Hello all!! Ive just entered thewonderful world of flute (im naturally a sax player, so the flute was just easy for me to pick up fingering wise.) In a few months im going to start on piccolo (my flute skills are progressing rather quickly i was told by teacher) but im actually going to buy the pic in about a month, because im not sure when ill have this much money saved up again (high school student) Anyway, the pic im getting is the Gemeinhardt 4ss with solid silver head, body, and even keys (i have very oily hands, tarnish is a huge problem for me) I was just wondering if anyone owned or has played this model before, and what you think before i decide. Please dont make this an arguement between yamaha and gemeinhardt, thats not what im interested in. I just want to know how this pic in particular plays. By the way, how do all silver pics fit in your hands, i dont have overly large hands, but not overly small hands either, just curious. Thanks everyone!

I highly recommend that you try it out yourself first before making a decision.

I do have an opion on silver piccolos.
I despise them! They don`t blend well with anything. I found an all plastic piccolo to be much more forgiving.

The Armstrong 308 was by far the best student piccolo that I ever played on, and I really regret selling mine.
I have a lot of out side concerts to play in this year and I really hate to take my wooden Burkart out.

I do play the piccolo professionaly, so I am playing it a good part of the time. That being said, if I deside to buy a backup picc that I can trust,I would go with the 308.
Good luck to you!

KC, seeing most (all?) metal piccolos (at least from the relatively few I have met) have a double conical bore, and many if not most plastic ones have a cylindrical bore, while most timber ones have a double conical bore, do you have an opinion on type of bore?

I was just answering with my opinion and I really hate to get into this again. But.....

I have played a silver Haynes piccolo before that was cylindrical and I still hated it. That does not make a difference. You can argue it all you want with me, but I still stand by my opinion. Any metal or silver piccolos are just too dang harsh and do not blend. Just from my experience, I am a HUGE believer that the material is the deciding factor of sound on a piccolo.

Arak, you suprise me because you are the only person that I have ever met that disagrees with me on that.
Still, if it is what you like to believe, then so be it.

The very sweet-toned silver Haynes piccolo that I played had a tapered bore.

I am not the only one. Somebody just last week, either in this forum or another, shared the same experience, unsolicited.

I agree with you to the extent that if you buy a crappy, cheap, metal piccolo, it will almost sound pretty crappy. I`ve also played disgusting wooden piccolos.

And from the many, many comments by others re Yamaha YPC62 piccolos, it is rare to find negative ones. Just last week I read from somebody what fantastic intonation they had.

All that I have been arguing about is anybody making totally-encompassing, rather rash all-knowing statements of the type, "ALL timber piccolos sound sweeter than ALL metal piccolos" As I have said, I know from SOME that I have played, that for me this is simply not true. Commission a top piccolo maker to make a really sweet sounding one from metal, I have 100% belief they could oblige. However as long as marching bands are attracted to metal piccolos, I don`t think they are quite so inclined to do this . Bad marketing to consumer whim and belief. All I say is that is is most likely not the material, but the design in the particular piccolos you may have experienced. I may have experienced piccolos of a different design, especially as there are no marching bands here.

We will have to agree to disagree on all that, but may I suggest you keep an open mind as to what you may experience in the future.

But surely we can agree that different piccolos probably suit different people, as with flutes. Perhaps a piccolo that sounds sweet with your playing style sounds ugly with mine, and vice versa.

I hate this... why do you have to make everything into a debate? He asked for opinion, I gave him mine. I don`t wish to debate this topic for the upteenth time.

I would sample piccolos in different price ranges and see how they perform. If you`re spending under $500 for your pic you may be dissapointed with all in some fashion.

A forum, by definition, is a place for debate. That includes expression of opinions as a reaction to other people`s opinions.

Opinions, which may be ambiguous, or misunderstood by the reader, become clearer after more discussion. Dissenting opinions may even find common ground.

As somebody once said to me, there is no better way of learning about a subject that hearing two experts disagreeing with eachother.

I was highlighting the importance of other piccolo design parameters in this issue. I was also hoping to find some common ground, but it seems no.

I don`t mind debating every now and then, but not with the same person on the same issue over and over again.

I like the plastic piccolos better. cuz the metal ones have that strange metal thing on the side and that hurts my hands , plus when I was playing a metal piccolo in honor band and we had to play for hours and the piccolo made my hands so sore it was hard to play my flute, plus the plastic piccolos r much bigger.

The pressure from the side of your finger on the piccolo, be it wood or metal, should be very small indeed - only enough to carry the the huge weight of the picccolo!

The pressure would be nowhere near big enough to begin to hurt a finger.

IMHO you must be using that finger to press the piccolo hard against your chin, which is quite unnecessary.

Also, if you are pressing hard with that finger, then you must be pressing with an opposing force with your right hand! How are you doing that?!!

Perhaps I have got something wrong somewhere.

For the love of Pete.. Arak! So what, he likes a platic piccolo. Everyone is different. I find them uncomfortable too.

Arak - I have played on 2 different Gemeinhardt piccs (15 years ago now) - one which was new at the time, and one which was older (15 years more maybe?). Because of the size of my hands and the placement of the left hand rest (terminology?) the older piccolo cut into the side of my hand and was quite painful after extended periods of time - the edge of the rest was touching my hand instead of the center, if that makes any sense. On the newer one, the placement was better for my hand.

As for the original question, I played my Gemeinhardt for 4 years of high school. I had to have every pad replaced within the first year - partly due to marching band. It served me well, I suppose but I recommend Yamahas to my students now. I would suggest trying as many as you can before committing!

Likewise, my piccolo previous to my Yamaha was a Gemeinhardt. It was not too bad.

If the position of the finger rest on a metal piccolo is uncomfortable, it can probably be cheaply altered by a technician.