Does anyone have an opinion on the quality of the persimmon fife, offered by copperman, as a fife for a beginner?
Doing a search for “Persimmon Fife” revealed this and a few other mentions of it
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?p=150438#150438
Look for jim_mc’s post
Never played one myself.
I have one of their Maples and it is not too bad but then again I play Flute not Fife so I can’t really judge one that well.
Persimmon is in the ebony family. It’s sometimes called “white ebony”. And it’s a traditional wood for golf woods (before everyone started using metal).
Texas persimmon is a small tree (Texas has lots of bushes) that is a relative of common persimmon and is not commercially available. There’s a rumor about that it makes a good woodwind. Someday I’ll get some and find out for sure.
That is, just on general principles I would expect common persimmon to be better than maple, but I have no direct experience.
Very Interesting. I have a bunch of the Texas persimmon growing by my house, and hadn’t thought of making anything from it other than walking sticks. One thing for sure, it’d qualify as a renewable resource, since when you cut it down it immediately sprouts new growth all around the stump. 
One possible mark against it is that it’s a small and twisty tree. I’d think that getting flute size pieces of heartwood might be difficult, although I haven’t really tried to work it much yet.
Here’s an interesting article that describes the two species that are native to North America, along with the wood properties of the Common Persimmon:
http://www.windsorplywood.com/nam_hardwoods/com_persimmon.html
Hasn’t Pat Olwell made a flute from persimmon?
NO, wait . . . dogwood.
We certainly have that around here too.
Speaking of “p-” fruits, it’s been a while since I had a pawpaw. Mmmm, pawpaws.
Stuart
Persimmon is Ebony. I forget the technical name. Ebony is tropical slow growing (all good flute woods are very slow growing) tree. The outside is white, about half way through, and the inside is very dark. Practically all homesteads from the East Coast from FA to VA and on to TX had a small persimmon orchard. Now days if you see a persimmon orchard, look for an old homestead foundation around. Ebony is mostly used for fine furnature. The northern most reach of ebony is VA and is the slowest growing and closest grain.
Nelson