I have a piccolo that is half solid silver(the headjoint) and the rest is plastic. It's a good piccolo and it does its job just fine, but I'm wondering if the sound can be improved by getting a new headjoint. Should I do that and make the whole thing plastic? I know that all piccolos will have that shrill, obnoxious sound in the upper registers, but will a headjoint make it less shrill-y?

Metal headjoints do make some piccolo's more shrill.. but I think a piccolo in the super high octaves is going to be hard for others to listen to no matter what, lol. But I would say a different headjoint could definitely improve the sound What brand of piccolo do you have?

I have a Gemeinhardt. I know they have a "bad reputation" but I think it's a good piccolo. It works just like any other one: it's annoying. haha.

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http://fluteworld.com/index.php?action=prod&wart=14519&ppk=picc

I actually think this is my piccolo.

Their piccolo's don't have a bad reputation. They are pretty good. I don't think that you are going to be getting to much of a difference by putting a plastic headjoint on it. I wouldn't bother putting a wood headjoint on it.

The piccolo on Flute World mentioned above is the piccolo I own! I got it for $250 off ebay and fixed it up for another $50. Works well...
Actually, I don't know what the difference would be. Probably not much, I'm guessing.

Gemeinhardt does make a good piccolo.
While I've never seen a Gemeinhardt flute in the hands of a pro player, I have seen/heard a Gemeinhardt piccolo played in the Symphony, and played well.


A cylindrical-body piccolo's headjoint will not work on a conical-body piccolo's body. So you have to start with the same body type. Then, you may not be able to change heads between bubble-type headjoints and flute-style headjoints.

I do have a different HJ on my Zentner wood piccolo. It is a Burkart, and it is very close to the same size as the original Zentner head. It took only a slightly larger cork to fit the new Burkart HJ. (No complicated re-fitting, simply a re-corking which is pretty easy work for a tech.) But even though they're all bubble-style, these heads could not be fitted to the Yamaha 62 wood picc I had at the time.

So in general, you may not be able to use a HJ from a different make of piccolo.

Yes, top notes are hard to listen to anyway, but I noticed a major difference between our principal's very good playing on her usual (wood) Burkart, and a Jupiter silverplated piccolo she used for an outdoor concert. The Jupiter was almost unbearable, especially in comparison to her beautiful playing on the wood picc.

So, first you can see if the model of piccolo that you have is available in all-plastic. Then you could have two headjoints for it, and the plastic should make the piccolo less shrill.

If you have some money to spend, you might look into a rebuilt Yamaha 62 or Gemeinhardt 4W wood piccolo. These are nice instruments, and can be bought used for less than $1000. Otherwise, maybe you can find an all-plastic Gemeinhardt 4P. Other good plastic piccs include the Sonare and the Pearl, which you might have to find used.

Okay, thanks. All of this is good. I'll look into some piccolo headjoints that aren't too terribly expensive. Thanks everyone!