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sweetheart fife

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 9:11 am
by john
i've got a sweetheart high d fife bought in the 90s - i'm not sure of the wood, its dark brownish

how much might one of them in good condition be worth?

i'm not sure i'd sell it but am a little curious to find out its value

Re: sweetheart fife

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 10:06 am
by RudallRose
not very much.
the Sweets have been making fifes in various pitches for a number of years, often called "folk fifes" or "folk flutes." They are still very much in business and Ralph, the founder, has been at it since the 50s. His son, Walt, has been at it for years, too, and is often the face you see at their table during fife/drum festivals (called musters).

the camp fife is to look like a regular fife, which is typically pitched in Bb, with the metal ferrules at the tips.
I think Ralph gets about $150 or so for them, so that certainly is your value.
I don't imagine there's a big resale market since you can get one readily brand new.
With that in mind.....perhaps $100 for someone willing to not have to pay the full price?

worth more for you to just enjoy it, probably.....or put it in an airtight box and bury for a hundred years....who knows.

My very first wood flute was a purpleheart sweet for $135. That was about 30 years ago.
was long before I had ever heard of Rudall and Rose.

Re: sweetheart fife

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 4:54 pm
by john
[Thread revival. - Mod]

RudallRose, a belated thank you for your post. There's one that's recently sold that went for $125:
secondhand sweet fife so you seem to be pretty much spot on. There's this one too: sweet fife described as being new but that price sounds a bit optimistic to me

Re: sweetheart fife

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 1:10 pm
by RudallRose
quite welcome!

Of course, Sweetheart fifes might have increased in price as well. <shrug>

I do know the company has added a maker, Joe Morneault, who used to be the principal fifemaker for the Cooperman Fife & Drum company. He's very good.

Joe's got a new one out, a 10-hole whistle, which appears to be a cross-match of the 10-hole fife, a whistle, and the old Giorgi flutes that were played vertically.

I knew Joe many years ago, and haven't seen/spoken to him in quite some time, but you will run into some recent web traffic about legal troubles he had some time ago. It's unfortunate. Problems from long ago, for which he's taken his appropriate lumps, seem to dog him still and people are judging the quality of his instrument making with the non-instrument issues he dealt with and, I'm sure, presumed were in the past. I guess not.