Piccolos?!Help!

[jazzyema]

i was looking at getting a new wooden piccolo and i was deciding between the Burkhart global and a used Zetner.. if anyone has any advice on either or these or any other suggestion of a piccolo between 1,000 and 1,800 that be awesome. Also is there anything specific i need to look for... my flute teacher recently retired and now im taking jazz from a (mainly) saxaphone player who has little opinion on piccolos.. help!?
*jazzyema

[Kendall]

I was also considering the Burkart global with the wave headjoint

but any other suggestions are welcomed

[boglarka]

As always, you have to try these piccolos. Burkart, old Zentners are good brands, but as these instruments are hand-made, they all play differently. In your price range, I would also suggest you try Hammig piccolos.

[us_army_flutist]

Burkart Global and Burkart-Phelan are the best piccolos in their price range. They are very consistent, meaning that they are all equally good.

[amhso]

im still looking for piccolos. one i tried recently that just blew my head off is the Roy Seaman LTD line of piccolos. Although list price is 3800 or so...almost everyone sells this piccolo around 1900 dollars (USD).

[flutepicc06]

Burkart Global and Burkart-Phelan are the best piccolos in their price range. They are very consistent, meaning that they are all equally good.

There is really no such thing as a best flute/piccolo in any price range. Every player piccolo (piccolo even more so than flute) is different, so what works for one play could be a terrible match for another. While a Burkart may be the right instrument for jazzyemma, she won't know until she tries them, along with as many other instruments as she can get her hands on. And not every instrument is equally good, even from a very reputable maker like Burkart. Every maker comes out with a few clunkers (I've played 2 from Burkart myself). I would tend to agree with boglarka. And I do not suggest the Roy Seaman LTD line, but the older Roy Seamans (which are quite different from the ones being produced by Gemeinhardt) are very nice instruments. I would also advise you to look out for one of these.

[Phineas]

I will have to agree with Chris on this one.

I own an Armstrong 210(Silver). Most people would say <Bleck> but after trying out several pics, this was the one I played on the best. I also own a Rosewood Piccolo made by the ShangHai flute company in China that is also not a popular brand. My next (wood) piccolo will be either at Yamaha, or an Emerson Boston Legacy. This is only after trying out many different brands and models. Even after this, I am still going to try out several of the same brand and model to pick the one I am going to take home.

Another issue is intonation. I always test my Piccolos with an electric tuner. The easier I can play across the insrument in tune, the better! I have tried very expensive brands and models that would not be easy for me to play in tune.

Piccolos are not nearly as forgiving as flutes, so be cautious when spending lots of money on one.

Phineas

[fluteguy18]

theoretically speaking, if the used instrument plays as well as the new instrument, purchase the older one. The wood has aged, you won't have to break it in etc. However, if you are looking for wooden piccolos, give yamaha a try. I played several types of piccolos when trying to find the right one, and for me I preferred hammig and yamaha. however, yamaha was half the price (new hammig piccolos start at $3000+). So, I settled on the YPC-62. Also, with your piccolo search, keep in mind whether the headjoint has a bulb at the end, or a tenon. In my opinion, the bulb style has the better tone, but this is just me.

Hope this helped!

[sherbert789]

Do you know what the bulb does exactly? Mine has one, but I was never completely sure why haha. I just assumed it was better since the more expensive ones had one.

[ick27]

Without the "bulb" at the end of the headjoint, the wood would be extremely thin and easily broken. It is functional, not just a decoration (though I'm sure the people who designed it wanted to make it look good as well.)

[sherbert789]

What's the difference between bulb end wood piccolos and the ones with straight heads then?

[flutepicc06]

There is no difference, other than the way that the head connects with the body. If you look in the end of a "bulb" headjoint, you will see that there are two concentric rings, one of which fits on each side of the bit of metal at the top of the body. The other type, however fits into the body much as a flute fits together....With the tenon slipping inside the receiver. To allow the more complicated (and larger) connector associated with a bulb headjoint, the wood has to be larger on the outside to maintain an appropriate thickness of wood. I personally prefer the bulb, mainly because it is a mark of quality. It is more difficult to produce a head of this type, as the wood can crack while the metal tenon is being inserted, which is not as much a problem with "straight."

[c_otter]

I recently tried a few piccolos. For me, the Emerson Boston Legacy was a clear step above the Burkart Global. I had slight preference for the ironwood Legacy over the grenadilla Legacy. I ended up getting a Hamming with a wave headjoint because it was much easier to play in tune and quietly, but that's also another chunk of change. However, a used Hammig may be in your price range.

I also found that the different Hammig headjoint cuts played very differently. I played the best on the wave headjoint. The regular headjoint was okay, but harder to control dynamics and pitch was worse. I didn't like the thinwall wave headjoint, but it did make the super high notes easier.

Another interesting difference in piccolo bodies is that the nicer piccolos tend to have a tapered tube called a conical bore. I wonder if that has anything to do with the bulb.

[flutepicc06]

No, that has nothing to do with the bulb, nor with the nicer piccs. More recently built piccs do have a conical bore, because it is more stable pitch-wise, but it has nothing to do with quality. One of my piccs is a Yamaha YPC-32, and it has a conical bore, but is certainly not a high level picc.

[fluteguy18]

Wow! I never expected to start this big conversation about bulbs. I was merely thinking about the amount of wood in the headjoint. I merely thought that piccs without the bulb didnt sound as "woody" as piccs with the bulb.

the theoretical comment was from design theory of harps. the older a spruce soundboard is, the better it will sound. the same goes with piccolos. the hardwood has aged, the softer fibers have hardened, resulting in better resonance (hardwoods resonate longer than hardwoods, so when hardwoods age, they get even better) and a more golden tone.... Never mind this, this is just a rather farfetched (but very relevant) view on the wood from a harp builder's stand point. (yes, I play the flute, piccolo, harp, and I fix the first one, and build the last one).