E-bay listing. Movie prop.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7603815455&fromMakeTrack=true
Looks like a maple Cooperman fife that has been stripped and has had stain applied to it. The money/time that went into the fife by the prop department is probably worth more than the fife (which would now look great in a display case)
Looks like the money is going to charity (interestingly one of the charities is in New York), even so I wonder if this is just a way for Miramax to use Ebay for cheap advertisement for their movies. I think I’ll set my pessimism aside for the day and say good for them, a fun little trinket for the movie lovers and some cash to charity.
Gangs of New York had cane fife music from the late Mississipian Otha Turner. You wouldn’t expect them to be anything remotely fancy, go down to your garden supply or hardware store, get some bamboo, burn some holes in the thing. Voila. Cheaper than PVC and “organic” as they say. No noxious fumes. You could use the online Flutomat to figure where the holes go…hmmm! Haven’t done this myself, made an elder branch whistle though.
Confirm I.D.10-t’s inclination that this is a Cooperman “tourist” fife.
The fife goes for $15 in the tourist shops, is worth less than that, and probably cost about $0.30 to make (if that). If you can get any sound out of it, I challenge you to call it music.
That said, they burned it up pretty good for the movie …
In sum: Don’t buy it.
Oh, what the hell, I can’t resist a bargain! Anyway, this is what I thought of it when I got it home:
I’ve just received my new Miramax props department GANGS OF NEW YORK - Screenused Wooden Flute flute and it’s absolutely astonishing! I don’t have nearly enough time to write a comprehensive review of the instrument, but will try to remember to do so in future. I can take some digital photos of it, but I might need a volunteer to host them. Any takers?
Here’s a quick review though.
Craftsmanship
The quality of Craftsmanship is superb, and so is the fit and finish. The Miramax props department just screams quality. It’s as though the flute just wants to be held! The distances between the holes and the hole sizes themselves were really good, and seemed to be made for my average hands. I think perhaps someone with small hands might want to consider this though. Holes were cut round, and straight. Only problem was that when I covered all seven finger holes (as described in eBay advert) there was no hole left to blow into.
Playability
The Miramax props department plays loud, gritty, hollow, focused , whistly wailing – just what I’d wanted! . Super easy to fill the flute - it plays, in this respect, very like some of the high end flutes I’ve tried. It takes very little air, and is free blowing. I can tell it’s capable of more than I can give it, so I look forward to earning this thing’s respect!
It is in tune with itself, as far as my ears can tell. By varying my embouchure, I can sharpen or flatten the tone by as much as 50 cents each way. It’s very well balanced across all 4 octaves.
I am most impressed with its responsiveness! This flute is like a Bondi tram, classy, sexy, all-out speed with beauty and power. It will cruise comfortably, hugging the curves, but when you put the throttle down, she’ll take off like a rocket! Even though I’ve only been playing for 1 week and I’m not so good on the ornaments yet, I can tell this flute will always be able to play faster than I’m capable of!
I would say that in a session this Miramax props department would cut through the tunes very well indeed. A real session powerhouse!
Tone
As I said, the Miramax props department plays loud, gritty, hollow, focused , whistly wailing, but you can vary the flute’s tone through to stubbly, flesh-toned, eloquent just by adjusting your embouchure! Vary the strength of your blow, and even with a real relaxed set of lips, you can get anything from a very focused tone to an airy unfocused tone, and it can be both loud and reedy or quiet and round.
Thank you Miramax props department, I love this flute! Oh, and did I mention that the Hard Low D is really howling and buzzing!
