Yamaha YRA-28 BIII Alto Recorder

The flute exceeded my expectations for the price I payed. It feels sturdy, and it's nice that it comes with a bag. I bought this as my first alto recorder and it suits me very well as a beginner.

The tone is a bit plastic-y, but less so than what I had expected. As for material quality, it feels really good. The finish is a bit glossy though, which can lead to it feeling slippery if you've got sweaty hands.
The main downside of the product is that in the upper octave, notes above G sound very "windy" or airy and can be hard to hit. Not impossible though.

I am still happy with the product, if you're looking for a beginner flute I would recommend it due to it's price and build quality.

I have been playing the recorder since prep. school and have always loved it's flexibility and ease of expression; (saxaphones are equally expressive, but it's a damn' sight more difficult to put your 'all' into a piece of music on one than on a recorder !)

Originally, I came to 'THOMANN' simply because I wanted a reasonably priced white recorder, (my 'Aulos' is brown), and the Yamaha YRA-28 BIII was exactly what I had in mind. However, on receipt I was most pleasantly surprised by the weight of the instrument and by the resultant resonance.

I'd already imbued my Alto 'Aulos' with a much more 'breathy' tone by the simple expedient of inserting a twisted plastic-coated 'bag-tie' into the mouthpiece until the sound was 'tailored' to my liking, (try it - you'll be pleasantly surprised ..), and did the same to the Yamaha; I was most impressed - with it's heavier, more resonant body the resultant tone easily matched my favourite wooden recorder, (which I'm reluctant to use as much as I'd like because it absorbs moisture too readily), and I therefore have to admit that my faithful 'Aulos' has thus been consigned to the study bookshelf in favour of the Yamaha.

If you're thinking of buying one of these much-underrated instruments please do -a really good alto recorder to get you started, (and one that WILL allow you to really put your 'self' into what you're playing), is this Yamaha.

(P.S. don't buy a descant recorder of ANY make - I've come to feel over many years that these little beggars whose pitch is neither as piercingly 'to the fore' as a sopranino or as expressive as an alto is the chief reason why children who learn on one at school become quickly convinved that all recorders are wailing instruments of torture !) regards, "Swanny".

For the price I believe that it is a perfect place to begin if you want to start playing the Recorder. However I don't play very well, so that is a careful believe here. Made out of plastic the recorder sounds good and feels nice to hold. It comes with a little light blue bag to store it in, so yeah.... Yamaha did a great job at making & designing it.
My verdict: It's probably the best plastic recorder at this price.