Yamaha YRS-302B Professional Soprano Recorder with Baroque Fingering

 Fantastic Value
This Yamaha recorder provides fantastic quality for the price. The Soprano YRS-302B is durable, comfortable, and sounds surprisingly nice. It will meet the needs of most casual players.

 Great instrument for the price
For the price, this recorder is one of the best plastic ones out there. If you are thinking about trying the recorder, I would highly recommend this one over the cheaper ones. The cheaper ones tend to sound shrill when you start playing the higher notes. I think that's part of the reason why recorders have such a bad reputation; kids shrieking on their school issued recorders can send any adult running. In contrast, the Yamaha 302 has a warmer tone and the higher register is not grating on the ears. It comes with a cleaning rod, cream for the joints, a fairly nice carrying case that zips, and a small insert with a fingering chart.

The only drawback to this recorder is that it tends to clog easily. The mouthpeice is thinner, which makes it more comfortable to play, but I think it contributes to the clogging. Of course, clogging in unavoidable in all plastic recorders - all my other recorders clog too so I don't think this detracts from the benefits of this model.

All in all, I have been very happy with mine and I think I could only do better by buying one of the handcarfted wood recorders that run upwards of two hundred.