For 600 I would recommend either a jupiter plastic piccolo, or a gemeindhart 4p. If you're willing to go a bit above that then Pearl makes an amazing grenaditte piccolo. I own one myself and its never let me down. Best of luck

Guo New Voice piccolo. It's $700 from fluteworld. I have one of these piccolos and I like it better than my more expensive grenadilla piccolo.

Hi.

I know it's been months since your posting, so you might've already found your picc. But I thought I'd give my experience.

I have a solid silver Gemmie. Plays like a dream. Low notes are sweet and high notes are easy. And it's so responsive with dynamics that I don't kill myself on the middle section of Stars and Stripes--you know, the part that's all in the top octave, marked piano (I swear Sousa hated his picc-player when he wrote that!). Yes, its tone is a lot brighter than my wood picc's. But it doesn't over-play the rest of the band. If I didn't own my wood picc, my silver Gemmie would be just fine for any song we've played, indoors or outdoors.

New, it's well outside your budget. But used, it's worth finding one and test-driving it. There's good deals out there. I got mine for stupid-cheap, less than what Gemmie can make them for.

>'Kat