OT (kinda): Is it possible to buy a decent cheapo fife?

[Redwolf]

My hubby’s been having fun playing around with a souvenir fife I picked up in Williamsburg years ago. He’s actually getting to where he can play a couple of tunes on it, despite the fact that, as you might expect, it’s totally out of tune with itself, and probably much harder to blow than it needs to be (you know these souvenir instruments…they’re more toys than anything else). Do any of the relatively inexpensive whistle makers out there make playable fifes? I think he might really enjoy playing one, but I can’t afford to shell out much more than I would pay for a solid, midrange whistle.

Redwolf

[rbm]

yamaha make a cheap fife that plays ok, but looks truely terrible in yellowy cream plastic - errm nice.

Richard.

[Zubivka]

I think Alba may have something for you.
info@albawhistles.com

[skh]

@rbm

yamaha make a cheap fife that plays ok, but looks truely terrible in yellowy cream plastic - errm nice.

That’s not a fife, that’s a torture instrument, it does not play ok (at least mine doesn’t), and it has 8-hole recorder-like fingering, probably not what you want. I wouldn’t even give them away as a toy.

What about http://www.beafifer.com/eleven.htm? Any fifers with an opinion present?

Sonja

[Tak_the_whistler]

I thought of beginning a fife as well, and I asked the same question in the Flute seit and got the recommendations for

“Cooperman”

Sells the student model for 30, I think…

One in the SongSea costs only $16! Is it…um…safe!?
The picture there looks playable to me, though.

[Flyingcursor]

www.beafifer.com.

According to madfifer9 the seven dollar or so Cooperman plastic fife is a very good fife and highly recommended for beginners. I haven’t gotten one yet but am also considering.

[rbm]

@skh

That’s not a fife, that’s a torture instrument, it does not play ok (at least mine doesn’t), and it has 8-hole recorder-like fingering, probably not what you want. I wouldn’t even give them away as a toy.

Sonja

errm mines only got 7 holes (six front one back!) but also it did come via Russia so may be it’s a fake

Richard.

[skh]

@rbm

errm mines only got 7 holes (six front one back!) but also it did come via Russia so may be it’s a fake.

Well, if the fake plays better than the real thing, enjoy

Sonja

[madfifer9]

Thanks, G4M… yup, the plastic Cooperman is a Fifer Best Buy for about nine bucks. It is relatively in tune with itself and can even play in tune with other more expensive fifes. It is also virtually indestructible. It looks like a piece of plumbing, but hey, if we can have good plumbing flutes and whistles, why not fifes too?

I started with a plastic Cooperman til I knew I wanted to commit to fifing and reenacting. Then I bought a $90 Model F (beafifer.com), which I adore. Cooperman also makes nice moderately priced wooden fifes at, I think, around $60.

The Yamaha plastic fife is a mutant. I have no idea what they based it on. It’s in the key of C, the fingerings are weird, and it doesn’t play well with others. ANY others.

My attendance has been sporadic for a while, I’m in the process of moving to a new abode. If anyone specifically wants to get in touch with me, please PM. Thanks!!

madfifer9

[Blackbeer]

Didoe on the beafifer plastic fife. Mine was 7 or 8 bucks. I have had a Cooperman for a long time and couldn`t get a thing out of it. Ordered the plastic one and first try was playing whistle tunes. Now I can even play the cooperman. There are even fife lessons on that site and I think it is a must visit for anyone wanting to play the fife. Just as an aside I also have a Bb bamboo flute from Sunreed that is just a blast to play and smells good to boot.


Tom

[Redwolf]

I ran across the Yamaha one at, I think, Lark in the Morning, and they actually state in the ad that it is really a “transverse-blown recorder.” Kinda makes me wonder why anyone would WANT a transverse-blown recorder, when fippled ones are readily available and much easier to learn to play, but to each his own, I guess.

The only problem with the one at beafifer.com is they don’t appear to take credit cards (my husband the programmer prefers not to use Pay Pal for various security reasons). I wonder if the same instrument is available elsewhere, or is it a proprietary thing? Or perhaps someone here has one they’d like to sell?

I don’t know what brand the one we have is. We got it in a gift shop in Williamsburg, which should tell me something right there , but the packaging has long since been lost. It’s black plastic with what appears to be brass on the ends, and it is possible to get a sound out of it, but it’s very out of tune with itself in the second octave, and it takes tons of blow, even when you have the emboucher just right. The block inside also slides around quite a bit…you always have to fiddle with it before you try to play it.

Has anyone tried one of those maple Cooperman fifes? That price looks a little too good to be true, but maybe…

Redwolf

[DCrom]

@Redwolf

I ran across the Yamaha one at, I think, Lark in the Morning, and they actually state in the ad that it is really a “transverse-blown recorder.” Kinda makes me wonder why anyone would WANT a transverse-blown recorder, when fippled ones are readily available and much easier to learn to play, but to each his own, I guess.

I have one of these, and that’s a pretty fair description. Hard to get a good note on, and recorder fingerings - it put me off flute or fife for years because it’s such a bear.

@Redwolf

The only problem with the one at beafifer.com is they don’t appear to take credit cards (my husband the programmer prefers not to use Pay Pal for various security reasons). I wonder if the same instrument is available elsewhere, or is it a proprietary thing? Or perhaps someone here has one they’d like to sell?

Are you sure? I bought one of these online with a credit card - I think from “beafifer.com”, though possibly from Cooperman itself.

@Redwolf

I don’t know what brand the one we have is. We got it in a gift shop in Williamsburg, which should tell me something right there , but the packaging has long since been lost. It’s black plastic with what appears to be brass on the ends, and it is possible to get a sound out of it, but it’s very out of tune with itself in the second octave, and it takes tons of blow, even when you have the emboucher just right. The block inside also slides around quite a bit…you always have to fiddle with it before you try to play it.

Has anyone tried one of those maple Cooperman fifes? That price looks a little too good to be true, but maybe…

Redwolf

The plastic Cooperman looks much like that, but in mine the block doesn’t move, and it’s pretty well in tune.

I’ll admit that I cheat - about half the time I play it like a little Irish flute (1st/2nd octave, not 2nd/3rd) - though the 1st octave isn’t quite perfect, it still sounds pretty good (and doesn’t kill my ears. )

WARNING: if you plan to play the fife indoors, earplugs are a necessity, even more so than 3rd octave on a Susato! Really.

But plumbing or not, I like my plastic Cooperman - fairly easy to play, and sounds surprisingly nice. And I can leave it under the seat of my car without worrying (and it would probably come in handy in a barrom brawl - wait, that’s a different thread )

[Thomas-Hastay]

I love my Ralf Sweet fruitwood fife in “D” These are good quality,inexpensive keyless fifes. If you want perfection, then I suggest a simple system wooden piccolo.

Ralf Sweet Homepage
http://www.sweetheartflute.com/index.html

[syn_whistles]

I actually began my musical career in a fife and drum band in primary school, and my first musical instrument making was copying the fife I used back then. look where that has led me!
I would really recommend making fifes as an introductionary exercise to instrument making because it is so easy! Pipe or tubing is easy to get hold of and all you have to do is drill seven holes in more or less the right spots. Those calculations are easy too, why not give it a try, playing an instrument you have made yourself adds a whole new dimension to musical enjoyment.
By the way, I have never really been satisfactorily appraised of what a fife actually is, where it fits in the flute/ fife/piccolo continuum. Does anybody have a proper definition?

[trisha]

@skh

@rbm

yamaha make a cheap fife that plays ok, but looks truely terrible in yellowy cream plastic - errm nice.

That’s not a fife, that’s a torture instrument, it does not play ok (at least mine doesn’t), and it has 8-hole recorder-like fingering, probably not what you want. I wouldn’t even give them away as a toy.

What about http://www.beafifer.com/eleven.htm? Any fifers with an opinion present?

Sonja

You’re right, my 13yo daughter has a dark brown one which is virtually unblowable.

Trisha

[jim_stone]

Second the suggestion of Sweetheart fifes.
You can buy em at the website (search Sweetheart flutes).

[Redwolf]

Hmmm…looking at the Ralph Sweet site, I’m attracted by that Renaissance fife in D. He could learn on something like that and, if he really enjoys it, perhaps pick up one of the beautiful fruitwood or rosewood D fifes or piccolos.

He’s more interested in playing along with me than in playing military fife music, so something pitched in D or C would be more useful for him to have than the traditional Bb. He’s enjoying the challenge of learning a transverse instrument, which is why I wonder if he wouldn’t ultimately really like that pretty wooden piccolo.

Redwolf

[selkie]

I think what we call the marching flute is the same as a fife. We started on the plastic ones and they were terrible. I now have a Miller Brown 6 key tuneable Bflat marching flute which starts on a D and we use fife and drum music with the Boys Brigade Band. They come from Barnes and Mullins UK and the tuneable costs around £90.00

[jim_mc]

Okay, step aside, people, the fife police have arrived.

The black plastic fife (which you should be able to get for $6) sold at Williamsburg, Fort Ticonderoga, and 1000 other historic places is the same black plastic fife being sold at beafifer.com and by Cooperman. They are made by Cooperman.

I know Ed Boyle (of beafifer) and Patsy Ellis (of Cooperman) personally. Ed makes no secret of the fact that he gets his plastic fifes from Patsy. Patsy makes no secret of the fact that she sells Cooperman products at museum gift shops all over the country.

In my opinion, after 30 years of playing all kinds of fifes and teaching all kinds of fifers, the $6 black plastic Cooperman is the only fife a beginner should be using. I have known Ed Boyle to send people back into the gift shop at Independence Hall in Philadelphia to exchange a maple Cooperman they purchased for the plastic one. Maple and persimmon are lousy woods for fifes. The bore of these fifes will never be smooth enough to easily create a consistent, pleasant sound. The maple and persimmon fifes are good for nothing other than a wall decoration.

Once you’ve mastered the basics of fifing and want to have a fife with better intonation or with a more accurate historical appearance, you will have to spend at least $80 for something any better than the plastic Cooperman. In this price range, it gets hard to go wrong. For a historically correct looking fife, the Model F, the Sweetheart Cloos replica, the Peeler and the Forsell Ferrary replica are all very nice fifes. For a truly historically correct reproduction, the Peeler Firth and Pond replica is genius. For power and proper intonation (sacrificing historical correctness) the McDonagh, but not one made by Larry Trout, is your best bet. It will be hard to get one at the moment, though, because the current maker has stopped production. For ease of playing and proper intonation, I recommend Skip Healy’s fifes, but now you’ll be getting close to $200 (and higher).

I have a web page going up (by Thanksgiving) called oldwind.com, which will detail the differences between these fifes, and give some history of all the modern fife makers, along with other semi-coherent ramblings of mine, as I’m sure most of you are used to. I’ll post the link when the work gets done.

One other thing. Ed Boyle also sells a fife tutor, CD rom and book, on the beafifer website. If you’re serious about learning fife and don’t have a local teacher, this is a great tool. Ed has taught hundreds of people to play the fife, and has obviously learned a bit about it along the way.

[jim_mc]

What a wonderful coincidence! I got home this morning (I work at night) and there was a new fife waiting for me!

It’s a Model F in cocobola, with short brass ferrules. Someone ordered it custom made, and then realized it was a mistake when they got it and it didn’t match the fifes the rest of their unit was playing. The maker told me about it (at the Westbrook muster) and I impulsively said I would take it.

It’s one of the most lovely pieces of wood I’ve ever seen - deep red with black and paler red streaks through it. It looks like flames through the underside of it. I’ll try to get some pictures up sometime soon.

I gave it a quick play and it sounds very, very nice, especially in the 2nd octave. It’s also really easy to play. But now I have to get to bed. The tin whistle masters class starts tonight!