I currently have a burkart & phelan piccolo in my possession and i absolutely LOVE IT! the tone is warm, the scale is even, the high octaves come out clear and in tune (which i love). ive mentioned in the past that my parents are going to buy me a piccolo soon, but it turns out that it will be very soon (handy since i have a concerto competition in march with prelims in february). i fell so in love with this piccolo that im tempted to not even try another brand or model. ive asked about the global piccolo before but i cant say that ive tried it yet. if i can save my parents over 1k, im sure theyd be very pleased with me. theyre already paying for my college tuition... is the global even close to comparable with the standard model or should i not even consider it because of the difference with sound and quality with the standard is far better?

I found that the BP piccs, and the Global played pretty similarly for me (though this is subjective, of course). I would definitely recommend trying other piccs (particularly if you stand to save a substantial sum without sacrificing your happiness).

I have owned both. They do sound almost identical, but there was slop in the mechanism on every one of the Globals that I did try.

slop in the mechanism? i dont exactly understand what youre trying to say here. could you explain a bit more?

How does the B-P mechanism feel to you?

I trialed a couple of Globals (standard & wave headjoints). I liked their sound, and found them easy to play. I also liked the "delicate" feel of the keys, but this made me wonder about the the durability of the keys and the mechanism. It may be that the keys and mechanism are durable. I don't know factually one way or the other. If they are durable, then it's a great piccolo for the price.

I didn't try the B-P, so I can't comment on how they compare. If I didn't buy the Haynes that I trialed at the same time as the Globals, I'd have definitely tried the B-P next assuming that the B-P would be more durable than the Global, and it's sound would be equal to or better than the Global.

I was writing my reply, and posted it before seeing Kara's reply. Mine fits better, right before her reply since she comments on the mechanism.

it feels solid, definitely something that would hold up. i love the spring action, but that was probably set up after it was purchased. i like resistance in my keys since i press harder than the average joe, and it definitely had that. i dont like anything that seems like a 1970s lincoln continental though (meaning i dont like bulky keys that seem almost as if you can drive a semi over them and they would perform just as well after... like a powell flute mechanism haha) and it had the... delicacy that i prefer.

<Added>

im still curious about that "slop"

Slop meaning that the mechanism had a bit more movement from side to side between keys and posts. The mechanism is definitely not as well built and solid as the more handmade piccolo. I would say that the only big difference between the two is the mechanism, everything else was pretty much identical.