I mostly play the pipes - sad, really - but have a bucket full of whistles, Clarkes, Generations, Lynch, Sweet, Oak, Shaw. They mostly gather dust, and when I want to toot I play one of these:
Mine doesn’t have the carrying case, or the bandaid in the middle, of course. Cocobolo, with brass ferrules. The inscription for this photo says “Flute & case carried by John A. Logan during the Mexican War, manufactured by William Hall & Son, 239 Broadway, New York, 1847-1848.” Actually the stamp on mine says “N York,” and also has a “B” stamped above the makers’ name. The mouthpiece has a round metal fipple to direct the air against the blowhole, a flautist’s training wheels, kind of; it’s as easy to play as any whistle. It plays a bit flat of modern B. Mine has a beautiful, soft tone; like a flat pipes chanter. Even the Clarkes are an earful in comparision. It doesn’t quite work perfectly, but I think this is an idea more makers should look into. I’ve seen a crude modern replica of these fifes, brass tube and simple drilled holes. Mine had some more work put into it than that. http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/Hall.htm has some great info on the Halls’s flutemaking. If you find one of these babies snap it up!
The metal thing around the embouchure hole is called a cheater, by the way. When musicians were getting rushed through training in order to get them off to the war, the cheaters were used as a shortcut to learning a proper embouchure. Contemporary ancient fifers frown upon their use.
Kevin - does your fife have tapered ferrules (the metal ends), or are they straight?
Tapered brass ferrules, with very visable seams, and held in place on either side with crimping in the ferrules, little sinkholes in the metal, kind of. The wood is incredibly thin at the end, too, but hasn’t split. I wrapped teflon tape around the cheater so I don’t have to suck on pewter all day. A fellow came over the other day, I showed him the fife, which he then proceeded to play. I offered him some mouthwash when he was done!
Kevin, it sounds like you’ve got a genuine pre-Civil War artifact there. Take good care of it.
Hall later joined up with Firth, who then merged with Pond. Firth and Pond were Union army suppliers of fifes during the Civil War. They were also music publishers. The name came up here a couple of days ago, since Firth was Stephen Forster’s publisher.
There’s a guy named Ron Peeler, up in Connecticut, who makes very nice, excruciatingly accurate replicas of the Firth, Pond Civil War era fife. Check out his site:
Really intriguing…