice, but the Bluebird is the only one I really got on very well with (I've not tried the tweaked Gens, aside from the Bb, which wasn't my thing). Can't imagine one playing as you describe. Mine is a sweet whistle that takes a blow pretty similar to most other whistles of this type, though slightly less sensitive than the blackbird.

Maybe you should write to Jerry about it. Is it possible it was damaged in some way, or has something clogging it?

[mickey66]

This whistle which i believe to be a bluebird and i base this on his description of his bluebird whistle sound(label says Jerry Freeman Tweaked)but does not say bluebird on label. The blackbird is night and day difference from this new whistle that i received today. Jerry Freeman if you read this thread/post please comment on this if you would, thanks, Mickey

[Sirchronique]

This whistle which i believe to be a bluebird and i base this on his description of his bluebird whistle sound(label says Jerry Freeman Tweaked)but does not say bluebird on label. The blackbird is night and day difference from this new whistle that i received today. Jerry Freeman if you read this thread/post please comment on this if you would, thanks, Mickey

You mentioned in your post that you received it from Jerry himself, so I would assume he had indicated what it was that you had bought. If it does not say Bluebird on it, then it might be some other tweaked whistle you have on your hands. He has an email address, and an account on here that you can PM, by the way.

[mickey66]

Ebay told me the whistle had shipped is all the correspondence i received from my ebay purchase. I was told nothing from Jerry himself! I left good feedback for a bluebird whistle. This whistle sounds similar to my blackbird but is more like a tweaked gen blue-top.....but different! You may be on to something? This may not be a bluebird ?

[mickey66]

This whistle which i believe to be a bluebird and i base this on his description of his bluebird whistle sound(label says Jerry Freeman Tweaked)but does not say bluebird on label. The blackbird is night and day difference from this new whistle that i received today. Jerry Freeman if you read this thread/post please comment on this if you would, thanks, Mickey

You mentioned in your post that you received it from Jerry himself, so I would assume he had indicated what it was that you had bought. If it does not say Bluebird on it, then it might be some other tweaked whistle you have on your hands. He has an email address, and an account on here that you can PM, by the way.

I sent Jerry an email!

[mickey66]

I received a reply from Jerry Freeman about my whistle order for his "Bluebird" whistle which, I received 8/15/2016.....

Hi, William.

Does the whistle that does not say “Bluebird” have a Generation decal? If it does not have a Generation decal, but only has a “Jerry Freeman tweaked” sticker, then I accidentally put the wrong sticker on a Bluebird. If it has a Generation decal, then it isn’t a Bluebird; it’s a tweaked nickel Generation.

Yes, these whistles have more back pressure than the Blackbirds or Mellow Dogs. That is not something I can adjust without sacrificing the preferred voicing and playability. You say there’s no “putty trick.” I’ve used different materials at different times. If you purchased a tweaked Generation or Bluebird from me in the last several months, it will have a different treatment under the windway that does not fill the cavity, but creates an “curtain” at the front that is transparent to sound but which the airstream sees as a boundary. That helps maintain the brightness of the Generation sound, while at the same time, cleaning up some of the turbulence inside the mouthpiece that is responsible for much of the trouble with these whistles in untweaked form.

I hope that makes sense.

Best wishes,
Jerry

(If you like, go ahead and post my response on C&F. I rarely go there nowadays, but I would appreciate if people can see the answer to your question.) First, sad to see Jerry Freeman rarely posts or lurks here on C&F forum! Its good he gave me an explanation so.....what i have is a miss-marked "Bluebird" whistle with a lot of Back-pressure! For anyone who wants to know the the material in the back cavity looks like little blue circles. They are difficult to see but are there!

[Tyler DelGregg]

I got one of those too. There was way too much back pressure, far too much compared to the sweet and sensitive Blackbird. The Mellow Dog also takes much less air. I'm not playing it much because it is not pleasant for me. Others may get better mileage. But I really enjoy Jerry's Blackbird D, C , and the Mellow Dog. Still, this confuses me.