Plastic Travel Flute: Nuvo, Guo Tocco or Guo New Voice?

[juliette.davies]

Hello Everyone,

I'm heading out backpacking this summer and wish to take a flute with me, but my everyday flute is too expensive for this journey. Last time I went travelling I took a Doug Tipple open hole D plastic flute, which was fun and I enjoyed it, but it was a bit of a stretch for my hands and I found that I was missing being able to play in whatever key I fancied.

So to my excitement I recently saw the range of plastic flutes the Nuvo, Guo Tocco and Guo New Voice. They look ideal, but the question is which one? It seems to be difficult to find a stockist in the UK to try any of these out, which whould obviously be the easiest way to sort out this problem! Ideally I would go for the cheapest one (Nuvo - as this is for travelling) but is the sound good enough, or will it just be frustrating (I am grade 8 player)? Is the Guo Tocco at four times the price worth it? Or should I go for the Guo New voice, right at the end of the budget and really is more than I want to spend on a flute for travelling? What if I lost it - disaster!

I have watched the following videos which look promising. But I would like some feedback from some owners/people who have played them to see what you would recommend for my dilema!

Nuvo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFwhLEMglYk
Guo Tocco http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym73vdVoNBU

Thanks in advance! I hope some of you will be able to help me!

J

[Sillydill]

Hey Juliette,

I have a Nuvo J-flute and I enjoy it.

I like that it is always assembled, out and ready to play (No muss no fuss!). The flute is so light and made entirely of plastic, this produces a lot of vibration that can make the flute sound like it has resonators on it (like a saxophone), sometimes I enjoy this effect, other times it drives me crazy! I appreciate the strong bottom octave, but this is a compromise, the 3rd octave + aren't very brilliant. The focus on the bottom end is a good trade-off for me, since I prefer to generally play an octave lower.

Happy Hunting!

[ImNotIrish]

Go for the pink one ( 2nd video)!

[juliette.davies]

Thanks for your feedback Sillydill! A silly question but I assume that you can seperate the Nuvo flute into 3 pieces like a normal flute? The plus with the plastic flutes is that you can leave them assembled for as you want, yes? It's good to know about the pluses and weaknesses in the sound particularly in the 3rd octave, but for £100 ish I would be amazed if it was flawless. Not sure how I feel about it sounding like it has resonators, hmm. But the fact you enjoy playing it most of the time is definatly a plus.

Anyone know how the sound on the Guo Tocco/New Voice compares with this?

ImNotIrish - I'm not just going for an instrument because it is pink! The fact is comes in 12 colours is appealing but the criterial are a) durability for traveling b) sound c) price and d) colour! Thanks anyway, I will tally that as one vote to pink should I choose that instrument

[Sillydill]

Hey J,

The Nuvo J-flute is so compact it fits in its' case fully assembled. Here's a picture of the disassembled J-flute:



A kit can be purchased to add the C-keys to the foot and a straight head. It was reported that additional embouchure inserts would be available in the future to alter the flute's tone/playability (but I haven't found any yet).

Here's where I got mine (I know you are on the other side of the pond): http://www.blockiflute.com/Nuvo-Flutes- ... _c_69.html

The Nuvo flutes are novel and cheap, the tuning is quite good and I enjoy playing it in the bottom two octaves. But I would certainly expect the Guo flutes to be better serious instruments. See Review: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=89226

BTW: The Nuvo gets buzzy when pushed/played hard and loud, it's not really an issue when playing softly. Another option would be to find an antique ebonite flute. I have a Besson Boehm Eb flute that is a Brilliant player and low maintenance!

[mutepointe]

Since you're backpacking, have you considered a walking cane flute?

[I.D.10-t]

For backpacking, I'm surprised you are not looking for something keyless with a tapered body or even a smaller F or G tipple flute. Fewer moving parts to get dirty, etc. I take it you only want the fully chromatic key system?

[juliette.davies]

A walking cane flute, ha ha.

When I say backpacking the reality is more like wheelie suitcasing, so there its room
store something that is durable reasonably safely so long as it is not to huge! A far as I can the "plastic" flutes are no bigger than normal and should pack down compactly. Though if anyone feels this is not the case then let me know!

ID 10t - I did consider going for another Tipple flute, but I am so used to my chromatic keys I really missed them last time I traveled. I like to join in with whatever is musically going on, not everyone always starts singing in a friendly open hole related key and it is so frustrating! I guess it's also because I an not normally an "open holer" that my playing never feels quite as good to start with. To know you can do something but not be able to is also very frustrating! I hope that makes sense.

So I think the short answer is yes I want chromatic , unless there is a compelling answer not to.

[I.D.10-t]

Ah, so not out in the sticks by the campfire. Of course the best thing would be able to find the flute at a nearby store to give it a test run, but they are not as common as the Yamaha and other flutes out there*.
Good luck in your search.

One thing I wonder about is what benefit the Guo Tocco flute would bring over another similarly priced flute. Weight? The Nuvo seems to fill a more unique need.

*Looks like London is the only place in the UK that has a distributor.

[ImNotIrish]

Thanks for your feedback Sillydill! A silly question but I assume that you can seperate the Nuvo flute into 3 pieces like a normal flute? The plus with the plastic flutes is that you can leave them assembled for as you want, yes? It's good to know about the pluses and weaknesses in the sound particularly in the 3rd octave, but for £100 ish I would be amazed if it was flawless. Not sure how I feel about it sounding like it has resonators, hmm. But the fact you enjoy playing it most of the time is definatly a plus.

Anyone know how the sound on the Guo Tocco/New Voice compares with this?

ImNotIrish - I'm not just going for an instrument because it is pink! The fact is comes in 12 colours is appealing but the criterial are a) durability for traveling b) sound c) price and d) colour! Thanks anyway, I will tally that as one vote to pink should I choose that instrument

[juliette.davies]

Thanks for the ideas.It looks like in this case the Nuvo is more suited to what I need. It's a good point about what extra do I get for the guo tocco that I couldn't get with a cheap silver flute for traveling (though a pointed out it would be lighter). For traveling, the GUO new voice despite having features I desire would be to much of a worry in my pack. However, having read the thread about the tocco I am still tempted. By it. It is a lovely color, had a nice case seems to sound better and therefore would probably be more useful after traveling. The only way I can compare the two directly would be to order one of each and return the one I don't like. Hmm...

Has anyone actually had a go at playing both the Nuvo and guo Tocco and can give me a direct comparison? if the GUO tocco one was £250 I would be sold, but at £450 (in comparison to the Nuvos £100) is the instrument and sound really that much better?

Thanks again

[juliette.davies]

Having now tried both the Nuvo and the Guo Tocco I thought I should leave a (brief) review in case anyone else was trying to decide between the two or wanted to know a little bit more. I decided that the Guo New Voice was too expensive for what I needed so i'm afraid I won't be able to mention it here. I don't profess to being an expert, I just thought it might help someone to know what I thought, as I know that a review would have helped me.

Nuvo Student Straight Head- English £100ish

Length: Same length as a normal silver flute but a little bit wider, it looks a bit more chunky.

Sound: It arrived first and I was surprised by the sound, It is a proper fully chromatic instrument with a pleasant enough tone, better than I was expecting for the money. That said the bottom two octaves are the clearest, the third octave it a bit of a struggle near the top end though the notes are attainable if you really try. The sound is a little breathy especially when compared directly next to the Tocco, and you have to work harder to get it to be more expressive. The keys do click more than the Tocco, though this can be reduced slightly by tightening the key caps (as they are removable) with the little rubber device which is easy to do. In terms of the "vibrations" that someone else mentioned there is a bit of this but it seems to be inconsistent somewhere around the second octave D,E,F. Pressing harder on the keys improved it so I have since adjusted the key height of the F key slightly and so far have had no further problems, though it is to early to claim that this is solved. Saying that the “vibrations” only appear to be noticeable to the person playing the instrument and not to a person listening.

Anything else?: You can take it apart (unlike the Tocco) and it comes with a nice selection of beginner features which they can tell you all about on their website. I haven’t been able to try out the alternative beginner lip plate as I was one rubber short, but it looks like a good idea for real beginners especially as do the key extensions for little fingers too. The student version is black with silver coloured key caps, though the website claims you can get different coloured keycaps from somewhere if you feel like it.


Guo Tocco – English £450

Length: It is a little bit shorter than a standard silver flute. It is a little bit wider as well but it does not look as chunky as the Nuvo. I did not test it out for that long but the top thumb key just felt a little different as if the angle was slightly more than my normal instrument. It was not a problem, but I did notice it every time I picked it up.

Sound: The sound is much better, but then is should be for £350 pounds more! It is easy to get the notes across all octaves and it is more fun to play as it invites you to add shaping to the sound rather than having to work for it. I really enjoyed using it.

Anything else?: It comes in 12 colours! That is exciting enough. You are not able to take it apart though and it comes with the world’s longest cleaning stick! The case is stylish, but a little heavier than I expected.



Overall Verdict:
I thought it was going to be really tough to choose between the two. Every time I picked up the Tocco I was impressed with how easy and enjoyable it was to play, and then every time I picked up the Nuvo I was surprised at the sound it made considering the price difference. £350 is a lot extra if it was just for the colour! The tone is much better on the Tocco, but for my purpose it’s not £350 worth of better. If I was choosing it as a main instrument I would have to strongly consider another users comment about why I was choosing it over a similar priced metal model. Without doing a direct comparison I can’t tell. If however it’s for medical reasons then the weight is great and I would defiantly go for the Tocco, and hey it is very cool looking! As i’m personally looking for an instrument to take travelling the Nuvo did enough to please me and I think it would also be good as a relatively inexpensive a beginner instrument. It is still giving me a surprise every time I pick it up as for some reason I always seem to think it is not going to be good, but actually it’s ok. If however money was no object I would have a Guo Tocco in my bag. If the Tocco was around £200-250 pounds (total price) then I would still have a Tocco in my bag. However , I am happy with my Nuvo and pleased i’ve found a cheap chromatic plastic flute that works – hurrah!

I hope that that will be useful for someone. Feel free to agree/disagree – it may help someone else decide what they want!

[mutepointe]

Thanks for giving your final feedback. I learned stuff. If you happen to find yourself harassed by woodland animals, remember, you "ha ha'd" the walking cane flute and that you are happy with your nuvo.

Just curious, what kind of backpacking is done with suitcases on wheels? Is that really a resort hotel in a country setting?

[juliette.davies]

you'd be amazed how far a suitcase on wheels will go! You might think that you need to take a backpack, but often a suitcase will do. Also on the plus side you don't have to carry it, you can sit on it (while bored at various airports) and its easier to find stuff. Admittedly it is difficult to get it on a motorbike or to take it into the wilderness, but a large size daybag inside the suitcase is more than sufficient if I fancy a few days in less accessible places.