Gene Milligan is a retired mechanical engineer with more than forty-five years of experience in the computer and aerospace industries, where he specialized in acoustics and vibration. Gene began building musical instruments in the early 1970s as an apprentice with the legendary NBN Guitars, and since then he has built hundreds of stringed instruments. In 2006 Gene began combining his expertises in acoustical engineering and musical instrument construction to develop the easy-playing and beautiful-sounding "tin" whistles he now builds. Gene's engineering skill has enabled him to optimize the mouthpiece airway, tube bore, and tone hole size and placement, while his high level of musical instrument craftsmanship is evident in the efficient yet beautiful combinations of exotic hardwoods and aerospace-age polymers. Gene's whistles have been enthusiastically embraced by players all over the U.S. and in many other countries