Guo New voice VS. Gemeinhardt 4w Piccolo buying

[griffplus]

I am in the market to buy my first piccolo I play it for and have a budget of about $600.00
someone is selling their Gemeinhardt "4w" for $500 and the Guo "new voice" now is $599.00. I once played a Gemeinhardt 4PSH it is was easy to play. I am not a pro, just community band and may play for a parade here in Houston once, just to try. I am not looking to play pro. I have played both and I am not educated enough to really know the difference. I would say Gemmys are east to play and the GUO seems light and easy as well.

Any advice as what you guys would buy?

GUO New voice:
http://www.gflute.com/en2/index.php/pro ... ce-piccolo

Gemeinhardt 4W
http://www.gemeinhardt.com/gemeinhardt-4w-piccolo.html

Jonathan

[fluteguy18]

If you could bump up your budget a little bit I'd definitely look at the Jupiter piccolos ($640). They're solidly built, come with a great warranty, and have an established history of quality.

I personally don't care for my sound on the guo piccolos ( I sound very 'reedy' but they're fun to play) and Gemeinhardt recently outsourced their manufacturing to china so I would be cautious about those. I'm not saying that chinese made flutes/piccolos are of poor quality (because Di Zhao flutes are excellent), but rather I am always hesitant of instruments coming out of a relatively new factory. There's always a learning curve in new manufacturing facilities that has to be worked through. I've heard rumor that Miyazawa is changing factory locations soon (to northern Japan) and I'm interested in seeing the instruments that will come out of the new factory. I'm hoping that they maintain the same standards of quality that they always have.

[Kaylyn]

If you like the one fluteguy posted (I think it's the Jupiter 301S), you can get it on accentmusic.com. Enter the code "LUCKY" at checkout which brings the subtotal to $540, which is under budget! I'm not affiliated with that website, just a bargain hunter. Good luck!!!