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Are wooden recorders better than plastic recorders? Do they have better tone or are more playable? Are these differences noticeable for cheap recorders? What are the advantages of plastic recorders?
I'm aware of this question: Why do wooden woodwinds sound better than plastic?
The given answer is interesting but doesn't exactly answer my question.
The advantages of a plastic instrument are:
Less care necessary concerning maintenance; not wiping the recorder after playing will do no irreversible harm. This is likely the reason, that the head (i. e. mouth piece) is sometimes from plastic even if the body is made of wood: It is not recommend to be cleaned due to the danger of damaging it.
Less sensitive towards humidity altogether - especially important for open air playing, when it starts raining.
Disadvantages:
Ask the teacher for recommendations: In my superficial opinion there are good quality plastic recorders (no longer exactly cheap) as well as awful wooden ones.
The material of a wind instrument actually makes only a marginal difference to the sound. There's no reason a very good recorder can't be made of plastic, and some are. Of course, ALL cheap-and-nasty ones are made of plastic!
