Miller Browne/Miller Wickes 6 key piccolos?

[accordionstu]

Accordionstu, can I ask where'd you get that whistle head for your flute? interesting... Is it for a Bb or F?

It was made by McManus Whistles, not very well known but those who have them, know him. It was made specially for the Bb Miller Wicks flute.

[accordionstu]

My Grandfather was a fifer in a fife and drum corp in the NE of the USA as a youth in the 1880's, playing I
suspect, a straight bore fife. He played Civil War standards (US Civil War!) and Revolutionary
Standards. Tunes like 'Hell on the Wabash', 'Yankee Doodle','Marching through Georgia', 'Eating Goober Peas', 'The Girl I left
Behind me', etc. I never heard him play, since he had lost the teeth by the time I was born, although I got several of his
flutes. My own tunes are more Irish dance tunes, jigs and reels, and session oriented.

Bob

Cheers Bob, I love the fife, My grandfather too was in a Corps of Drums and took his fife with him to the Somme in 1916 and thankfully they both made it back again. There is a flute player called Gary Hastings, also a Church of Ireland minister who plays Jigs and reels on a D flute and Fife, He used to do talks on the links with fife tunes and jigs, reels and hornpipes. there's even a few vids of him on Youtube playing with Matt Molloy. It's his fault that I'm showing more interested in Trad Irish music.

[CrimsonTone]

Both MWL & MBL Piccs can be found from time to time on ebay my friend .

Miller Brown - suffering a lot of cheap copy work in recent years, mainly from Pakistan , its all stamped MB London but you can tell by the thin wall on the body, original is thicker , 'Real Miller Brown' are made today by a company called Barnes n Mullan & mainly if not entirely produce Bb delrin or bakalite versions of the Original Blackwood version, not the greatest for pitch or tone but certainly good for people starting out or a new corp of drum styled band , new they would ave maybe £120 - £150 for basic 2 piece HP 5 key .

Miller Wick NI is a new company 6 - 7 years maybe, as stu rightly said they bought all their kit and rights from John Miller of Miller Wicks London who once worked out of Walthamstow in London, both Johns (Wicks & Miller) were time served instrument makers in London and both retired around 2003 (old age) they produced some great instruments in Bb , F natural and Eb Piccolo in their early years but admited themselves that much of their later stuff was rushed out the door (prob because for financial reasons) watching MW Northern Ireland (as they market themselves) progress their Bb is certainly getting better although i do hear a lot of nit picking in their product as their instrument ages, quality in their blackwood id say maybe making similar error here as the 2 johns, some of the top makers in the world are buying wood seasoned for years and years before they even touch it and this is where a lot of todays makers let themselves down, 'cash is king' as they say and to many its a matter of getting wood in and out the door as quick as they can, everyone has bills and mouths to feed i suppose !!

In that market getting a set of 'good' Hawkes & Son for say 16 fluters is a hard thing to do (but can be done) and of course some of these bands are very serious and work hard in their material and want the best instruments avaiable and affoardable (kitting out a full flute section can be expensive stuff) but for me the flute for these bands being made today is a Worrell (Peter), lovely instrument at a decent price for the product that you get and certainly well made in really good, and in a well seasoned wood .

Good Luck Stu etc , some fine bands out there playing some cracking stuff .

[accordionstu]

In that market getting a set of 'good' Hawkes & Son for say 16 fluters is a hard thing to do (but can be done) and of course some of these bands are very serious and work hard in their material and want the best instruments available and affoardable (kitting out a full flute section can be expensive stuff) but for me the flute for these bands being made today is a Worrell (Peter), lovely instrument at a decent price for the product that you get and certainly well made in really good, and in a well seasoned wood .

Good Luck Stu etc , some fine bands out there playing some cracking stuff .

Greetings Crimson, I have a lovely low pitch Peter Worrell Bb 440hz, as you well know few bands play with low pitch flutes nowadays . Pete makes the keys for Miller Wicks NI and certainly knows his stuff but I still prefer my Miller Wicks NI to the Worrell, personal preference maybe. I dont know whether you saw an earlier post of mine but you may be interested in the MW keyless Bb, I wouldn't call it a fife even though it will play up to High A', but I am getting a lot of enjoyment out of it whilst waiting for one of Tony Millyard's (Millyard-Molem) D Flutes.

[Neil B]

Being made in the 1950's seems more sensible than the 1900's. Sometime in the next few days I will endeavor to put up a photo in the photo thread. . .time and domestic duties allowing.

As this thread had been revived and has turned up a couple of Bandsmen, any chance that the poster above has had time now to post his pics? Also if you can throw a pic or two on the three keyed flute Stu you mentioned that would be interesting?

[accordionstu]

Also if you can throw a pic or two on the three keyed flute Stu you mentioned that would be interesting?

Sorry Neil I don't have any pics of a three keyed flute, I mentioned that MW did make some, in fact Miller Wicks NI made some for a band near Dromore recently. Having tested my new keyless flute from Miller Wicks, I think most bands would benefit from playing these as most of their tunes are written in keys of D and G. I visited a band from Newtownstewart in Feb and they had two key flutes, all their tunes were in D and G.

[Neil B]

The transition to play a concert flute from the x5/6 keyed simple system is problamatic enough, but to go backwards to lesser keys for me would be too much, waving fingers around where the keys should be LoL. However your point about these keyless or x1 Fifes would be a start for more youngsters to learn simpler melodies. I have recently heard about the x2 keyed flutes as well as this 3 version, one learns every day something new they say. But you can't learn an old dog new tricks..... this is true here:-))

[an seanduine]

Neil B I haven't yet had a chance to take my own photos, so have instead uploaded the photos from the Ebay listing. If I have done this correctly you can follow the link https://www.flickr.com/photos/77793080@ ... 820701611/ and should see the album I put up of my new treble Bb flute. I have repaired the cracks and repadded since receiving it.

Bob

[Neil B]

Thanks for the pics Bob, there has been a few related threads in the past of potential interest on the "band flute" topic, but let down when no pics were placed in my opinion.

Again I would say this flute is earlier than the 1950's looking at the keys and ferrules alone. Those rivetted keys are typical of between the Wars for cheaper flutes. however there's no way to date it with the help of Lt Columbo, still looks a nice flute & good luck on the x fingering on top C )

[accordionstu]

Cheers for the photos, it looks to be an aged rosewood, but the keys are certainly more substantial looking than what i expected. I've never seen the rings with a collar like this before although i have heard of a WW2 battlefield made fife that had ferrules made from 20mm or 30mm brass bullet casings.

It looks to be a nice instrument, would love to know the maker. And strange that it doesn't have that C natural Key.

[Neil B]

Your losing the plot Stu perhaps?.....which key were you thinking would not be on a x4 keyed flute? This is why I asked for a pic of the three keyed you mentioned, as I would like to see the progression form the x1 then the two & three and the 4 is as Bob's....you know about the x5 & 6 anyway:-)))

[accordionstu]

Your losing the plot Stu perhaps?.....which key were you thinking would not be on a x4 keyed flute? This is why I asked for a pic of the three keyed you mentioned, as I would like to see the progression form the x1 then the two & three and the 4 is as Bob's....you know about the x5 & 6 anyway:-)))

I may be losing the plot but in the marching band scene, the C natural key is always there on two keys or more, as you can see above on the three key, a two key would have C natural and D# and a four key would have D#, F natural, C natural and B flat. Some flutes have an extra f natural key reachable by the left pinky for trills but I have never needed to play it as the regular f natural has always been suffice.

[Neil B]

It is I that is not IN the plot it appears? So back to the original theme, Bob's x4 keyed flute. This layout was the standard for & up to the time they were superceded by the x5 keyed flute adding the C Nat key enabling the player to produce the chromatic scale with its compass of bottom D to top A#. (I believe I may have a printed fingering chart (c1903)for the x4... so am at the moment unsure if the Chrom. scale could have been achieved with less keys without finding it?)

This info of the x2-3 & 4 keyed flutes is now clear, that they are being produced for the market nowadays (probably as special orders?) The flute you've now osted looks to be the same maker as the one you sold on the UIE recently or from one of the new makers on the block? I've seen the influx of left handed flutes on the "you tube" vids so as money is no object these days anything can be ordered.

So glad to read you have a D# key & surprised no one has jumped in, as on here they all have an Eb key so there's two of us in the World who knows it as such ) I googled a three key flute which as far as I can determine is very old and the keys are a different to the layout your mentioning. This again points me to "customising for the market" of today.
I'm afraid we are on different time scales & still believe the flute that was being asked about is certainally pre war or even earlier.

[accordionstu]

I agree that the photo of Bob's flute looks much older. I think the three key flutes of today only have the c key because the fluters in marching bands are lazy, lol. The photo was of a Miller Wicks NI flute, made a year ago for a flute band from Dromore, CO.Down. Apparently they only play tunes in D and G but they believe its easier to have a c key than cross finger. I disagree, after messing around on the keyless version I think those bands should buy keyless flutes. I did a video on youtube showing a simple comparison of the keyed and keyless https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sdTB5SnLUg

Unfortunately the sale of the 5 key Peter Worrell Flute I added to the instruments exchange fell through so I have put it on ebay.
Looking forward to my new Millyard-Molem R&R in African Blackwood.

[jazzman]

Judging the age, probably too late to contribute...if a lister posts in a forest and no one is around to read, does it make a sound?

I happen to have a Miller Wickes 6 key Bflat piccolo. Grenadilla wood, with keys placed as on larger (and smaller) cousins. When I purchased it, I was interested in the oddity of it, the sellers were a bit incredulous on why a Yank would want it and kept asking me "you know, these are really for Northern Irish flute and fife bands?". It's a bit easier to play over C (or D) piccolo due to the wider hole spacing....but as it is a Bflat instrument, much like a clarinet, trumpet or sax, one has to transpose...so tunes in D, are played in E...it's great practice, for anyone wishing to become facile with keys.

I'd sell mine, if anyone wanted it...I don't really play it.

Anthony