Product Reviews: Guo "New Voice" Composite Piccolo

I originally bought this piccolo in white 2 years ago for playing outdoors, I had heard about them being ideally suited to temperature changes and impervious to weather and thought I'd give it a go as I was at the time in a marching band.

It didn't disappoint at all in terms of weather resistance but I found in actual fact for a piccolo costing less than a grand it is actually really lovely to play in general not just outdoors. It's got a lovely tone, is really responsive, I just love it. I always use it for practising at home and have ended up playing it far more than my better piccolo (a professional standard grenadilla number costing 10 times as much as this!)

Also definitely worth mentioning for busy (read lazy) people, this needs no extravagant care routine, no polishing silver, no bore oil, I just do a quick pull through after playing to dry it and pop it back in the case so it's ideal if you like to have a quick play when you have 5 minutes spare without having to then spend 10 minutes cleaning.

Finally, it looks cool. I know that shouldn't be a top priority but it's a nice bonus. People always ask me about it when I play.

I have the grey GUO piccolo, and it is a lovely light piccolo with a nice sound and range of "moods", like any good piccolo should.

One very good thing is that I don't worry about rain when I march outdoor any more. As with all piccolo you might have water clogging the keys, you cannot prevent moist from entering the instrument as you exhale, so you have to wipe the piccolo's inside.

Tha colour-range can give you a fun colour, too. I like the grey colour, it looks like a greyish metal-instrument from a distance.