Hi! I'm finally back on 8notes :D

I am in the market for a wooden piccolo without a lip plate. The piccolo will be used for marching. Budget: ~700 U$. I want something light, loud, and well built.

Suggestions? Thanks!

hi. Generally wooden piccolos are much more expensive than your limiting price range and aren't always suited for marching bands.
Try a "plastic" one. I understand that the Guo company makes a decent enough thing for marching (Submersible)....and it comes in assorted colors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuwSIdZgvAY

I have an Antigua piccolo. It cost roughly 600 Canadian brand new. It has a resin body with metal headjoint and keys. Mine has 24k gold played keys and headjoint, which is pretty good for 600$. It sounds great, and the keys are comfortable. It has split E too. The dark resin also makes it look like the body is closer to wood than plastic or metal body.

Please please PLEASE don't use a wooden piccolo for marching band. It will crack under the temperature changes, if not the rough nature of the activity itself. Get a plastic (or ABS resin) piccolo with a metal headjoint. Yamaha and Jupiter make lovely piccs of that nature. Gemeinhardts are probably cheaper, but I would recommend the Yamaha or Jupiter before the Gemmie.

I've heard Yamaha YPC-32 is the most common picc for students to use. Rasin body, metal headjoint, about $1000 I believe.
I own one myself and am generally happy with it. It does have somewhat airy low and shrill high register compared to pro piccs (youtube has tons of videos of people playing it so you can judge yourself) but that's what you get for that money. I've heard that there are less tuning problems with wholly rasin piccs which Yamaha also makes, though these are more expensive.

It's practically impossible to get anything pro level (esp wood) with that budget unless you happen to stumble upon something used. I think Yamaha rasin piccs are your best option. They are slightly more expensive than the price you named but generally highly rated.

I have tried the Pearl piccolo made from Grenaditte, a polymer material that looks a bit like ABS. It played surprisingly well for what I needed it for, and my thought is that you probably can buy a wood head joint for the Pearl for "indoor" or concert work. Hope this works for you.

I play a Pearl Grennadite piccolo, I use it for Marching, and for concerts and its great for both. The intunation is flawless,its better than the proffesional wooden yamaha I borrowed for awhile, and I only payed about 850. A little higher than you wanted. If its too high I would recomend a jupiter all plastic piccolo. They play very well for a plastic picc.