Does seasoning a piccolo affect its high register response?

[wkzh]

Recently I tried a few new piccolos (including Geoffrey Guo's plastic piccolo! it had a rather nice response), and one thing I couldn't stand was that I couldn't hit anything above high Bb on them; at least, not properly (e.g. required special fingerings, unreasonable amount of air pressure).

For all my life I have played a Hammig piccolo. My range is up to altissimo Eb (above high C) without any problems (nor control of dynamics), and I've had to play several altissimo C#'s and D's for certain pieces (One required a C# to be held for a full beat; what an irritating composer!) so without doubt it was the piccolo, not me.

I've heard about "breaking in" the high register. Perhaps it's because I've seasoned my piccolo to play in the extreme register? Or is it the construction of the piccolo? I have absolutely no clue because I've only ever regularly played one piccolo in my life.