first - sorry, sorry, sorry, I know this is BAD, but I can’t seem to change him…
Noah plays {{shudder}} the recorder. I know, I am a terrible parent. He also played “Whiskey 'Fore Breakfast” on the noseflute, so hopefully that will help in his salvation.
Anyway, since he DOES play this… this… thing, I want to get him a nice one, nicer than his current plastic one. Don’t want to go way overboard (it IS still a recorder!), but was wondering if anyone would actually own up and could give me some recommendations (along with possible purchasing outlets) for wooden ones. Soprano range (I know, even worse).
I’m hoping it’s just a teen thing and he’ll one day see the light, but till then, I’ll just suffer…
In my experience and from what I have been told by others in the R456098743er arena you have to dig deep to get a really nice wooden recorder. REALLY DEEP! Now, as mentioned, you can find some decent ones for less than a couple hundred, but to get one in the quality level associated with the great whistles you have to spend HUNDREDS, many multiple hundreds of dollars.
If you don’t have much to spend, you may want to consider a better quality plastic recorder. Yamaha makes a woodgrain/ivory-color-trim that is very good … a lot better than some of the cheaper wood recorders. Look for the Yamaha-woodgrain-Rottenburgh at the link below.
For a higher-end wood recorder at a decent price, you may want to look at Moeck, also at the link below. The maple soprano Rottenburgh is about $100 and the same in an alto is about $250. I’ve had the alto since I was 15, which is … ummm … a long time, and it is really very good. The boxwood ones are even better. I’m assuming that the design and quality hasn’t changed in all these years.
Here’s a link to get you started - it’s where I bought my plastic recorders. These folks also used to voice and repair recorders, but I don’t see that service on the website now.
They take a good quality plastic recorder and revoice it by replacing the plastic plug with a wooden one. I don’t have one, but I have heard good things about them. They aren’t too expensive, either.
Somewhere in the range of $1000-$2000, depending on if you’re going for a soprano or alto (tenors can be even more expensive), and what wood the instrument is made of.
I agree with Lisa’s comments. (If you’re new to the board, I suppose I should mention that I work at a shop in Boston that makes very expensive wooden recorders, however it’s not my intention to post an advertisement, so I won’t mention the name. Never the less, in addition to our fine hand made recorders, we also sell new and used recorders from other makers, so we have lots of experience with most of what’s out there.)
Having said that, the Yamaha recorders mentioned above, offer the best bang for the buck of any recorders we’ve run across. The Moeck mentioned above is an excellent design, although I will say that we do some additional work to the Moecks we sell.
Then there are always used instruments, which can often be the best way to get into a decent wooden instrument for less money.
I’m no Recorder expert,Missy,so I can’t give you any Sage like answer,but a few interesting suggestions have already been made.
Good Wooden Recorders are expensive,so maybe ‘high level’ plastic may be an answer.
The lee Collins tweaked Zen-on Soprano gets some good write ups (I have the untweaked Zen-on 'wood grained plastic models -I like the soprano-the Alto is rather ‘reedy’).
Strictly on looks,I like the Mollenhauer ‘Denner’ model over Moek’s ‘Rottenburgh’.
A good source of advice is the Yahoo Recorder group (the recorder worlds ‘chiff and fipple’) http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/recorder/
I’ll second Loren’s comments. Used recorders from a reputable source can be a terrific value. My wife has a Maple Rottenburg (Moeck) that we bought used from the shop where Loren works, and she loves it.
I would save your money for now until you find out if you son is really going to stick with the recorder. The plastic Yamaha’s mentioned above are truly superb musical instruments , capable of playing ANYTHING in the recorder literature. The fact that they are virtually maintanence free is a plus too. If your son is still an avid player when he graduates high school, buy him a fine wooden one then as a gift.
As luck would have it Paul, we’re just finishing up a small batch of Rippert Altos now, I’ll be filing and dying the tone holes tomorrow, in preparation to send them out to a show. I just finished turning another 80 or so Boxwood Rippert heads yesterday…we never have enough of the darn things, however the one Amar Special ordered, with the prissy little Ivory rings, will be ready shortly.
Sorry to those who might be offended for me suggesting this, but why don’t you just tell your son that recorders are for wusses and that its time for him to grow up a little and pick up a whistle.
Maybe that won’t fly, so here’s my other suggestion. Buy him a nice whistle and tell him that its a new recorder design. Come up with something nice and elaborate. C’mon, won’t be the first time a parent has ever lied to a child… my parents certainly weren’t above it.
The Yamaha woodgrains are very well done. I got a set (I think from the website listed above) for less than $50. Soprano and Alto. The soprano in “Ebony” and the Alto in “Rosewood”. They both look and feel incredibly wood-like. The fit and finish was perfect on both. I have put them up against real blackwood and boxwood recorders and their sound quality rivals the wooden ones in my opinion. I would say the tonal color (vs a real wooden recorder) is not beyond the variance you would expect from one wood type to another. It’s that close to the real thing.
They are very playable with a nice full tone, agile in octave switching and dead on A=440 tuning with baroque fingering.
Plus as a casual recorder player, I don’t have to watch for humidity problems, don’t have to oil them, can pick them up after months of not playing them and blow for hours without worrying about them cracking.
