Cooperman plastic fife review?

[I.D.10-t]

Well I did something that some would say is stupid, I bought one of those Cooperman plastic fifes. Now before you laugh here are my reasons.

1) I am one of those people that needs a security blanket instrument with me at all times. (not that I play well enough to warrant such an obsession)
2) I ordered it before tipple started playing with the idea of making them.
3) If I played in front of one of my nephews, nieces, etc. and they showed an interest I was wondering if their was an in expensive starter that they could be given.
4) I wanted a fife I could take on flights/camping without worry about having inspectors refusing to let me on board, losing it, water damage, etc.

I ordered it from Fifeanddrum.com. about two to three months ago. Shipping and handling is (if I remember correctly) a flat $7.00. Almost the price of the fife itself , but I was ordering other things from them and decided that this would be the only chance I got. It arrived today. I received E-mail updates that my product was out of stock and that they were moving locations at the time. Not preferable, but understandable, and probably not usual.

The black plastic fife is shiny, and has brass end caps that had green water spots on them. My last travel fife (an all brass Mel bay that my wife refused to let me bring onto a plane because it looked too much like a pipe bomb) was covered with a finger nail polish type of stuff that kept it bright at the time of sale. But hey, this is going to be my “Beater” fife. So I ripped it out of the plastic bag and blew a few notes….

It whined, it sounded breathy, it could barely play 1 ½ octaves and I looked at the postage and wondered if it was even worth the postage! then I looked at the embouchure. The drilling process left a burr so I took out my pocketknife and smoothed out the rough parts (Something I would never do to a Healy, Sweet, or a Peeler!). All the sudden I could hit 2+ octaves. Then I looked at the fingering chart that came with the fife and found that I had been using a different fingering.

From there I found that it was an okay player (probably still better than me, sadly) and in tune to my ear. It has a round embouchure and therefore (in my humble opinion) allows less slop on where you blow than the Mel bay or a Healy’s rectangular embouchure (did I just put those two names in the same sentence?). It is a slightly wider bore than a Peeler “Firth and Pond” styled fife and so, for me, the low “D” (Bb) was easier to hit.

For an El Chepo, I would rank it higher than the Cooperman’s walnut tourist fife because that fife was designed to look real (although the one I saw had varnish drips that looked like a very bad paint job) but did not play any where in tune. I do not think that I was ripped off and I would not mind giving it to some one as a “starter” fife. I would get rid of the brass and just leave the whole thing black (Why worry about looks?) but that is just me.

My goodness am I long winded.

[Matt_Paris]

I also bought an inexpensive plastic fife from another american company... It looks really like yours. I also had to finish it myself, but now it plays, well, decently.

I just needed a fife for one old Napoleon army song I played with a band... I Didn't need a fantastic instrument.

[fyffer]

The fife you are talking about is the one we give to our recruits just for that purpose -- as a starter. As we require our fifers to play Healy's, the $5 plastic jobbie is just the thing to whet their whistle.
AFA how it plays, let's just say it's "good enough". I can get it to play the full 2 3/4 octaves (low D to high B), but the low register is horribly out of tune with itself, so it's not worth it. The upper ones are again "good enough" for what it is, but I'll agree it's painful to listen to - very fuzzy and shrill. If you're looking for a "travel fife", I guess this one's OK, though I travel with my Healy - why not? And I agree about the assessment of the Cooperman maple fife. My sis-in-law thought she was being generous, and brought me back one of these "beauties" from a trip to Williamsburg, VA. She was very disappointed to hear me try to play this beast, and didn't take my assessment very nicely, but that's another issue ...

[I.D.10-t]

If you're looking for a "travel fife", I guess this one's OK, though I travel with my Healy - why not?

Last time through costumes the security was looking over my fife rather intently. This made me nervous and this of being nervous raises suspicion etc…

I do not play for my livelihood and so when I travel having an instrument is not of primary importance. (Now if I was traveling to Williamsberg… …I would bring my Peeler)

When camping every thing get’s wet and stays that way. I know historically these things were out in the rain, but I would rather worry about it.

I had one of the Yamaha Plastic fifes and could never get the thing to sound right (not just because of the recorder fingerings), I was surprised that this one seemed to play easier than the Yamaha , the Wooden Cheap Cooperman or the old brass MelBay fife.

The worst Cheep fife that I have seen was something called “The American Fife” It was brass with nickel plate. The embrochure was cut poorly and the holes looked stamped out. The stamping was so poor it had a lip that went down into the tube. In the key of C this fife would be perfect way for a parent to make sure that they never would hear their child play the fife. The only thing I can say about trying to get a note out of it is that always sounded like it had cotton balls stuffed in the end.

Someday I hope to find someone who has played one of these, but for the price it is getting into the realm of what a good fife would cost.

http://www.hamilton-musical-repairs.com ... ad089e1c45

One reason I wanted to write something up on this fife is because of the number of times that I had seen it mentioned as a starter fife.

Someday when my playing is better, and I know what I am talking about, I will review a real fife.

[Jack]

Cooperman's fifes are much better than thier whistles.