Recommendations for intermediate piccolo?

[Dr G]

I haven't played any of them yet but am interested in the ABS-bodied pic's. The silver-bodied models that I've owned in the past (20 years ago) seem especially shrill (even for a piccolo) and the wood models seem too serious a commitment just now.

I'm looking at models by Yamaha and Gemeinhardt. The options seem to be silver head vs ABS and I noticed that the headjoints of the two brands join in a different fashion.

Comments? Recommendations?

Thanks,

George

[Bootman]

Don't do it, the shrieking stick will get you....

Seriously I have YPC-32 here which is fine but as you said, very shrill inthe upper end. The Best intermediate Piccolo I ever had was an an ols Artley silver head, metal body Piccolo. I have a Rudall Carte open G# wood Pic here which sounds fantastic, plays very easily but the open G# is a fingering nightmare. I have investigated getting it converted but the cost would be prohibitive. It sits on the shelf here at the moment.

I have also played a couple of nice Haynes pics too, these may be worth looking into as well.

[singlereed]

The YPC is very good for the money and indeed considerably less shrill than most others for that sort of money. My daughter plays one as does the flute/picc player in our band and it is a good little instrument. Quite a few flautists use it for doubling. Maybe the YPC 62 would be more to your taste as an intermediate picc, my daughter preferred the 32 though. Good for me as I was paying for it.

[Gordon (NZ)]

All things considered the YPC32 & 62 are excellent choices.
Many piccolos have serious leaks, difficult to do anything about, basically because the key cups, hence the pads, are not sufficiently bigger in diameter than the tone holes. Yamaha & Gemeinhardt are OK in this respect.