Advice needed...purchase??

robinlbe

A friend of mine was given a wooden piccolo, M. Zentner (Roy Seaman's Primary Craftsman) serial # 791.
It has been taken care of very well, but he is needing to sell it.
I don't know how old the piccolo is, but my guess is that it's over ten years old. He is asking $1000. I have always wanted a wooden piccolo, as I have played the same Armstrong since 1977!

What do you think??
 
Yo, Toby. Where you at, dude?

Anyhow, doing a rather brief Google search, that's a beyond excellent price, provided the horn's in good shape -- even if it's Gemeinhardt made. I don't play flute or piccolo, but I have heard the name "Zertner" before, so that either means it's good ... or really bad :).

According to http://en.allexperts.com/q/Flute-2059/Piccolo-1.htm, "[The] 'Zentner' model was the student version of the the 'Seaman' piccolo" and "Since the late 1990's Gemeinhardt has been making the Seaman and Zenter piccolos as Gemeinhardt purchased the name from Roy Seaman. However, I have it on good advice that the quality is not anything like it was when Roy Seaman was making them! So I wouldn't recommend a new Zentner."

So, quality might depend a bit on the age, but it's still a good price.

You could always contact Gemeinhardt to determine the age of the piccolo.
 
robinlbe said:
A friend of mine was given a wooden piccolo, M. Zentner (Roy Seaman's Primary Craftsman) serial # 791.
It has been taken care of very well, but he is needing to sell it.
I don't know how old the piccolo is, but my guess is that it's over ten years old. He is asking $1000. I have always wanted a wooden piccolo, as I have played the same Armstrong since 1977!

What do you think??
Click to expand...

I think I'd want to play it first, just as I would with the purchase of any used instrument.
 
I think it is a pretty good pic, but I have never played one so I can't state that authoritatively. $1000 seems like a killer price if it is in good shape. I'm seeing one on a web search for $1700, appraised at $2500. New ones seem to go for about $2000 up. Number 791 is a very low serial number, so I would guess that it is way pre-Gemeinhardt.

Allow me to gloat here: About a year ago I was in a local second-hand shop in Japan called "Hard Off" (no kidding). There are a chain of these, which deal in used hardware (computers, cameras, AV stuff, video games and boxes) as well as the occasional musical instrument. I was checking out the junk floor and spied a piccolo in a showcase. It was all wrapped up in clear plastic so I couldn't read the name, but it was in a nice little case and it looked like wood, so I asked to see it. They unwrapped it and I looked on the body, only to see the words "Philipp Hammig". The asking price was $200 and I couldn't get the money out of my pocket fast enough. It turns out to be a model 650-3 in absolutley mint shape, about 20 years old.

I don't think I will live long enough to ever see another deal like that...

Toby
 
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