Small Bb flute for sale

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 2:48 pm

I have a Boosey and Hawkes Bb flute (not fife or piccolo) for sale. It is 383 mm long, has 4 silver keys and I think it is rosewood. Made about 1930 it is in good condition,no cracks,has been repadded and comes in a recently made wooden case. Am asking $350 U.S for it. It is also advertised on the web site Wooden Flute Exchange with a photo which I cannot get to this site.

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 3:20 pm

Weren't we just talking about this little flute?
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=17481

Mal · Post by **Mal** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 3:15 pm

I measured my Healy B-flat fife and found it to be the same length as your B-flat flute. Why is one called a "fife" and the other a "flute"

Mal[/img]

Henke · Post by **Henke** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 3:19 pm

I'm not an expert but it sounds like this "flute" is a fife (not a piccolo)

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 4:37 pm

You can call it whatever you want, really. But historically, this is a marching band flute, meant to be played with the low Bb and the F flutes. Not a fife, which is played in a fife-and-drum corps. Not a piccolo either. Piccolos are always in concert pitch or 1 semitone higher.

Henke · Post by **Henke** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 4:39 pm

What is the difference between this flute and the fifes used in fife and drum bands then?

jim_mc · Post by **jim_mc** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 1:05 am

Post rennaissance and pre-Boehm, flutes (and piccolos) had conical bores in the body. Fifes had cylindrical bores. Lately things have gotten kind of blurry, especially in the U.S. You had Roy Seaman making the McDonagh "fifes" starting in the 1950's with a conical bore in the body, and more recently Skip Healy making "fifes" with the Boehm system of a truncated parabolic head bore and cylindrical foot.

In Ireland, a B flat instrument with a conical bore in the body would likely be called a band flute. They would immediately identify a McDonagh as such. Americans, having had no flute band tradition, accepted the McD as a fife.

Henke · Post by **Henke** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 8:47 am

Thanks Jim. That clears the fog alot for me. I always figured that fifes where just small Bb flutes

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 9:58 am

That's it, Jim, thanks!

Basically, they had different histories. Fifes were millitary instruments, initially with the Swiss mercenaries. They were used to coordinate troop movements before the cornet started being used for the same thing. Fifes were meant to be played outside, and loud.

Flutes on the other hand evolved from the cilyndrical Renaissance instruments (which were played in groups of 4) to the conical Baroque models (which were usually played solo, or with different instruments). Flutes were mostly played indoors, though marching flute bands obviously play outside, adding lots of flutes to compensate for the lack in power.

To add one more thing, fifes are meant to be played on the third and second octaves. Conical flutes are played on all 3 octaves, but are not easy to play on the third.

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 3:17 pm

Thanks everybody for your information on my flute. Now, who is the nice preson who is going to buy it, give it a good home and play the little beauty? Jerry

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 3:30 pm

Jerry, not me, unfortunately; can't do it right now. But hopefully someone will. How about some pictures, sound samples, stories, etc?

andrew · Post by **andrew** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 4:38 pm

The world seems to be full of fifes/ high Bb flutes that nobody will pay $100 for .What is it that attracts attention to this very ordinary specimen ,apart from the grossly overoptimistic expectations for it ?

jim_mc · Post by **jim_mc** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 6:57 pm

andrew wrote:The world seems to be full of fifes/ high Bb flutes that nobody will pay $100 for .What is it that attracts attention to this very ordinary specimen ,apart from the grossly overoptimistic expectations for it ?

Gee, Andrew, Skip Healy seems to be selling fifes like hotcakes, and his opening price for a plain vanilla six hole is $175. Go for a deluxe model and you'll be over $300 before you know it. That's still without keys, of course. Well made traditional one-piece American fifes sell for right around $100, and all the makers I know (and I know most of them) are selling everything they can make.

It could be that the Boosey name, the keywork, the excellent condition and the antique status of this particular little beauty are selling points. Or it could be that I'm crazy.

Just for my edification, why do you think people should expect from this instrument? I haven't heard anyone state their expectations, but you seem quite sure that the buyer will be disappointed. Why?

edited to add:

P.S. - if you see one like this, in this kind of condition, for less than $100, please p.m. or e-mail me immediately. I'll pay you a 10% finders fee.

andrew · Post by **andrew** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 8:08 pm

It seems that someone else is getting Boosey & Co mixed up with Boosey & Hawkes Ltd ! I recently put a Californian friend on to a Boosey & Co flute in F , which was worth having,being quite cheap and a good player .
A fife would of course be much cheaper . Hawkes & Co fifes are readily available at £50 or so (See Pamela's music recently referred to ,for examples ) .

bradhurley · Post by **bradhurley** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 7:52 am

Definitive text on fifes versus band flutes (well, I suppose it's definitive, coming from the Dayton Miller collection at the U.S. Library of Congress)

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/dcmhtml/fife.html

From their definition, this is clearly a band flute, not a fife.

Chiff and Fipple Forums

Small Bb flute for sale

Small Bb flute for sale

b-flat flute vs. b-flat fife