I have a long, drawn out explanation as to why today’s fife pitch is what it is today. But for the sake of the argument, while today’s “orchestral pitch” is the internationally agreed upon A = 440, the typical fife made in the 20th century through today is generally set at A = 443 to 446, varying from maker to maker. I have found that so many trad fifes made in the late 20th century are set right around A = 443 that this is what I set mine to. However a more powerful player will make that same instrument sound sharper still.
Before the early 20th century, there was no internationally recognized pitch. So everyone was all over the map! There are examples of instruments made contemporaneously to vary in as much as 50 cents and therefore cannot be played together. In the 18th century pitches varied from place to place; in France there are instruments surviving that are as low as A = 392, while in Italy it could be found as high as A = 465. For orchestral groups there needed to be an agreed upon standard and we find that Boston might settle on one pitch but it was different in New York, which varied from Philadelphia, and so on. In the 1860s France decided upon A = 435… lower than today’s pitch… The modern consensus for historical instruments playing for the Baroque era has settled upon A = 415 (a half tone lower than modern pitch), and “classical pitch” (for 19th century instrumentation) to be at A = 430.
Based upon the original in the Colonial Williamsburg collection that serves as the model for the “Williamsburg Pitch” fife, A = 456… Sharp enough to actually be almost B! But not quite.
All my instruments are made to A = 440 with the exceptions being among the fifes. Williamsburg fifes are their pitch, historical fifes are set to their variance, and traditional fifes are A = 443.