Description
Williamsburg Pitch Model
Back in the day when I was the fifemaker for Cooperman Fife & Drum Co, I regularly crafted a replica of a fife in the collection of Colonial Williamsburg for use BY Colonial Williamsburg Fifes & Drums. In recent years I had been commissioned to make a few of this model for individuals, mostly in the reenacting world. It plays flat of B (A = 456) (instead of the slightly sharp Bb (A = 443/5-ish) of trad fife&drum corps today), which means it is NOT what you need when you wade into a fife&drum jam session. Instruments in the 18th century generally played about a half tone lower than we think of the pitches today… So what THEY called a “D” in the 18th century would sound more like a “C#” to us; you might consider this to be somewhat in the key of C, 18th century style. Please see my page on tuning and pitch for further info on this! For public use outside of Colonial Williamsburg, I do offer this only in Rosewood, currently, although I have made this in other woods in the past. You may inquire, should you have something else in mind.
