I need to buy a piccolo for marching band... the one I have right now is all wood, which would definitely not be good, lol. I was looking at piccolos online, and I was wondering, what`s the difference between gold and silver plated piccolos? In sound, I mean. Has anyone tried both before? Which do you prefer and why?

By the way, I was looking at a gold-plated piccolo made by Venus, and a silver-plated piccolo (er, I think it was model 201) made by Jupiter (both planet names, lol). If you have any comments about these two, would you mind sharing?

Thanks

Actually, you can use a wood picc for marching band as long as you keep it warm and you dont live somewhere where it freezes. Thats what my flute teacher told me.
personally I would go with a plastic piccolo because they arent as shrill as metal ones.
I think gold plated is supposed to give the instrument a warmer tone or something. I hope that made sense.

I live in Ohio... it tends to get in the 40s here during football season, and I don`t want to take my piccolo out in that.

Thanks! I`ll think about a plastic piccolo as well... any recommendations?

Yamaha is supposed to be a really good brand. I`d try the YPC-32. It has a composite body and silver head.
I wouldnt go with a gemeinherdt picc. They have bad tonality.

That one`s a bit out of my price range... I just wanted a semi-nice piccolo, since I already have a good one for concert band. Are the other lower Yamahas good as well?

Yeah, definately.

Okay, thanks. I`ll look into those.

u could always look on ebay...i found some and they really didn`t look that bad...and they have some of thoes black ones 4 pretty cheep 2...and around here that`s what they use 4 marching

Personally I would go with the gold plated piccolo if you were using it for concerts because it does give a warmer tone and it sounds better. It also projects the sound better. I am not entirely sure about using one in marching mainly because I haven`t used my gold plated one in marching yet. I did however use a plastic one for marching and I will never do that again because it didn`t project the sound far enough for anyone to hear it.

I actually think that plating on an instrument doesn`t really do anything.. I was buying a flute and the guy at the music store..told me not to waste my money on gold plating because it`s just for bragging rights.. What the instrument is made of effects its tone and projection, not what it`s plated with.
--Ian--

Here are some plastic piccolos that I found:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=16229&item=3738630059&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=16229&item=3739453096&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=16229&item=3739506128&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Gold plating will not affect the sound. But if you BELIEVE it will, then it may well do so.

Gold is a VERY soft metal, and unless it is a VERY expensive instrument, you can be sure that the gold plating is very thin.

It will quickly wear through where it is handled most, and give the instrument a mottly appearance.

Until that happens, it will look sweet, and not tarnish like silver does.

The gold plating is a marketing ploy to con gullible flute players.

Oh, okay. Thank you.

I rebuild flutes and piccolos. Frequently I will plate the embochure plate in gold. The gold plating is similar in thickness to the silver plating on a student line flute/piccolo, so you would wear down the silver about equally as fast probably faster. Another reason to gold plate is that typically people are not as sensitive to gold as silver. If you are a person with acid skin you may be better off with the gold plating. As far as the sound goes, I am a firm believer that the mechanics of the instrument ie., tone hole placement, mechanism, tube size,taper... have a much larger affect than the material or the plating on the instrument. Gold or Silver plate and sound? No difference IMHO. PS my main piccolo is sterling with a gold plated embochure plate. Its pretty and it sounds good. Mechanism is perfect

Hi i am in 7th grade in CA and for band and marching i use a gold plated piccolo (made by venus) and it has been a wonderfull piccolo seriusly it has held up for 3years and is still playen like new plus venus has cool colors like mine which is purple and gold but thier is other colors like red for only around 100 on E-bay

SEE YA