Ok, I might be allowed to get a piccolo
I was just wondering if there were any particular makes to be wary of, or that I should be looking out for? I don't really want to get a yamaha, since they are really expensive and I'm not keen on them anyway, having played several of my friends' I can probably spend about £200, and have been looking at the John Packer ones (especially the gold plated model) or maybe something like the Selmer Prelude model. But, by chance I did come across the Gear4Music intermediate piccolo, which has a plastic (ABS?) hadjoint... is this is a really, really bad idea? Will it be totally useless, or will it actually be as nice as the description?
Here's the link - http://www.gear4music.com/Woodwind-Brass-S...ate-Piccolo/8MZ

Thanks for any advice

The smaller the instrument the more difficult it is to play - in my opinion piccolos and cheap construction don't go together very well!

As long as you can try a cheapie on approval you'll be ok. I have tried the Trevor James piccolo and wasn't impressed - very spongey feel and dubious intonation. I doubt the other cheap makes are any better. The trouble is they play ok when brand new but quickly go out of adjustment. I played the TJ for a show with a lot of doubling (Mack & Mabel) and it was unplayable after a week. I sold it immediately afterwards for less than £80. I even had it adjusted professionally so I was well out of pocket.

You say you don't like the Yamaha (YPC-32?) - I presume you mean the sound or scale, because the mechanism's first class? If I was playing a significant amount of piccolo I would probably bite the bullet and get a Yamaha YPC-62 on the Arts Council's Take It Away scheme if funds were really tight.

I'm sorry, but you will probably struggle to get a piccolo that is worth having for £200 - even on the secondhand market. The piccolo is a harder instrument to play than the flute, and you will struggle if you are having to fight against a poor quality instrument. It is generally a lot harder to get a good sound and accurate intonation out of a picc compared with a flute, and the cheap instruments tend to have problems in both these areas. A piccolo is not simply a mini flute - the embouchure is not entirely the same and there also some differences in terms of what you do with your diagphragm because the piccolo exaggerates things like vibrato.

The YPC-32 is generally regarded to be by far the best starter piccolo (and I say this as someone who doesn't really like yamaha instruments). It has a good mechanism and has a resonably reliable sound across the full range of the instrument. Although intonation can still be problematic with the YPC-32, it is generally better than with other starter piccolos. However, as you have persumably noticed, these retail at over £200 on the secondhand market. I have heard good things about the Pearl grenaditte piccolo (although I've never played one myself) - but I think you'll find that these are more expensive than the Yamaha YPC-32 and as a newer instrument there are probably less available on the secondhand market.

I don't paticularly like the tone of the YPC-32 (and also don't generally like the sound of yamaha flutes). I started with the headjoint supplied but now use a wooden Philip Hammig headjoint instead of the yamaha one, which gives a much richer sound in the lower octave and a sweeter sound in the top octave. However, this is a more expensive option than the basic yamaha because of the additional cost of the headjoint and the cost of getting the instrument regulated to the alternative headjoint. It is probably best to use the headjoint supplied to start with, as these are fairly easy headjoints to play (plus they have a lip-plate similar to a flute, which a lot of piccs don't have), and then once you're more competent think about upgrading.

Good like with your hunt.

I got a TJ a couple of years ago and it plays fine, by contrast I've never particularly liked Yamaha piccolos (or flutes for that matter). I think it really depends what you're used to and how you play it, the best idea is probably to try a few and see which one(s) you like.

The idea behind ABS resin is to get a sound more like a wooden instrument without the expense, hence why starter/some intermediate clarinets use it. You may actually prefer it to the metal headjoints so it's worth trying one if you can and comparing it.

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies.
I'm sort of in two minds over what to do now about the piccolo...I really won't be able to spend any extra money but I really would like a piccolo. I'm not sure about the gear4music one - it sounds slightly too good to be true, but there is one with a gold plated headjoint on the johnpacker website, which will presumably have a sweeter tone than a standard silver plated headjoint. Also, will one like the plastic headjoint on the gear4music piccolo, which doesn't have a lip plate, be much more difficult to play than the metal type? I'm sort of thinking that the plastic one might possibly have a less piercing tone, which would be better, but then it might have issues with the mechanism etc. Any thoughts?

Thanks again

I have the JP piccolo with goldplated h-j -it must be a couple of years old now and it works fine - a pro flute/piccolo player has played it and says it plays better than most student(y) piccolos. I also have a Pearl piccolo and it is a much superior instrument - though it doesn't have the lip plate like the JP it isn't a problem.

My first piccolo was a gear4music one (the one with the metal headjoint) and it was absolutely horrific! A few months later I got so fed up of struggling aginst it that I used my savings to buy a YPC-62 and I haven't looked back since. I'm a bit annoyed that I wasted £120 on a useless instrument in the process though. Piccolos are the type of instrument where you want a good one pretty much from the start.