Hi Jan, I thought it might be you! 🙂
Yes, I am still a fan of the Bernolin resin. I think I know what you mean about the “plastic” sound, and can tell you that the Bernolin doesn’t sound like that at all (I mean comparing it vs all my Aulos altos, Yamaha altos, Zen-on altos, etc). It is hard to tell whether the difference is because the Bernolin is just a much higher quality instrument, or whether the resin material is a factor too. Probably a combination, but I think mostly it is not the material.
So, in other words, I think that unless you were ready to spend the relatively big bucks for Bernolin resin, you probably could not find another plastic instrument with that same sound. I mean, the only REALLY unique-sounding plastic recorder I know of is the Yamaha ecodear alto, and that is mostly because of its VERY narrow windway (we’ve discussed this in the past).
FYI – there is another version of the Yamaha Ecodear that has the same windway as the regular Yamaha 302B – it is the model YRA-48B. The model we are familiar with in the USA is the YRA-402B, which is the model with the very narrow windway. But in the UK, you can buy BOTH models, as seen here:
https://www.thomannmusic.com/yamaha_alto_recorders_baroque.html
and even on the Yamaha UK website:
This is dreadfully confusing because you’d expect the 402B to be the one with the same windway as the 302B, but no, the 402B (which we have) is the one that you can see with your own eyes is MUCH narrower than the 302B. I have read that the 48B has the exact same windway as the 302B. (I forget where, but it was probably on a UK store website where someone asked what the difference is).
Soooo, I am mentioning all this because there is just a chance that the 48B would give you a different sound (less plastic??) sound than your typical plastic alto, because the ONLY difference between the 48B and the standard Yamaha alto (the 302B and its many flavors – woodgrained, etc) would be the material it is made of. So, you could order a 48B from UK and see what you get.
Meanwhile, yup, I’m hanging in there. Hope you are good yourself. I discuss recorders with Christopher some on FaceBook and sometimes via email (I HATE FB, by the way, but what can you do…).
Rich