Handcrafted Fifes Drumsticks
How our Instruments are Made
Turning
Every fife is turned by hand on a wood lathe and inspected for flaws during the entire process. If any defect is found, it becomes part of the personal collection. I don't mind caring for it. The picture below shows a piece of purple heart early in the process
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Boring
Undoubtedly the most important aspect of an instrument, our fifes are bored by hand and treated using a proprietary process that allows for ease of playing. Whether the musician is a novice or a musicologist with degrees from top online colleges and universities, the quality contrast is clear. You need not be an expert to notice it. It is evident. As soon as you play one you'll hear and feel the difference. Don’t mistake these for “student model” fifes made of low grade maple or persimmon (not that these are 'bad' woods) as they tend to be difficult to play. Nothing will turn you off more to practicing than a fife that won't cooperate. If you want an inexpensive student model to practice on, look for a ABS plastic fife.
Fixturing
This process is also done one at a time on a cross slide vise to help ensure the fingering holes are in the right places. Bitmoore makes a great cross slide (milling) vise that I could not do without. After drilling, much hand work is employed to make sure the holes are smooth and debris free.
Finishing
All fifes undergo an intense finishing process that produces a smooth, easily maintained finish that accentuates the particular aspects of the wood being used. The finish is usually stopped sooner for a group of fifes that will be used together. All finishes are natural; no secondary chemical is ever used to finish our fifes (such as polyurethane). Please note, due to the variation in wood and the finishing process, no two fifes will look exactly the same as each piece of wood has it’s own unique characteristics. Each fife is finished with metal ferrules at each end made of brass or nickel. We offer longer ferrules for the Civil War look and shorter ferrules for the Revolutionary War look.
Ferrules may also be custom length as desired on any model at no additional charge.
The picture below is of a unique Crosby CW Series in cocobolo with brass ferrules.
Guarantee
Due to the attention to detail, all fifes are guaranteed for 30 days against natural failure (splits, cracks) and will be refunded or replaced at no charge other than actual shipping costs. The instrument will not be repaired unless it is a loose ferrule (away to the personal collection) . Any evidence of “unnatural” failure (dropping, water immersion, or other neglect, etc) will void the warranty, however, we will still honor a 15% discount on the purchase of a new fife.
Showcased below (from top) is the cocobolo Crosby CW Series with long brass ferrules, a mahogany Crosby CW Series with long brass ferrules, Revolutionary Series in oak with short brass ferrules, and Revolutionary Series with short brass ferrules in hickory.
Ok...You made it this far, you must be interested in more detail on how these instruments are made. I can assure you, this is not a factory. When I say they are each handmade, they are. Granted, I don't use a draw knife to shave the wood but this is as close to 'made-by-hand' that time will allow me.
This first picture shows the end that will be held by the micro chuck. As you can see I use a steb center to drive the block...I used the standard (came with the lathe) drive until I split a blank.
Here's a shot of the live center and the end of the blank that will ride in the steady rest.
So here is the 3 jaw micro chuck (I like this one but would rather have a Barracuda - need to save my pennies). The chuck has a piece of African Blackwood in it at the moment...a very tricky wood to turn by hand.
Here is a another shot of the live center and the homemade steady rest. I took some scrap plywood that was around (I think it is 3/4"), mounted it to another of the scrap, and supported it with metal brackets and screws. I then mounted it on the lathe by the drive center and brought up the tail stock and cranked it in to put a mark in the center. I then removed the up-and-coming rest, clamped it on the table and used a 4" hole saw to clear the way for the block. I bought three chained door locks, and discarding the chains, mounted the brass to the plywood as you can see below. I can rearrange them with the bolts and wing nuts that hold them to the wood...it works really well...and cost about $6.00. Hard to beat.
I know you're interested in another shot of the steady rest - so here it is.
sThe next step is to drill the pilot hole for the gun drill. The gun drill I have has an offset center point helping it cut better, but it must have a pilot hole or there'll be big trouble. I set the lathe to turn at about 500 RPM, throw a drill chuck into the tailstock and bring it up and in about 1/2" to 1" for the gun drill.
If you look closely, you can see the gun drill set from the tailstock to the steady rest. The wood is turning and I bring the gun drill in by pure manpower. I have the compressor attached to blow the swarf out (all over I might add - need to rig up a 'swarf collector') through the drill and bring it to the correct depth. At this point I would like to add that I use double eye protection (glasses and face shield) and a 3M half face respirator with canister filters). Working on exotic, or any wood for that matter, without respiratory protection is just dumb.
At this point, I change the centers and turn the blank to remove the corners (make it round) and have a look at the grain and structure. If it's ok...I like to add the ferrules now to avoid any splitting that could result from too much tightening of the lathe (been there...done that...would rather not do it again)
I use a skew and a roughing gouge (and calipers) to turn the wood to fit the ferrules on (below). Admittedly, sometimes I have to use a little glue to hold the ferrule on - sometimes it takes a hammer - a rubber mallet of course. After fitting the ferrules, I take the 'fife' to the drill press and cross slide (milling vice) for the finger holes and embrochure; pictured above. Oh - let's not forget the hand work after all this drilling and probing and stressing...
If you would like to hear more (or, heck, have any suggestions) shoot me an email; glensfallsfife@hotmail.com.
