Review of Guo Tocco Flute

Irish Flute
1

I didn’t want to post this under the “Environmentally Friendly” thread because in this review I won’t be addressing the environmental issue.

The Guo Tocco flute is a student level Boehm-style polymer flute from Guo of Taiwan. I have no connection to that company or any dealer.

My Reason for Buying It - I wanted a Boehm-style flute that I could leave out and assembled without tarnishing. I know tarnish doesn’t affect the sound of a flute, but it bugs me.

Impressions:

1.) Tone – It’s not a silver flute. A silver flute has a certain resonance to it. It gets on my nerves after a while. This flute sounds more like a wooden flute and I’m glad of that.

2.) Playability – I’m a lousy musician, but I press on. This flute is very easy to play, mostly because of #3.

3.) Comfort –This is a big issue for me. The Tocco is light as a feather. It has a raised pad on the G key which makes for a comfortable hand position, at least for my smallish hands. The body material is textured so it’s easy to hold on to.

4.) Aesthetics – I got the “Aquamarine” color, which is really more like light slate grey. I think it’s really elegant and sophisticated looking, but I like the clean modern look. The case carries the flute fully assembled. It is metal with clear top and bottom, so you can see the flute. Might help with the TSA. The case sits in a bag, also with clear top and bottom, and a shoulder strap. Altogether it’s pretty chic.

5.) Price – About the same as the Yamaha student flute. The price is fair.

6.) Durability – Seems solid. Time will tell.

7.) Convenience – You can leave it assembled and out of the case. The headjoint can be cleaned with soapy water when needed and the body wiped with alcohol.

8.) Negatives – I can’t seem to push it too hard.

9.) Other – For me, the flute has a fun aura. It’s a happy toot.

Recommendation – It you want a low maintenance Boehm-style flute that sounds more like wood than metal, then this is a good choice. Actually it’s the only choice, except for Guo’s high end Grenaditte flutes or a carbon fiber flute, also very expensive.

Kim

2

Interesting, nice to see yet another option available to flute players.
Standard pads on the Keys? I know little about flute repair, so I don’t know if this is even an issue.

3

No, the pads aren’t the usual material. I don’t know what they are made of but the flute as a whole seems to be geared to low maintenance, so I would suspect that whatever it is would be durable. The care sheet says that pads can be dried if needed in the usual way, by tapping dehumidified paper (most people use cigarette rolling paper) between the keys.

Kim

4

Hey Kim,

Thanks for the review! :slight_smile:

I am curious about the GUO flutes. I’ve read that they are attempting to make their flutes sound more like classical Baroque flutes. Here’s a link to a youtube (plays a Baroque flute till about 1:50) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJhtWp6qxDc

5

Man, these look neat! Looks like a great way to contemporize the concert flute for a new generation. What about the embouchure? Is it moulded? I would be a little hesitant about an embouchure that wasn’t hand finished - inexpensive delrin simple flutes still have a hand finished embouchure.

6

Could you elaborate on this?

7

Really unimpressed with the marketing effort. It sounds nothing like a baroque (traverso) flute. It looks nothing like a baroque traverso, and is designed nothing like a baroque traverso.

It’s a fine alternative flute for Boehm players - I demo’d a New Voice one and it was pleasing in its warmer tone; not as bright. Dynamics are easy to push. Lipping and baroque intonation is not possible (or at least not audible for me). It requires the stronger TKTK tonguing for articulation.

It’s almost shocking to think that they even use that clip to market it for baroque traverso players.

is a much better introduction to the baroque traverso than the Guo hybrid.

8

I don’t know about that. For their New Voice flutes they advertise a hand cut embouchure, but not for this one.

The embouchure is slightly smaller than my silver flute and a tad less rectangular, but still lips about the same.

Kim

9

What I mean is that it seems to have its best tone at a lower level of breath intensity than my silver flute. It’s not as loud, too. That’s fine with me. I want to work on more gentle playing with subtleties. I always want to devolve into a rock/blues thrash, which is fun and has the added benefit that I don’t have to be that good to sound cool :slight_smile: But it’s time for something else!

Kim

10

I totally agree!

The Tocco is not a Baroque flute at all. The Aulos is the way to go for the beginner Baroque flutist. However, if someone has money for just one flute, and wants to play Baroque as well as other styles, the Guo would be a better choice than the Aulos and also better than a silver flute.

Kim

11

Hi Kim, thanks for the review. It looks really cool and the choice of colours seem delicious. When you say it’s not as loud as a silver flute, is it a lot softer? Or perhaps 20%, 30% etc softer. Can you give some estimation? I don’t want a flute to be overly soft as well

Thanks

12

Well, as I’ve been playing it more I’ve been able to get more volume out of it, especially on the low notes. It’s a matter of adjusting my embouchure.

It’s not really a soft flute in the sense of, say, a Baroque flute. It is capable of a muscular sound. It just does not have the “edge” that a silver flute has.

I am really loving this flute. I am not disciplined enough to have practice time. With the Guo I can pick it up and play a little when I walk by the shelf. It looks cool on the shelf, too!

Kim

13

Hello Kim

Great, thanks for your reply. Hope you are able to update more about the Tocco when you have played on it more

14

Interesting thread. But how is this flute a better choice at its price (around $700, wasn’t it?) than a decent starter silver flute (Pearl, for example)? If it sounds nothing like a Baroque (and I can’t see how it would), and you want to play other styles - perhaps with some edge and volume, or with clearer articulation - how is it a better choice than a silver? Less maintainance, perhaps? BTW - Boehms can be played quite softly, so if it’s a gentler approach you’re after… Availability of volume and using it are not necessary exclusive…

Not trying to be a curmudgeon, but if this flute falls short of both Baroque and regular silver flute possibilities, how can it be the better choice?

15

To answer Gordon based on the marketing of this flute, the reason to go with the Guo is for the tone quality being more “wood” like rather than metal. I’ve never played the flute, but I think the OP said this was a main reason to choose it.

16

Got that, but not sold on the concept that a softer sound is more ‘wooden’. Also, since other comments were that it required more tonguing for articulation and could not be pushed, it seems it has far less advantages than disadvantages against a good student silver or, say, a similarly priced keyed conical (decent German antique or keyed M&E, say.) I can think of some advantages for this flute, mind, particularly with young student players, but not enough for serious learners; it seems created to inspire an almost immediate upgrade to a better flute.

17

I’m the person who originally posted the review.

I would just like to point out that my evaluation of the playing capabilities of this flute should be taken as coming from someone who is not a great flutist. Any inadequacies are probably mine. For example, I originally posted that I could not push the flute too hard, but I have adjusted my embouchure and now that is not so true. Yes, it is not as loud as my silver flute, not yet anyway.

For me, the main advantages of this flute are comfort and the convenience of polymer. That means I play more. The more I play the better I’ll get. Will I want to upgrade? Probably, when I get to a level that deserves it. If I get to that level faster with this flute since I play it more, so much the better!

Kim

18

Here’s a nice clip to give a sense of what the Guo Tocco sounds like and is capable of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym73vdVoNBU

19

There’s another plastic orchestral flute- the ‘Nuvo flute’, which I believe is from the same person who who the clarineo (plastic clarinet)?

http://www.kurtjacob.com.au/NuvoFlutes.html

Here’s a clip of it being played quite well-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFwhLEMglYk

It’s much cheaper than the Guo plastic flute, being around £120 in the UK.

One of the main points of these flutes isn’t necessarily to be a high-end flute: it’s more about producing a flute that’s suitable for beginners that doesn’t need the sometimes inconvenient care that goes with a standard silver flute (e.g. you can leave it permanently assembled, pick it up and play whenever you want, not have to replace aged pads etc).

Reminiscient of what’s happened with Irish flute now there are good delrin/plastic options, which, similarly, don’t need the constant care and attention of wooden flutes, and, make a good, well-tuned flute more financially available to beginners.

Of course, the good delrin flutes, as well as being ideal for beginners, are also good for any level, e.g. the Copley/Forbes etc.

Plastic orchestral flutes are much newer technology, but, I’m guessing that in the near future, there are going to be more and more plastic versions of all instruments.

20

Nice. Approx. $200 in the U.S.