Hello everyone!
This week i picked up a fife. It's a metal one, german made by (a company called) erich sandner, and judging by the fact it says "made in germany west" i can safely say it's quite old, but stil in great condition. I got it second hand from someone who barely used it since it is a c fife and his band uses b fifes. But i recently started getting irritated skin under my botom lip. It started like the third day since i started playing. I heard someone say it might be because of nickle. Is this true? If so what can i do to prevent this because i really don't want to quit already and wooden fifes are quite hard to get around here . Thanks in advance!

Yes - you are probably sensitive to nickel. Others have the same problem with silver. I suggest 'painting' the lip plate with nail polish. This should cure the problem - it proably won't last long but can easily be renewed or removed. A long term but expensive cure would be gold plating the head.

Thanks!
As i am only a McDonalds parttimer (still in school) gold plating wasn't really an option. So i borrowed some nail polish from my sister abd coated my lip plate in it. I did my practice, and no irritated skin anymore! So thanks a lot

Great. Hope the colour of the varnish isn't too way out!