New Yamaha Fife Thread

[Doug_Tipple]

I had to see what you guys were talking about, so I ordered one of the Yamaha fifes from Amazon, and the fife was mailed from Musician's Friend. The fife arrived today, and I just finished playing a few tunes on it. As has been said, the fingering is confusing since I am used to playing a six-holed flute. However, that is easy to remedy with a small piece of masking tape over the first hole and the thumb hole. Then you finger the remaining six holes as you would a standard Irish flute or whistle. The last hole is offset quite a bit for me, so I need to rotate the flute body away from me if I want to use the Irish grip with my right hand.

I'm pretty impressed with the design of the fife. The tenon joint is not a simple tenon joint. It is a more complex joint with four surfaces that slide smoothly together against an O-ring to make a good seal and still allow for some tuning. This seems to be a superior joint both in terms of strength and acoustics. There are marks on the underneath side of the fife to help you return to your preferred rotation of the headjoint.

The embouchure hole is a rounded rectangle with straight back and side walls. I don't find any difficulty with the raised areas on both sides of the embouchure hole. I think that this would help beginners better position their bottom lip for a good embouchure. I notice that the stopper is set very close to the embouchure hole. The stopper itself does not have a flat surface but instead has a deeply embossed letter "N" or "Z" depending on your point of view. However, without a doubt you will not get any Z's while playing this fife. I do wonder how the irregular surface of the stopper affects the tone and playability of the flute.

The intonation of the fife seems quite good to me, and even the last notes of the second octave are really not that shrill, IMHO. I am not a military fife player, so I didn't try to push the fife into the third octave. All things considered, I am impressed with the Yamaha fife, and for $8.99 + shipping, it is a great bargain.

[plunk111]

Doug:

NOW you have to try the Aulos, too!

I still love my Tipple 8-hole, BTW!

Pat

[Sillydill]

Hey Doug,

GOOD ONE! By covering the the thumb-hole and first hole with tape - the fife plays as a simple system fife in C! Nice mental flexability on your part. I hadn't thought of it.

Here's a picture of my modified fife (left) next to a stock (right):



I have Scotch Tape over the holes on the stock fife, but it didn't show up very well.

I purchased a 2nd fife so I could try moving the F# hole up higher.

[jayb]

Anyone tried a Linley? Any thoughts?

Thanks for the dandy fife information in this thread!

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-FLUTE-FIFE-2-PI ... dZViewItem

[I.D.10-t]

I purchased a 2nd fife so I could try moving the F# hole up
higher.

I wonder if you could "Bondo" over the old holes, rotate the body 90° and
have another shot at making holes if the first attempt doesn't turn out.

[Sillydill]

Hey I.D.10-t,

That would make it a real "Swiss Pipe"!

In the days of old when the signal fife was in it's infancy it was often referred to as a SWISS PIPE!

The following is from Wikipedia:

The fife is loud and piercing, yet also extremely small and portable. By some reports a military fife can be heard up to 3 miles away over artillery fire. These qualities made it useful for signaling on the battlefield by European armies beginning in the Renaissance period (See also Early modern warfare). Armies from Switzerland and southern Germany are known to have used the fife (Soldatenpfeife) as early as the 1400s. Swiss and German mercenaries were hired by monarchs throughout Western Europe, and they spread the practice of military fifing. By the 1500s, the fife was a standard instrument in European infantries.

I'll be searching for an appropriate filler for the existing F and C# holes when I next make a run to the hardware store.

All the Best!

[mutepointe]

I purchased a 2nd fife so I could try moving the F# hole up
higher.

I wonder if you could "Bondo" over the old holes, rotate the body 90° and
have another shot at making holes if the first attempt doesn't turn out.

Why not just make 4 sets of holes, all in different keys, plug up the holes that you're not using with rubber stoppers or something and have a really good time?

[Doug_Tipple]

Jordan, why did you make that monster finger hole?

In reply to one question about drilling holes around the flute, you need to try the new and improved "Bondo", which has been especially formulated for flute repair. Actually, in designing prototype flutes I have sometimes drilled holes all around the flute, plugging up old holes and trying new ones of a different size or position. You can do a lot of experimenting with one flute body.

Judging from the photos alone, the Linley fife in C appears to be very similar in design to the Yamaha fife, in fact, the fifes appear to be identical. However, at $14 the Linley fife seems a little pricey, as the Yamaha can be purchased for $9 + shipping. I have aksed the seller a question about the shipping expense to the USA for the Linley fife. He replied that the cost of the fife in USD is $13.73 + 8.50 airmail with no handling fees = $22.23 USD.

[Sillydill]

Hey Doug!

Would you believe the F# is still a skoush flat!

When I started opening up the F hole I thought 5/16" would certainly suffice. But it went to 7/16”. Which is nearly the bore diameter at that location.


The Linley appears to be a direct copy of the Yamaha (7-holes visable from the top). Kind of like all those Faux Tipples out there.

[Cork]

...As has been said, the fingering is confusing since I am used to playing a six-holed flute...

As per another thread, the original purpose of the Yamaha was/is as junior "training wheels" for the Boehm flute, hence the fingering. It's a near match.

[Doug_Tipple]

Hey Doug!

Would you believe the F# is still a skoush flat!

When I started opening up the F hole I thought 5/16" would certainly suffice. But it went to 7/16”. Which is nearly the bore diameter at that location.


The Linley appears to be a direct copy of the Yamaha (7-holes visable from the top). Kind of like all those Faux Tipples out there.

Yes, I agree that the Linley appears to be identical to the Yamaha fife. At first I missed the seven holes because of the dark color of the Linley fife. Seeing my mistake, I thought that I had revised my post, but evidently my first revision didn't take. Thanks for the correction. With regard to the Faux Tipples out there, I do have a fair number of seven hole flutes that I have made. Flautists who are used to playing Boehm-style flutes often ask for the C natural thumb hole equivalent on their flutes.

[Doug_Tipple]

...As has been said, the fingering is confusing since I am used to playing a six-holed flute...

As per another thread, the original purpose of the Yamaha was/is as junior "training wheels" for the Boehm flute, hence the fingering. It's a near match.

Yes, I suppose you are right, Cork, but the little C fife requires a developed embouchure to play the notes in the second octave. It may be designed to be "training wheels" for the larger Boehm concert flute, but those are definately difficult training wheels, the kind that might make the tots think again about playing the flute. Personally, I don't think that starting a kid out on a high C fife is a good idea. I gave my 7 year-old granddaughter a penny whistle, a much better choice, in my opinion.

[Sillydill]

Hey Doug,

I didn't mean 7-hole copies of your flute. Sorry I guess I wasn't clear.

I was just alluding to something like: "Imitation may be the best form of flattery!"

Have you considered a Maker's Mark?

[Cork]

Doug,

About the Yamaha, http://www.saundersrecorders.com/fifes.htm , and about teaching on the Yamaha, http://www.fullpitcher.co.uk/Dean.htm .

[Doug_Tipple]

Doug,

About the Yamaha, http://www.saundersrecorders.com/fifes.htm , and about teaching on the Yamaha, http://www.fullpitcher.co.uk/Dean.htm .

Thanks, Cork, for the links to the articles about the Yamaha fife. I see that I need to revise my less than professional opinion stated above. The writers believe that the Yamaha fife is good beginning instrument for children, also mentioning that professional instruction is desirable.

With potential 8-hole fife players in mind, I am taking the liberty of inserting a copy of the Yamaha Fife fingering chart that was included with the fife. You can compare it to the charts for 6-hole flutes (see my website) or to fingering charts for the Boehm-style flute.