Has anyone ever brought a piccolo off ebay? Are the really bad?

I don't play flute anywhere just at home really, and I want a piccolo to play some parts on now...but the ones are the store are to much(800-1,000). Are the ones on ebay complete crap and not worth my time or are some good?

As with most other things on eBay, there's a huge range. The vast majority of piccs you'll see on there are crap, and will likely fall apart and be next to impossible to repair (even for the best of techs), not to mention the poorly constructed scale (Very difficult to play in tune), less than perfect mechanisms, and unusual headjoints. Some are decent name brand instruments, and there is even the occasional auction for pro quality stuff. Without a decent knowledge of the various brands, and what to look for in an instrument, I would not suggest buying off eBay. I have bought instruments from there, and been pretty lucky with what I got, but I have a pretty good concept of which ones are worth buying, and what their real market value is. Chances are you are not going to get a decent picc for less than $500 if you're set on buying new, but if you're willing to buy used, you may be able to find an instrument even cheaper. Keep in mind, though that most instruments, whether new or used, will require some work from a competent tech to put them in prime playing order, and add some extra cost to the purchase price.

I am very impressed with a Venus piccolo I bought on ebay - much cheaper than the ones listed today. Its much better than some other well known brand piccolos I bought and needed repairs (also on ebay). This highlights two problems with buying without trying the instrument: you don't know if the instrument you buy will be typical, worse or better; and if its second hand then it may benefit from a service.

Obviously, many people who work in the musical instrument sales and service industry don't like lower priced insruments because they can't sell enough of them or justify repair charges. If you can find a progressive instrument shop they will sell you a low cost (usually Taiwanese flute or piccolo) with a warranty - and of course you can try it and compare it with branded instruments before you buy!

As far as I have heard, the Venus piccolos can be hit and miss. I bought one just to see what they would be like and I ended up sending it back. The intonation was all over the place on it and the third register would barely come out. One of my friends also bought one and said the same thing.

You can get good name brand piccs on ebay, but almost all of them are going to need work done to them. They have a few new Gemeinhardt piccs from time to time that are pretty inexpensive. They look pretty good.

>>They have a few new Gemeinhardt piccs from time to time that are pretty inexpensive. They look pretty good.
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Right. They are from the same seller, who apparently does a big volume ebay business. If the model you want isn't there now, wait a few days, and it will most likely return. Most are available at a pretty good "Buy Now" price, although you can bid if you want to try to shave a little off the price.

I absolutely would not recommend a Venus piccolo to anyone as anything other than a novelty. I have played several, and had the same experience Kara mentioned (in fact, one played nearly a quarter tone flat when you fingered G). These problems are not things that beginners on the piccolo should have to face (or more advanced musicians for that matter), and as there are much better built piccolos available for not much more, there's no reason to go the Venus route.

In regards to the repair techs:
My own flute/picc repair guy will NOT repair a cheap Venus/no-name instrument.
His rationale is this: most of the instruments are made with pot-metal which is really, really soft and will not hold an adjustment. If he DID repair the instrument, he could probably get it back into playing condition, but it would be a difficult and time consuming (read EXPENSIVE) repair. Very soon after the instrument goes back to the owner, a new issue is very likely to come up.

So... the tech is protecting his reputation for providing good repairs at a reasonable price, that he can guarantee. He absolutely does not want someone to gripe that it cost $200 to fix a $85 piccolo, and it was broken again in a week. (Implying that he overcharges, and does shoddy work.)

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Try www.flutestar.com if you want a good quality, used piccolo for a reasonable price. Nancy Shinn rebuilds decent quality flutes and piccs. If you go this route, your piccolo will be ready to play, with a recent overhaul and new pads to put it in excellent playing condition.

Nancy has 3 or 4 piccolos under $550, a Yamaha 32 and an Armstrong among them. (These are recommend-able models for a first time piccolo player.)

Nancy has done clean, oil and adjust work on my good instruments, and she does a very nice job.

eBay would be a real gamble. Once you buy a used instrument there's no telling what it will cost to get it into playing condition. And the cheap, new piccolos are generally of very poor quality.

most of the instruments are made with pot-metal which is really, really soft and will not hold an adjustment

I had assumed this was one of the myths spread by people with a vested interest in not importing Chinese and other Asian instruments. Certainly, all the "cheap" instruments I've seen in recent years have had re-enforcing strips and are made of harder metal alloy than some "high quality professional" instruments. Obvious any lacquer finish does present a different challenge - and soldering will damage the lacquer.

I have difficulty imagining an adjustment such as those made with adjusting screws or cork thickness which would "not hold". Bending a key or a rod is likely to stress the metal but in this case its the solder joint not the metal which is most likely to give.

These sorts of remarks remind me of when Yamaha were beginning to sell instruments in the UK (where I live). Boosey and Hawkes (later Besson) tried hard to discredit very sound instruments. Perhaps some Chinese factory is dumping second rate instruments on the US market just like Boosey & Hawkes used to label any substandard instrument as a student instrument

Of course, today numerous student branded instruments are made is Asia (which tend to hold their resale value) as well as many unknown or unbranded instruments which usually have a poor resale value. IMHO, combined with delays getting spare parts these are best reasons for buying a branded student instrument.

It's not really the softness of the metal that matters, though pot metal is softer. It's the fact that it melts at lower temperatures, so if you were to try to solder something, you could very well just put a hole in the picc. It's not at all a myth that pot metal makes these instruments very difficult to repair, nor is it a myth that these instruments involve pot metal. I assume the "reinforcing strips" you mentioned refer to the ribs, which are actually a standard part of piccolo construction these days, and not a mark of quality, nor lack of quality. How did you test the hardness of these metal alloys, anyway? In looking for an adjustment thaty wouldn't hold, you need look no further than a poorly constructed adjustment screw which can back out, and throw off the mech. I agree that a name brand instrument is the best way to go.

I just bought a Venus flute off of ebay for $35 just for kicks. I have seen thier piccs, but never one of their flutes.

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Sorry, thEir. I swear I have dyslexia sometimes!